Good morning, friends! Shannon here.
YA author, Adrienne Young, is back with us today and we’re so grateful she’s taken the time to hang out with us and give us a peek into her reading and writing life.
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to introduce you to the author. Now let me share a little bit about her debut novel, Sky in the Deep.
Seventeen-year-old Eelyn’s world is war. Raised to fight alongside her Aska clansmen in a generations-old blood feud against the Riki, 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 if she wants to make it back to the fjord after the thaw. But when she begins to see herself in the people she’s been taught to hate, the world Eelyn once knew begins to crumble. And after the village is raided by a ruthless clan many believe to be a myth, Eelyn is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend who has tried more than once to kill her. Together, they must end the blood feud between their clans or watch their people be slaughtered.
A lush, Viking-age inspired fantasy about loyalty, forgiveness, and the definition of family.
Readers of fantasy and fans of Viking lore will enjoy this read. You can find out more about the story and the inspiration behind it over on Adrienne’s website.
And now! Today’s panel question:
Adrienne: Harry Potter! I know that’s the cliche answer but I just love it so much – how it transcends age groups and people groups and everyone just belongs. I haven’t really tried to create anything, but with Sky in the Deep, I have been really surprised how many people are into the world already. I love seeing people cosplay Eelyn and getting their Viking on.
Note from Shan: Definitely check out Adrienne’s IG. She often shares Eelyn cosplay and the Viking costumes readers come up with are glorious.
Steph: Well, I’ll be cliche too and say Harry Potter for the same reasons that Adrienne said. I love that I can enjoy the early books with my first grader, and the later books with my ten-year-old.
I’ve had some girls show up dressed in roaring 20s garb for book signings, and that was super fun!
Jill: I love Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Captain America, and Wonder Woman. A far as swag goes, I made two sets of velvet flags to match six cities in my Blood of Kings storyworld. I kept one set and divided the others among the readers who created and acted in the two book trailers for To Darkness Fled. I was just so impressed with how much hard work they did, I needed to do something special to thank them. The flags were so time-consuming to make, however, I never did make any more.
Shan: Yeah. It’s hard to beat the Harry Potter fandom. I’m sort of surrounded by it these days. My nine year old and I are reading the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone together right now and my thirteen year old is halfway through a reread of the entire series. But like Adrienne said, I’ve been really impressed with the readers who’ve shown up for Eelyn. So much cosplay for such a new book. I think everyone wants to be a Viking, honestly, and Adrienne just gave us all a great excuse. And also, Wonder Woman. I just . . . ahhhh. I love all the Wonder Woman out there right now. Makes my heart happy.
I haven’t done a whole lot of swag stuff, but I’m always so grateful when readers send me fan art. I really appreciate the opportunity to see what others envision when they read my stories. It’s a compliment that someone would invest their time and skill in a character created by someone else.