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A review by alexiacambaling
The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young
2.0
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley!
I haven’t read the author’s previous book set in the same world- Sky in the Deep- but this book can be read as a standalone and I did not feel lost at any point reading this book. I don’t think it’s necessary to read it in order to enjoy this book but it seemed to be well-received so I will be checking it out at some point.
The Girl The Sea Gave Back is a solid book and I did like it well enough. I didn’t love it but it was a good book for nights when I’m unable to sleep and only a book can help. I finished it in around four hours of reading in bed. It’s fast-paced and action-packed so it makes for a pretty quick read. It’s also well-written- especially the many fight scenes in this book.
The main character, Tova isn’t really a fighter herself, which I appreciated. She’s more of a soothsayer or a Truthtongue who sees the threads of fate and from there, tell the future. She lives among a tribe called the Svell where she doesn’t really fit in because of her markings which mark her as one of the Kyrr, a mysterious tribe who never leave their lands. This makes her alienated and hated, especially when she cast stones predicting terrible things happening to the tribe.
So this book had a lot of good ideas and both Tova and Halvard had interesting backstories. Unfortunately, it falls flat in its character development and world-building. The world felt like a backdrop for the characters, instead of a living, breathing world. It’s not very well-developed in this book and I wanted to know more about the kind of world that this characters inhabit, instead of it being a setpiece.
As for the characters, a lot of them were very one-dimensional and not very interesting. The build-up to Tova and Halvard meeting and maybe having this budding relationship wasn’t very convincing and just made me roll my eyes. Fate here was used like a deus ex machina and it made for a terribly predictable plot. Normally, predictability isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in a book where everything seemed to be predictable, it could use a twist to shake it up.
Overall, I wasn’t very impressed with The Girl The Sea Gave Back. I was a little disappointed because the gorgeous cover and the description did make me feel hyped, only to find it didn’t live up to my expectations.
I haven’t read the author’s previous book set in the same world- Sky in the Deep- but this book can be read as a standalone and I did not feel lost at any point reading this book. I don’t think it’s necessary to read it in order to enjoy this book but it seemed to be well-received so I will be checking it out at some point.
The Girl The Sea Gave Back is a solid book and I did like it well enough. I didn’t love it but it was a good book for nights when I’m unable to sleep and only a book can help. I finished it in around four hours of reading in bed. It’s fast-paced and action-packed so it makes for a pretty quick read. It’s also well-written- especially the many fight scenes in this book.
The main character, Tova isn’t really a fighter herself, which I appreciated. She’s more of a soothsayer or a Truthtongue who sees the threads of fate and from there, tell the future. She lives among a tribe called the Svell where she doesn’t really fit in because of her markings which mark her as one of the Kyrr, a mysterious tribe who never leave their lands. This makes her alienated and hated, especially when she cast stones predicting terrible things happening to the tribe.
So this book had a lot of good ideas and both Tova and Halvard had interesting backstories. Unfortunately, it falls flat in its character development and world-building. The world felt like a backdrop for the characters, instead of a living, breathing world. It’s not very well-developed in this book and I wanted to know more about the kind of world that this characters inhabit, instead of it being a setpiece.
As for the characters, a lot of them were very one-dimensional and not very interesting. The build-up to Tova and Halvard meeting and maybe having this budding relationship wasn’t very convincing and just made me roll my eyes. Fate here was used like a deus ex machina and it made for a terribly predictable plot. Normally, predictability isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in a book where everything seemed to be predictable, it could use a twist to shake it up.
Overall, I wasn’t very impressed with The Girl The Sea Gave Back. I was a little disappointed because the gorgeous cover and the description did make me feel hyped, only to find it didn’t live up to my expectations.