[Diana’s Review]: The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young

The Girl the Sea Gave Back
by Adrienne Young
Pages: 336
Published by Wednesday Books
Release Date: September 3rd 2019
Genres: YA, Fantasy
Source: Publisher
Format Read: ARC
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The new gut-wrenching epic from the New York Times bestselling author of Sky in the Deep.

For as long as she can remember, Tova has lived among the Svell, the people who found her washed ashore as a child and use her for her gift as a Truthtongue. Her own home and clan are long-faded memories, but the sacred symbols and staves inked over every inch of her skin mark her as one who can cast the rune stones and see into the future. She has found a fragile place among those who fear her, but when two clans to the east bury their age-old blood feud and join together as one, her world is dangerously close to collapse.

For the first time in generations, the leaders of the Svell are divided. Should they maintain peace or go to war with the allied clans to protect their newfound power? And when their chieftain looks to Tova to cast the stones, she sets into motion a series of events that will not only change the landscape of the mainland forever but will give her something she believed she could never have again—a home.

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

HOLY CRAP. Please tell me there’s gonna be a sequel?! Someone please reassure me that wasn’t the end!?! Because I’m seriously gonna cry. I. Will. Cry.

“But the future wasn’t fixed. It was a thread that changed color with the shifting of the present and the past. A wave that rippled out to the vast, open sea.”

The Girl the Sea Gave Back was everything I hoped it to be. Gorgeous cover, beautiful, addictive writing, brilliant, solid world-building and lovable characters- it had all the makings of a great YA fantasy and I loved every page. Devoured this in one sitting and I have no regrets.

I fell in love with the author’s debut but I am nothing short of obsessed with this one. Love, love, love Halvard and Tova. I honestly can’t tell you that I remember much about Halvard from Sky in the Deep. But dammit if I didn’t fall in love with him in this one. And Tova is just as incredible! She’s my favorite kind of badass heroine. I absolutely enjoyed the cameos too. Seeing Fiske, Eelyn and the others was great and so much fun!

‘Maybe death would just feel like going home.’

For anyone looking for romance, there was barely any in this one. But what it lacks in that department, it more than makes up for in action, excitement and brutality. I love how unforgiving and unrelenting the writing is when it comes to blood and gore. (That sounds psychotic I know but still.)

‘…it was only a different kind of pain. One that was a little easier to live with.’

My only disappointment is that the book felt rushed by the end. I wanted, no, NEEDED ten more chapters with Halvard, Tova, the Kyrrs and this beautiful, mesmerizing world.

Highly recommended! This one’s not to be missed!

I received an e-arc to read and review. Quotes cited may change in the final print.