THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS
by Emily Skrutskie
Genre: Young Adult, Scifi
Pub Date: Apr 18, 2017
Publisher: Flux
Length: 296 pages
Spoilers: N/A
Goodreads ♦ Amazon($8.25)
I received a free physical ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
Three weeks have passed since Cassandra Leung pledged her allegiance to ruthless pirate-queen Santa Elena and set free Bao, the sea monster Reckoner she’d been forced to train. The days as a pirate trainee are long and grueling, but it’s not the physical pain that Cas dreads most. It’s being forced to work with Swift, the pirate girl who broke her heart. But Cas has even bigger problems when she discovers Boa is not the only a monster swimming free. Other Reckoners illegally sold to pirates have escaped their captors and are taking the NeoPacific by storm, attacking ships at random and ruining the ocean ecosystem. As a Reckoner trainer, Cas might be the only one who can stop them. But how can she take up arms against the creatures she used to care for and protect? Will Cas embrace the murky morals that life as a pirate brings or perish in the dark waters of the NeoPacific?
It’s own Story
What I really loved about this book is that, while it was a sequel and there were parts that hinted at there being a first book, this book could have stood on its own. It had a unique plot. It wasn’t just a continuation of the first book. Rather, each book had an opening and a close and could have been individual novels, which can be hard to find sometimes. So, I loved that about this book!
More Cas
To be honest, I don’t feel like I got a whole lot of insight into Cas and her thoughts in this book. I understood her struggle. She felt like she belonged and also didn’t in both of her worlds, but she was going to have to pick one in the end. I love the turmoil of her dealing with this, but I would like to see more. Just more of her struggles with that over her relationship struggles. I think it would have made this a stronger story.
Too much Romance
Maybe I’m biased as I don’t read romance to begin with, but I was quite disappointed with the sheer number of romantic scenes in this book. There were action scenes. There was a plot. It wasn’t purely romance, but the romance in the book took up close to 40-50% of the book and felt like filler content. It was like there weren’t enough scenes for the main plot and so romance was thrown in to fill the empty space. 
Melanie Noell Bernard 
Thanks for the review, Melanie! I read the first book and really, really enjoyed it so I’m looking forward to the second book. I’m glad to hear that there’s still plenty of action – that was my favourite part of The Abyss Surrounds Us. Hmm thanks for the heads-up regarding the amount of romance. I quite liked it in TASU, so I guess I’ll see how I like it when I read TEotA!
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You’re very welcome! 😀 I definitely liked the 1st book better and quite enjoyed the romance in that one. However, it pushed too far into the forefront of TEotA, but that’s just my opinion. I’m not usually big on romance anyway. :p
Hope you like it!
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Yeah…I have heard about this series but the description does nothing for me…and then three stars? Prob pass. Thanks, Melanie!
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Yeah, I was a little disappointed with the sequel. Though, I quite enjoyed the first book and it comes to a complete end. So, if you wanted to read it as a standalone there’s always that option, but not if it doesn’t interest you.
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