The Stones Don’t Lie

The Girl The Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young has to be one of my favorite books of 2019. There are so many reasons to love this book and this wasn’t even a tough decision to make when trying to review it. – 5 out of 5 stars – I was fortunate enough to receive and ARC of Sea from Netgalley so before I get into it I want to thank Netgalley and Wednesday Books!

Now I do want to say one thing before I get into my review, I have heard a couple people aren’t happy with this book and in its defense I want to say – Stop comparing it to Sky In The Deep. Sea is also set in the same universe as Sky but in no way is it the same type of story. Sea is definitely more character centered than Sky so the events that play out in Sea are not as fast paced. Also both are very different characters and Tova is by no means a warrior and it’s pretty clear from the start.

NOW, that being said, I want to give you my reasons for loving this book SO much. This story was such a visually appealing story to me, Tova’s ability to read the stones and notice the omens was actually a really good build up of the story in my opinion. I also felt like the mysticism in this book was done so well I could basically see it all playing out in my head as I was reading it. As a reader I feel like the pace of the story was fine for the kind of story this was, again its not about the actually fighting this is story of a people who grew too big and too powerful and to say it plainly, got too chummy.

What lies in the future for the Svell?

In the future, there are no Svell.

I want to dive into the characters of course, to start off – Tova. She is a character that has grown up difficultly, hated and feared but has also grown up fearing for her own life. She IS strong but not in the way most people I think want her to be. Her ability is of course super cool and I loved her chapters because she is more of an inward character than she is an outward character because shes had to internalize everything. Even the man who practically raised her, Jorrund, wouldn’t truly defend her before his own people. The details in her chapters were also my favorite – The Spinners, the Nighthawk, her stones and their meaning – it was all very interesting and watching from her perspective how the people of the Svell fall into their own destiny trying to avoid it was , to be honest, very entertaining to me.

Halvard and the Nadhir- aka my faves – I was of course rooting for them the whole time during this story and what can I even say about Halvard as a character? His whole story and his internal turmoil about having to some day lead his clan and the problems ahead just made his character all the more admirable, if that makes sense? I just really loved Halvard (wait till you read the fight scenes holy crap) I love that regardless of the fact that he has to lead these people and pretty much doesn’t want to he steps up and not only fights a long side them but he’s also not a tyrant when he had all the opportunity to be one. There are of course other characters in the story like The Kyrr (who btw are terrifying? Yeah just wanted to add that in there. They aren’t messing around) Halvards family – who I love because of reasons. Adrienne Young has such a smooth way of bringing everything and everyone together by the end of it in my opinion, catch me reading her books forever.

Augua ór tivar. Ljá mir sýn.

Eye of the gods. Give me Sight.

The world building is without a doubt one of my favorites!! The whole Mythology of the gods and the spinners was done so well. From the language to the stories of the spinners, the omens and the nighthawk. Tova’s visions and even and did I mention the spinners? The. Fight. Scenes. oh my wOW. I’m a sucker for a good battle scene and this book did not disappoint me!! I want to quote one so bad but I won’t spoil it. Over all The Girl The Sea Gave Back impressed me thoroughly and Adrienne Young has me forever.

Just please please please remember that this book is not a continuation of the events in Sky this is simply in the same world and of course the events in Sky are mentioned and some characters are involved but don’t judge this one based off of that one. The Girl The Sea Gave Back gets 5 starts from me and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone who loves fantasy and vikings!