The Girl the Sea Gave Back is an impressively atmospheric historical story

Adrienne Young’s lyrical, atmospheric The Girl The Sea Gave Back, is a Viking tale that stands as worthy companion piece to her debut Sky in the Deep.

Author Adrienne Young has only written two books so far, but so far, they’re both exactly the kind of thing that YA fiction in general needs more of: Compelling historical stories about strong, butt-kicking Viking women.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back is part mystery and part romance, with a bit of prophecy, fate and war thrown in. It follows the stories of Halvard, a young chieftain in training in the Nahdir tribe and Tova, a girl who lives a life of isolation among a tribe that’s not her own. Tova, you see, was found washed ashore as a child and has few memories of the Kyrr, the tribe that birthed her. However, Tova is not only remarkable for her strange origin story. She’s also a Truthtongue, a mysterious figure with the power to cast runes, see into the future and interpret the intentions of the Fate Spinners.

As a result, the Svell she lives with fear her, while she herself feels lonely and outcast from the Kyrr people she’s never known. It’s a difficult position in which to find herself, particularly as the Svell seek to manipulate her for their own purposes (read: starting a war with a rival clans) and she attempts to ascertain what the Spinners of Fate have in store for her. Her

As the Svell and the Nadhir clans slowly but surely move toward war, Tova must figure out a way to keep herself alive while trying to determine why Fate keeps throwing herself in the path of a young boy from the tribe that is now her enemy.

(Spoiler alert: That boy is Halvard. Which should come as no shock to anyone who has ever read a YA novel in their lives ever.)

As Halvard and Tova work to keep the Svell from conquering  and killing the peaceful Nadhir, the two discover there might be more to their connection – and to Tova’s history – than either of them know.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back is technically a sequel. Sort of. It exists in the same world as Young’s first novel, Sky in the Deep. One of Girl’s main characters was a child in Sky, and several significant figures from the first novel make brief appearances in the second. But, to be fair, you don’t really need to know who they are to enjoy this story. The universe that these clans exist in feels richer and more detailed if you’ve read the first book, but it’s certainly not required. The key relationships and plot points are explained enough that it’s no trouble to follow the story and care about all involved.

Young’s lyrical writing and lush descriptions make this world of fjords and forest come alive. And though her battle scenes can occasionally feel a bit as though they have a few too many descriptions of axes slicing into various body parts, the brutality of the sequences does feel both accurate to the time period and a necessary tool for portraying precisely what’s at stake for all involved.

And though Tova has made herself into what appears to be a Katniss Everdeen-level archer over the years, she uses her mind and her guts far more often she uses a bow. Her romantic interest in Halvard is telegraphed very early on, and though their connection feels a bit predictable, it doesn’t dominate the story. The Girl the Sea Gave Back remains predominantly focused on Tova’s journey to discover who she is and what kind of future she wants. And that’s what makes it worth reading.

Admittedly YA historical fiction focused on Viking clans isn’t something that’s terribly common in the genre these days. But thanks to Young’s novels I’d happily read more of it. A lot more.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back is now available.