Young Adult – Page 37 – Jill's Book Blog

Review: Legend (Legend #1)

Title: Legend (Legend #1)
Author: Marie Lu
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Speak
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: November 29, 2011
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.
From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Review:

June is a prodigy, who got the only perfect score on the trial that everyone has to take as a child in the Republic which used to be known as the United States. Her older brother is a high ranking commander. When he is killed suddenly after a robbery, the criminal mastermind, Day, is the lead suspect. June is enlisted to find Day and bring him in. However, they learn that they have a lot in common. They work together to uncover the secrets that the authorities are hiding.

In this futuristic world, a plague keeps infecting the residents. It was eerily like the pandemic we are experiencing today, though there was more to it than a spontaneous illness. There were so many twists, which made this a quick read.

The story alternates between June’s and Day’s perspectives. The two alternating chapters were also printed in different fonts and colours, which made it easy to differentiate between them. I haven’t seen many books formatted in that way, and I really liked how unique it was.

I’m so glad I finally read this book. It was on my wishlist for a long time, and it was just as good as I expected.

Other Books in the Series:

Prodigy
Champion
Rebel

Have you read Legend? What did you think of it?

Review: You Say It First

Title: You Say It First
Author: Katie Cotugno
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 16, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Meg has her entire life set up perfectly: her boyfriend Mason is sweet and supportive, she and her best friend Emily plan to head to Cornell together in the fall, and she even finds time to clock shifts phonebanking at a voter registration call center in her Philadelphia suburb. But everything changes when one of those calls connects her to a stranger from small-town Ohio, who gets under her skin from the moment he picks up the phone.
Colby is stuck in a rut, reeling from a family tragedy and working a dead-end job—unsure what his future holds, or if he even cares. The last thing he has time for is some privileged rich girl preaching the sanctity of the political process. So he says the worst thing he can think of and hangs up.
But things don’t end there.…
That night on the phone winds up being the first in a series of candid, sometimes heated, always surprising conversations that lead to a long-distance friendship and then—slowly—to something more. Across state lines and phone lines, Meg and Colby form a once-in-a-lifetime connection. But in the end, are they just too different to make it work?
You Say It First is a propulsive, layered novel about how sometimes the person who has the least in common with us can be the one who changes us most.

Review:

Meg has her life planned out. She has a great boyfriend and she’s ready to go to Cornell with her best friend. She works at a voter registration call centre. Everything changes after her boyfriend breaks up with her. She calls a man at work to help him register to vote, but she learns from his son, Colby, that he died from suicide months before. Meg does something she’s never done before, which is give Colby her personal phone number. Meg and Colby end up making an unlikely connection that changes the paths that their lives are on.

Meg made some bad decisions in this book, but they ended up working out for her. She struck up a relationship with a stranger who she had only spoken to on the phone. She also drove many hours to meet him, without telling anyone. Meg acknowledges that it was dangerous, but she did it anyways. It should have been more clear that she was putting herself in danger by doing this, even though it worked out for her.

Both Meg and Colby had difficult things that they had to face. Colby was still dealing with the death of his father. He found out some things about his father, which changed the way he saw him. Meg lived with her mother, and her father had a new girlfriend. She also had to take care of someone with an alcohol addiction. Suicide and alcoholism were both difficult topics in this story, but I think they were handled well.

I enjoyed this story.

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Tour Review: Half Life

Title: Half Life
Author: Lillian Clark
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook, Paperback
Release Date: June 9, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

An overachiever enrolls in an experimental clone study to prove that two (of her own) heads are better than one in this fast-paced, near-future adventure that’s Black Mirror meets Becky Albertalli.
There aren’t enough hours in the day for Lucille–perfectionist, overachiever–to do everything she has to do, and there certainly aren’t enough hours to hang out with friends, fall in love, get in trouble–all the teenage things she knows she should want to be doing instead of preparing for a flawless future. So when she sees an ad for Life2: Do more. Be more, she’s intrigued.
The company is looking for beta testers to enroll in an experimental clone program, and in the aftermath of a series of disappointments, Lucille is feeling reckless enough to jump in. At first, it’s perfect: her clone, Lucy, is exactly what she needed to make her life manageable and have time for a social life. But it doesn’t take long for Lucy to become more Lucy and less Lucille, and Lucille is forced to stop looking at Lucy as a reflection and start seeing her as a window–a glimpse at someone else living her own life, but better. Lucy does what she really wants to, not what she thinks she should want to, and Lucille is left wondering how much she was even a part of the perfect life she’d constructed for herself. Lucille wanted Lucy to help her relationships with everyone else, but how can she do that without first rectifying her relationship with herself?

Review:

Lucille is a perfectionist. She has perfect grades, but she wasn’t accepted into the intern program she applied to for the summer. On top of that, her parents are getting divorced and her best friend has a new best friend. When Lucille gets an email about an exciting opportunity that is just for her, she decides to take a chance. The opportunity is to have a clone made of her. After the clone is made, she will have to join Lucille in her life to prove that they are the same. However, Lucille’s parents and friends don’t know that she is having a clone made. Lucille thinks this will be a great chance to do more things in life to be more perfect, but life with her clone isn’t as easy as she predicted.

I love stories about clones. When I was in middle school, I loved the novel Cloning Miranda. More recently, I was obsessed with the TV show Orphan Black. The idea is fascinating to me, and a little scary. I’ve heard of programs where you can have your dog cloned, so cloning humans doesn’t seem too futuristic anymore.

At the beginning of the book, I found Lucille annoying. She was very self-involved and pushed everyone away. When her clone was introduced to the story, she was a great contrast to Lucille. I was so glad that I kept reading, because the story became fast paced and suspenseful.

This is a great story!

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author:

Lillian Clark, a graduate of the University of Wyoming, grew up riding horses, climbing trees, and going on grand imaginary adventures in the small-town West. She’s worked as a lifeguard, a camp counselor, and a Zamboni driver, but found her eternal love working as a bookseller at an independent bookstore. Now living in Teton Valley, Idaho with her husband, son, and two giant dogs, she spends her time reading almost anything and writing books for teens.

Blog Tour Schedule:

https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2020/04/tour-schedule-half-life-by-lillian-clark.html

Have you read Half Life? What did you think of it?

Review: Followers

Title: Followers
Author: Raziel Reid
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: June 9, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A naïve teenager is thrown into the high-stakes, back-stabbing world of reality television.
After a disastrous date results in her arrest, sixteen-year-old Lily Rhode is horrified to discover her mugshot is leaked on a gossip website. Lily is the niece of Whitney Paley, a Hollywood housewife and star of reality show Platinum Triangle, a soap-opera-style docu-series in the vein of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and The Hills, revolving around several glamorous families living in the Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Holmby Hills neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
When Lily’s mom kicks her out of their trailer home in the Valley, Whitney (Lily’s mom’s estranged sister) invites her to live with her, her movie-star husband, Patrick, and their daughter, Hailey. Lily is set up in the pool house and thrust into the company of reality-star offspring — kids who are born with silver spoon emojis on their feed. Lily’s cousin Hailey and the other teens have lived their entire lives on camera and are masters of deception, with Hailey leading the pack.
As Lily learns from the Paleys how to navigate her newfound fame, she finds herself ensnared in the unfolding storylines. What Lily doesn’t know is that she’s just a pawn being used on the show to make the Paleys look sympathetic to viewers while distracting from on-set sexual misconduct rumors surrounding super hero dad Patrick Paley . . .
Is Lily safe under Patrick’s roof? Or will Lily be Patrick’s downfall? If she isn’t destroyed by Hailey first. When Lily catches the eye of Hailey’s designated leading man Joel Strom — it’s war!

Review:

After Lily Rhode is arrested for grand theft, her aunt invites her to move out of Lily’s trailer park and into her aunt’s Beverly Hills mansion. The catch is that she will star on the reality show along with her cousin, Hailey, and various other famous families. Lily is just there to recover from her arrest, but her aunt Whitney positions her as the villain to her cousin Hailey. Hailey has a storyline going on the show with a romance between her and Joel, but when Joel sees Lily, he’s drawn to her. Hailey and the other cast members have to plan out their storylines for the season, and try not to be overshadowed by Lily.

Kens by Raziel Reid was one of my favourite books last year, so I was excited to read this one! The show in this book, Platinum Triangle, was like a combination of reality shows: The Kardashians meets The Hills meets The Real Housewives. There were some storylines that were straight from those shows, such as someone faking cancer and having a transgender parent. I loved this connection to real reality shows that I’ve watched.

There were some tough subjects in this book, which need some trigger warnings. There was lots of drug use, faking cancer, dog fighting, eating disorders, and an adult having a relationship with a minor. These things were told fairly early on in the book, so they aren’t spoilers. Even though these could be upsetting subjects, they were so extreme in this story that they turned into a parody of reality shows. One of the most shocking things is that some of these stories are taken right from reality shows, so they are an accurate representation of that world.

I loved this book! The ending was so shocking I had to read it a couple of times to make sure I had read it correctly. If you love reality TV, you’ll love this book.

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: A Song Below Water

Title: A Song Below Water
Author: Bethany C. Morrow
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Teen
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 2, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Tavia is already at odds with the world, forced to keep her siren identity under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key. Never mind she’s also stuck in Portland, Oregon, a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer of those with magical powers. At least she has her bestie Effie by her side as they tackle high school drama, family secrets, and unrequited crushes.
But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation; the girls’ favorite Internet fashion icon reveals she’s also a siren, and the news rips through their community. Tensions escalate when Effie starts being haunted by demons from her past, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice during a police stop. No secret seems safe anymore—soon Portland won’t be either.

Review:

Talia lives with a secret: she’s a siren. She has a powerful voice that can compel people to do things. That makes people think sirens are dangerous. Talia and her family keep her siren identity a secret because of the prejudice against sirens. Talia’s best friend, Effie, has questions about her identity. She blacks out and can’t remember what happened. Effie isn’t sure who she really is, especially since her grandparents don’t have any answers for her. Both girls discover their identities as their secrets are slowly revealed.

Talia and Effie had an extra layer to their identity, with their magical abilities. This makes their intersectional identities more complicated. They were black and female, with magical powers. Race played an important part in this book. There was a murder trial for a black woman, where it was revealed that she was a siren. It ended up being a part of the defence, as a way to justify her murder. There was a protest in this book which reminded me of the protests happening throughout the world this week. The characters had to deal with racism, as well as discrimination against their magical identities.

I loved the fantasy elements of this story. There were sirens and gargoyles. Effie’s background was a mystery that they had to solve. I guessed who she was fairly early on in the story, but I was surprised at the way it was revealed. The fantasy elements added some distance between the race relations in the book and reality, but they were a great way to tell the story.

I really enjoyed this story!

Thank you Tor Teen for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)

Title: City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: May 27, 2007
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?
This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…

Review:

When Clary Fray goes to an all-ages nightclub in New York City with her best friend, she witnesses a murder of a teenager by three other teens. However, her best friend Simon couldn’t see them. One of the teens, Jace, finds Clary the next day and brings her into the world of the shadowhunters, who hunt demons. Clary becomes personally involved in the lives of the shadowhunters when her mother disappears after being attacked by demons. Clary has to find her mother, while also discovering the secrets of her past.

I had been holding off on reading this series, because I knew I would love it and would have to read it all immediately once I started. I was sucked into this world right away. I loved that there were so many different creatures all in one world, including vampires, werewolves, and warlocks. They had a wide range of powers, but they all fit into the world.

The twists and big reveals in the story were predictable. When secrets of a character’s past were revealed, I could predict how it would affect the lives of the main characters. Even though it was predictable, I loved the storyline. I’m excited to see where it goes next!

Review: Little Creeping Things

Title: Little Creeping Things
Author: Chelsea Ichaso
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 2, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

When she was a child, Cassidy Pratt accidentally started a fire that killed her neighbor. At least, that’s what she’s been told. She can’t remember anything from that day, and her town’s bullies, particularly the cruel and beautiful Melody Davenport, have never let her live it down.
But then Melody goes missing, and Cassidy thinks she may have information. She knows she should go to the cops, but she recently joked about how much she’d like to get rid of Melody. She even planned out the perfect way to do it. And then she gets a chilling text from an unknown number: I’m so glad we’re in this together.
Now it’s up to Cassidy to figure out what really happened before the truth behind Melody’s disappearance sets the whole town ablaze.

Review:

Cassidy Pratt is known as the fire girl in her town because she started a fire when she was a child. The fire killed her best friend, while Cass was saved by her brother. When Cass’s enemy at school, Melody, goes missing, Cass thinks she knows what happened. Melody’s disappearance seems to follow a list that Cass wrote down in her notebook of how she would kill Melody. Cass gets threatening text messages from the unknown person who has her notebook. Finding the person who is blackmailing Cass will lead her to solve Melody’s disappearance.

This book was a quick read for me. It was fast paced and moved along quickly. There were loads of twists that kept me surprised. It was also creepy, since someone had seemed to perform the actions that Cass listed in her notebook. It had to be someone that she knew, since they got ahold of her notebook, so I considered everyone a suspect.

In many young adult books, the lack of parental supervision is strange. Some of the decisions that the parents made in this story were unusual, particularly ones revealed at the end. The way that Cass was the only one blamed for the fire was one way that I found the parents to be unusually absent. Kids can be mean and find any reason to tease another child, which explains the way other children called her the fire girl. However, an adult should have been supervising them so they couldn’t start a fire, yet none of the parents were blamed for their part in the fire. That part was not explained, which put all of the blame and pressure on Cass.

I enjoyed this fast paced thriller.

Thank you Sourcebooks Fire for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Beautiful (The Beautiful #1)

Title: The Beautiful (The Beautiful #1)
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: October 8, 2019
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.
When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.
At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful.

Review:

In 1872, Celine Rousseau moves to New Orleans after being forced to flee Paris. She moves into a convent with some other girls who have just arrived from Europe. When a wealthy woman asks Celine to create a dress for her, Celine gets involved in a secret society, causing death to those around her.

I loved this setting. Both the time period and location made it so mysterious and extravagant. This was also a time period with a lot of change in society. Celine is biracial, but she can pass for white. She notices that there are people of different races working in the city, which is something she hadn’t seen before. She commented on what a big change this was for society. It’s a shame that 150 years after this book takes place, there is still so much racial inequality.

This story was really exciting. I liked the mystery surrounding the deaths. The ending was surprising and left me with a lot of questions. I hope they will be answered in the next book.

I really enjoyed this story!

What to read next:

Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin

Grim Lovelies (Grim Lovelies #1) by Megan Shepherd

Have you read The Beautiful? What did you think of it?

Blog Tour Review: Jo & Laurie

Title: Jo & Laurie
Author: Margaret Stohl, Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 2, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Bestselling authors Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz bring us a romantic retelling of Little Women starring Jo March and her best friend, the boy next door, Theodore “Laurie” Laurence.
1869, Concord, Massachusetts: After the publication of her first novel, Jo March is shocked to discover her book of scribbles has become a bestseller, and her publisher and fans demand a sequel. While pressured into coming up with a story, she goes to New York with her dear friend Laurie for a week of inspiration—museums, operas, and even a once-in-a-lifetime reading by Charles Dickens himself!
But Laurie has romance on his mind, and despite her growing feelings, Jo’s desire to remain independent leads her to turn down his heartfelt marriage proposal and sends the poor boy off to college heartbroken. When Laurie returns to Concord with a sophisticated new girlfriend, will Jo finally communicate her true heart’s desire or lose the love of her life forever?

Review:

Jo March has just published Little Women. Since it has been so successful, her publisher wants her to write a sequel about the March sisters becoming wives. However, since her sisters haven’t gotten married and moved on in their lives, Jo doesn’t know how to continue the story. While she is struggling to write the continuation of the story, Jo has to deal with her family growing up and changing in ways she isn’t ready for.

This story combines the real life of Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, and Jo March, the main character of Little Women. Louisa based Little Women on her life with her sisters, with Jo being herself. I could see the influences of Little Women, yet there were anecdotes that seemed to come from real life. After reading this story, I’m interested in reading about Louisa May Alcott’s life.

As a reader and a writer, I found the storyline of Jo writing her book fascinating. She was pressured into writing something she wasn’t comfortable with because of the success of her first novel. She had to rewrite the story multiple times in a short period of time, which I imagine would be incredibly difficult. Jo had to keep rewriting it because her male editor wasn’t satisfied with her ending. It wasn’t until she was satisfied with her own life that she could finish the story.

I really loved this story!

Thank you G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the Authors:

Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series and the semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat.

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!).

She now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and daughter

Margaret Stohl is a #1 New York Times bestselling nerd, world-builder, video game creator, comic book writer and festival founder.

As an award-winning young adult author, she has been published in fifty countries and thirty-two languages and has sold more than ten million books worldwide. Beautiful Creatures debuted as the Amazon #1 Teen book of the year; seven of Margaret’s books have reached bestseller lists around the world.

When not roaming the halls of Seattle game developer Bungie -where she oversees the creation of new global IPs -Margaret can often be seen at a Comicon or at one of the teen and youth book festivals she co-founded, YALLFEST (Charleston, SC) and YALLWEST (Santa Monica, CA), thelargest in the country. Wherever she goes, you can find out more about her (and invariably her cats) at @mstohl on twitter or margaret_stohl on instagram or margaret_stohl on snapchat or at mstohl.com

Blog Tour Schedule:

https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2020/04/tour-schedule-jo-laurie-by-margaret.html

Have you read Jo & Laurie? What did you think of it?

Review: Sky in the Deep (Sky in the Deep #1)

Title: Sky in the Deep (Sky in the Deep #1)
Author: Adrienne Young
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 24, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.
Faced with her brother’s betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.
She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.

Review:

Eelyn is a warrior for her Aska community. She fights alongside her father in their rivalry against the Riki. When she is almost killed in a battle, she sees her dead brother among the enemies. Her father assures her that he couldn’t have been there, but when she meets her brother again on the battlefield, he takes her as a prisoner. Eelyn has to figure out how to get back to her father and how to deal with the betrayal of her brother.

This story had a Nordic setting. They were like a viking community. I’ve never read a book like this, but I learned about vikings in school, so I found it really interesting. I really liked that the women were considered warriors alongside the men in this community. In many stories set in ancient times, the women have to stay home while the men fight, leading the main female character to figure out a way to fight. However, Eelyn was able to focus on other issues, since she was already a warrior.

The story started out quite fast paced. The moments where Eelyn saw her brother on the battlefield to when she was captured happened very quickly. The story slowed down a bit once she got to her brother’s new community. However, I was pleased with the ending. I thought the next book in the series would be a continuation of this story, but it has a new plot. I’m looking forward to reading it because I loved this setting.

Thank you Wednesday Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Other Books in the Series:

The Girl the Sea Gave Back

Have you read Sky in the Deep? What did you think of it?

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Review:

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Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi

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Blog Tour Schedule:

Goodreads Synopsis:

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The Girl the Sea Gave Back (Sky in the Deep #2) by Adrienne Young

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