Inside cover blurb:
“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.”
-from publisher
Thoughts:
I thought this book was going to be historical fiction/fantasy. I guess it could maybe loosely be considered historical fiction…the culture and societal structure seems to be based on Vikings? But there really is no fantasy element whatsoever, which was a big disappointment.
In fact, most of the story was a disappointment. What we get is a long, drawn out narrative about a girl who discovers her brother didn’t die and then, surprise surprise, she ends up making friends with the enemy tribe who saved him. I don’t even consider that a spoiler because if you read the above plot summary, well that’s the entire book. And you can save several hours and read something else instead.
Maybe that’s not fair-Sky in the Deep isn’t bad, per say, but there really just isn’t anything special about it.
All in all, you have a really cool set up, but the plot just never delivers.
Plus: Vikings are such a cool basis for a YA novel.
Minus: Do anything at all with the story! Seriously! Magic! Or Viking zombies! Just do something!
Try This Instead:
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland- The Civil War… but with zombies! Now that’s how you do historical fiction, my friends.