Synopsis
Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield- her brother, fighting with the enemy- the brother she watched die five years ago.
Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. but when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.
She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother's friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she's spent her life hating.
Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield- her brother, fighting with the enemy- the brother she watched die five years ago.
Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. but when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.
She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother's friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she's spent her life hating.
Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. but when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.
She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother's friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she's spent her life hating.
Loved
- The raw emotion. Going into this book, I expected a cool Viking story with some rad battles and Gimli-worthy axe action. What I didn't expect was the raw emotion lacing each page of this story. This story is about fierce and brutal Eelyn overcoming harsh tradition to discover the humanity of those she has been taught to see as unfeeling and evil. This book is all heart and so raw and tender as Eelyn strips away her prejudices and learns to replace hatred and honor with love, loyalty and sacrifice.
- Eelyn. This girl is brutal. She is a warrior who's been taught that honor means killing the Riki and die fighting. The beauty of this story comes as she gradually peels back layers of prejudice and brutality to reveal a raw, tender teenage girl who discovers that her enemies are just as human and feeling as she and her family.
- The character development. Each character in this story is beautifully complex and deep. They have all inherited deep hatred, and each character must reexamine his/her beliefs of what loyalty and humanity looks like. It was painful and moving to see each character's journey overcoming countless obstacles as they put away generations of brutal animosity and decide to embrace loyalty and love for each other.
- The romance. I expected this to be a typical YA romance- swoony and the cherry on top of a fun adventure. This romance is more complex and deep than any YA romance I've read. This is the very definition of slow burn, with our beloved enemies-to-lovers trope- which is done masterfully. Eelyn and Fiske's relationship is so raw as they both, little by little, peel back small layers of hatred and prejudice to discover tender emotion and unexpected loyalty and love for each other. They both must overcome the impossible as they fight for each other and help their clansmen have the vision of loyalty instead of hatred.
- The writing. This writing, as the characters, was raw in its emotion and feeling. Every page was laced with heart and emotion, as well as lyrical storytelling. Adrienne Young did a phenomenal job keeping the story fast-paced and gripping, but giving the story so much depth and heart as to keep you thinking about its power for weeks after setting the book down.
- The setting. I loved the Viking-inspired culture with various clans that each have their own traditions, gods and beliefs. The clans were fascinating and unbelievably harsh, which provided the perfect contrast to Eelyn and Fiske's heart-filled journey.
Didn't Love
- I loved everything about this story. I wouldn't change a single thing about it.
Content
- Language:
- No swearing.
- Sexual content:
- A character is tied to a tree with her shirt off. The intent is to make her freeze to death. A male character rescues her and carries her back as she's still shirtless.
- A steamy kiss where he takes off her shirt. No sex, but she is shirtless as they kiss passionately.
- Characters sleep in the same bed as they travel. Again, no sex, but mentions feeling his body against hers, etc.
- Violence:
- Okay friends, there is a LOT of harsh violence in this story, because we are dealing with Vikings.
- MANY mentions of dead bodies and violent injuries throughout the whole book- throat slashings, heads and limbs chopped off, axes to the chest and back, arrows to the heart, and lots of stabbing. There are some major battles where we see lots of death and injuries, but we also see it and hear it referred to throughout the whole story. Blood is described. Many times we see this violence through Eelyn's perspective as she is killing people.
- A character stabs a man's leg multiple times to get him to talk. When he doesn't, she puts her finger in his eye socket and takes his eye out.
- A character is shot with an arrow in the shoulder and her injury is treated and described throughout the book.
- A character must wear a collar around her neck as a prisoner.
- A character is tied to a tree topless as an attempt to kill her.
- Two attempted sexual assaults.
- Mentions of both animal and human sacrifice.
- A legendary clan attacks who is pretty creepy- they are described as being large with white eyes. Their raids are brutal- killing women and children as they sleep, burning people in their houses, slashing throats of anyone escaping, and killing in many other gruesome ways.
- No swearing.
- A character is tied to a tree with her shirt off. The intent is to make her freeze to death. A male character rescues her and carries her back as she's still shirtless.
- A steamy kiss where he takes off her shirt. No sex, but she is shirtless as they kiss passionately.
- Characters sleep in the same bed as they travel. Again, no sex, but mentions feeling his body against hers, etc.
- Okay friends, there is a LOT of harsh violence in this story, because we are dealing with Vikings.
- MANY mentions of dead bodies and violent injuries throughout the whole book- throat slashings, heads and limbs chopped off, axes to the chest and back, arrows to the heart, and lots of stabbing. There are some major battles where we see lots of death and injuries, but we also see it and hear it referred to throughout the whole story. Blood is described. Many times we see this violence through Eelyn's perspective as she is killing people.
- A character stabs a man's leg multiple times to get him to talk. When he doesn't, she puts her finger in his eye socket and takes his eye out.
- A character is shot with an arrow in the shoulder and her injury is treated and described throughout the book.
- A character must wear a collar around her neck as a prisoner.
- A character is tied to a tree topless as an attempt to kill her.
- Two attempted sexual assaults.
- Mentions of both animal and human sacrifice.
- A legendary clan attacks who is pretty creepy- they are described as being large with white eyes. Their raids are brutal- killing women and children as they sleep, burning people in their houses, slashing throats of anyone escaping, and killing in many other gruesome ways.
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