I could tell what would happen next on each and every page. It has forbidden love and two clans at war who GUESS WHAT are actually pretty similar (stupidly similar, like they could have had different traditions, we could still play the “we are all people” card). My biggest issue with this book is that it’s painfully formulaic. They could have been plucked from any YA book and I could not tell them apart from a line up of mediocre characters. I just did not find anything original about these characters. I can’t get a real feel for the characters since they never turn inward and when I can’t understand the characters I can’t like them and then I can’t like the book. I feel like books like these aren’t for me because they aren’t introspective enough. Like Eelyn is angry and Fiske is quiet and Iri is determined but it never goes beyond. I could not tell you more than one character trait for each of the characters. I like my Fantasy settings (or any settings for that matter) to have a real sense of place, and this really did not have that. It’s just a backdrop that isn’t really fleshed out.

It just has no real substance and it isn’t really grounded in anything. The most we get is an explanation that one of the clans live on the mountain and the other lives on the fjords. The author spends zero page time on world building.

There’s nothing fantastical about the book actually. This has a certain Viking vibe and it works as a historical fiction. That sets her on a path that will change the destinies of the two clans forever. However, one day, on the battlefield she sees her brother who died five years ago. They are at war with each other for centuries and Eelyn lives for the fight. Sky in the Deep follows Eelyn who has been taught her whole life that The Riki are the enemy to her own clan, Aska. Moreover, this has been getting so many positive reviews (and for people whose blogs I ADORE) so I figured I was bound to like it. But I ended up getting a copy of it in an Owlcrate box, and I always get excited about Owlcrate boxes and books featured in them. It gave me a lot of The Last Namsara vibes, and I really disliked that book. It’s one of the buzziest YA releases of the year and it’s one of those that I was apprehensive to pick up. I am sure all of you have heard of Sky in the Deep.

Sky in the deep characters