Sky in the Deep ~ Adrienne Young

Genre: Young Adult/Historical Fiction
Publisher: Wednesday Books
ISBN: 9781250168450
352 pages
Source: OwlCrate

I wish I had known a little bit more about this, going into the book.

The writing itself was absolutely gorgeous but the plot was far more pastoral and less character driven than I have been reading, lately. I think I may have read too many books that focus on deep, hard feelings which left me a little wanting for Sky in the Deep.

I just felt as if it was a nice, pretty picture, that could have been told as a short story but never graduated to the need for a full novel. I never really got a chance to connect with the people involved.

That said, the actual prose was quite stunning and I did like the overall story. I almost put it down for good about a quarter of the way into it and I’m glad I didn’t.

It ended up being a pretty solid metaphor for our current social struggles in terms of rivalries, alliances, and old grudges. Not entirely in the same vein but similar, there is a strand woven through that is almost Romeo and Juliet-esque. That is, when there are two divided tribes, the tribe that stands as “bad” is deeply subjective, changing depending upon who you ask.

With the sort of lukewarm character set up, I’m still glad I read the entire thing and, as I said, I think that, had I known the devices ahead of time, I would have enjoyed it more.