I liked the first book better, and that says a lot, since I already didn't like the first one very much. But then, I am not the target group's age.

There were too many action scenes, too little world building, a lot was left unresolved in the end. For a teen/YA who likes action packed stories this book might be it. It wasn't for me.

This was a really good book! This is my first review on this site, and I have to say that I had a really fun time. This one I wasn't too sure about. It's been a while since I read book one and with school, I really have time to reread it. So I started this book with hope on my side. This one I didn't get to far into it until I was around 30%. Then it really started getting good. The continuing story was wonderful. It was one great book. The creatures in this story were fabulos. You really do need to read book one to get the full story for this series. I really can't wait for more. I really love books with LBGTQ themes. And if you do you won't be lost with this one.

I really wanted to love this book. Even after my issues with the first book I had high hopes the sequel would make up for those issues. I liked it a bit better than the first but not by much. I was happy that she got called her out on the Stockholm syndrom but sadly nothing really came of it. Just like the first book the plot was interesting but I wanted a bit more world building. A lot of the characters were still annoying but at least I got to see more of the trainees developpement. I love pirates and sea monsters but I didnt like how the main character Cas kept second guessing herself. She still liked Swift despite everything shes done and what she found out at the end of the first book.

I loved that the main character was asian but I really didnt like Cas and Swifts relationship. It was unhealthy and down right ridiculous at times. One date and some sex doesnt help you magically forgive someone. I dont mind morally grey characters but a weak main character who turns their back on their family just rubs me the wrong way. It wasnt what I was expecting when I picked up the first book. Since shes a monster trainer I was expecting a kick ass female character but it didnt feel that way when she went against everything she believed in. I still dont understand why she did it.

I still wasnt sure how to felt about Swift, and Cas's polarizing feelings towards her made my feelings even harder to decipher. One minute she hates her and the next she thinks Swift deserve this great future. In the end their relationship frustrated me so much that it was hard to like Swift. Even though I know the captain is a very good manipulator I didnt like how being favored by the captain seemed more important to Swift than her relationship with Cas. I hated how she manipulated Cas into fogiving her by making it seem like she was doing it for her family and how Cas blamed herself for not seeing the truth about Swift.

The captains manipulation kind of reminded me of some kind of cult leader who brainwashes their followers. Why else would these characters make such stupid decisions. At least it makes the captain a good antagonist. Also wouldnt they all be guilty since the amount of Hellbeast equals the amount of pirate ships. I think my favorite part of this book was Bao and the action. I was a little disapointed with the ending but the writing flowed easily and if you think you wont have an issue with the characters and their relationship then the rest of the book is definitely worth it.

(Review will be posted on Amazon after publication day and this book will also be featured in my monthly wrap up)

I did think this was slightly better than book 1. I didn't get almost angry at this book, like I did the first. Unfortunately, I still I didn't feel the magic I was hoping for, but overall it was an okay read.

I felt like this book was almost too short. There were a few major things that never got resolved. And besides some monster battles, not much happened. Again, this book had pirates, but I still had trouble telling most of them apart. I really wish the secondary characters had been more defined.

The "romance" of the book, still left me feeling kind of "what was that?" I guess I don't know what to make of it. They spent half the book hating each other, but still really didn't fall in love at the end either. It was a very strange combo for me.

There was some exciting monster battles, that I enjoyed. The only issue is sometimes they were so chaotic, I had trouble realizing what was going on. I wish the author would have included some sketches of the monsters, it would have made things easier to see in my head.

Emily Skrutskie, can write and I think she will be around as an author for a long time. These books were not really up to my personal tastes. But with so many good reviews, I'm sure others will enjoy them more than I did.

An ARC was given to me by Netgalley, for a honest review.

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. :/

I read this book and was completely lost not realizing that there was a book one to this. With that being said, all I can say about this book was I I enjoyed how the author built the story. It showed talent. But there was something about the overall story, once I got over my confusion, that didn't sit too well with me and I believe it was Cas. She wasn't a real like-able character for although everything and everyone surrounding her was.

Overall, it is unfair of me to rate this book as I am missing a chunk of the story.

Fantastic end to the series! It was action packed from start to finish, and I loved how things wrapped up!

I absolutely loved The Abyss Surrounds Us so it seemed too good to be true when I was given an ARC of TEotA by NetGalley. It seemed like torture to have to wait until April to get the rest of the story and thankfully I wasn't expected to be patient!

Even though The Edge of the Abyss started out a little slow, the plot picked up speed quickly and by the halfway point I really didn't want to put the book down. Skrutskie doesn't really waste any time rehashing the events and characters of the first book, which is good for pacing and didn't bog down the story. Instead she just jumps right into the story, which picks up only a few weeks after the first on left off. Cas is still struggling to forgive Swift for things she did in the first novel and is still struggling with her relationship with Swift, the Captain and the rest of the pirates on the Minnow. For the first bit of the book, the main focus was on the back-and-forth between Cas and Swift and their feelings for one another. Honestly, it started to grow a little tiring and frustrating because I've never been one for the will-they-or-won't-they plot device. Skrutskie threw the plot in a different direction just as I was really finding myself growing frustrating and then it was off to the races! The main premise of the book involves the fate of the NeoPacific now that many of the pirate-Reckoners have been released into the ocean and Cas, Santa Elena and the others are in charge of heading the movement to get the other pirate crews to join them in taking out the wild beasts before they destroy the ecosystem for good. Throughout the latter half of the book, the nature of Cas and Swift's relationship became less important and less ambiguous which was honestly fine with me. I liked that it was more on the back-burner for the rest of what was happening and that's coming from someone who has been rooting for them since page one (of the first book!). All I can say is that everything about the book comes to a satisfying conclusion and I don't have any complaints about how each thread of the story was wrapped up!

Honestly I feel like this (and the first book) are the kind of stories I've been so desperately searching for: the types of stories where the lesbian couple is treated exactly like a straight couple would be, where their relationship isn't actually part of the plot (like the whole "oh I like girls what do I do?!" thing that's so popular among YA books). Instead it's just a book about pirates, sea monsters, struggling with your moral conscious and figuring out where you belong...but the main couple happens to be a lesbian one. Perfect combination!

I thought this book was fabulous and I really need more people to read it so I can fangirl properly! It was a great, satisfying conclusion to a great duology! (Though honestly I would read like 5 more books in this series...)

I can't remember the last time I thought the sequel was better than the first book. But The Edge of the Abyss outshone it's predecessor—which wasn't easy, since I also gave The Abyss Surrounds Us five stars—and had me staring at a wall for at least fifteen minutes when I closed the last page.

Edge of the Abyss opens a few weeks after Cas promised herself to the Minnow as one of Santa Elena's protege's, and we're immediately thrown into the thick of the plot when a rogue Reckoner attacks the ship. All the illegally sold Reckoner pups were set loose in the NeoPacific and are tearing the ecosystem apart.

So it's up to Cas and the rest of the Minnow to fix the problem, or die trying.

Skrutskie's mastery of language left me speechless at the narrative, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't want to tattoo some of the gems she dropped into the book somewhere on me as a badge of honor. (Which I totally want to do.) I immediately tore through half of the book while sitting at work one morning and I didn't want to put it down at all. I was sucked in and I needed to know what was going to happen next.

(Full Review will be posted on rrwrites.com April 17th 2017 @ 8am EST)

I was really disappointed with this sequel. I adored THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US. It was addicting and felt new. But I felt its sequel THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS was an angst-ridden repetitive book. The way the sea monsters were treated in this book also really made me uncomfortable and sad. In the first book there was lots of cuteness with the monsters Cas trained, but this book was mostly death, death, and more death. All in all, this was a disappointing book for me.

I'm shook, bruh. So good and nasty and brutal and heartwarming and sweet and totally badass. THE perfect conclusion to a stunning, unforgettable story.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I didn't know until I was 40% into it that it was a sequel. Totally my fault but I'm surprised how much I liked this book considering I haven't read the first book.

I loved the concept of this book so much. The concept of this book is without a doubt one of the best I've ever read. I love pirates so this book was right up my alley and I loved the fantastical creatures in this book as well. This reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean, which is one of my favorite film franchises, and if you enjoy PotC, I'd highly recommend this The Edge of the Abyss (but don't be like me, you should read the first book before reading book two).
I was actually pretty invested in Cas and Swift's relationship and I think their relationship is one of the best written that I've ever read about.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I'm excited to go read the first book. I loved the concept so, so much. If you're looking for a really exciting and fun LBGTQ fantasy series, I'd definitely recommend The Abyss Surrounds Us series.

Honestly after the rollicking thrill that was The Abyss Surrounds Us I was very much looking forward to The Edge of the Abyss and it DELIVERED. Even better than the previous book, everything about this one was on point. It was sharply written, expertly paced, and the relationship dynamics between Cas and Swift were fraught and and engaging.
It's a difficult task to make a character's conflict of morality a believable thing as well as have it be interesting to read about for an entire book but Skrutskie definitely managed to make Cas' struggle feel vivid and real as she battles with the choices that led her to pledging herself to the pirate ship and everything her previous life was totally against.
The wrap up of the duology was pitch perfect, utterly satisfying in every way.

What a perfect conclusion to the THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US duology. My only complaint is that it is over. I love both of these books with all my heart, and would recommend them to anyone, people of all ages and reading tastes.

I was worried that THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS wouldn't stand against its incredible predecessor, but my worries were unfounded: It was just as good, if not better. I loved Cas's character development, the relationship, the plot, and the ending... There is nothing I can point out as negative, as I adored it.

I love the fact that this was a book with an f/f relationship in an SFF book- we see that so rarely in YA, and I want these books to get the attention they most definitely deserve.

Be assured, I will be buying this book when it releases, as well as supporting the author for any future books she writes, and promoting these books constantly until everyone I know has read them.

The first book in this series was one of my surprise hits of last year so I couldn’t wait to read the next instalment of Cas’s adventures.

Emily Skrutskie really upped her game in The Edge of the Abyss and I loved everything in this book. The tensions between Cas and Swift, and Cas and Santa Elena, and Swift and Santa Elena, were at boiling point. It makes the risks riskier, the promises and the secrets even more crucial and I just couldn’t pull myself away. It was sexy, tense and totally captivating - I want more from this world. Please?

Everything I've ever wanted

With The Abyss Surrounds Us being a new instant favorite, I had high hopes for The Edge of the Abyss. I was constantly worried that I would be disappointed, as if often with amazing first books.

Skrutskie does not disappoint.

She gave us more of everything. More action. More sea monsters. More pirates. More women loving women. More character development.

Something I was grateful for was the quick briefing at the beginning that reminded readers of what happened in TASU. It was included in a way that was natural, so it didn't feel like the author was giving you a summary to renew your memory, but more like the character was having an inner-monologue with herself about how she got into the situation. Cas's character development from the first book to this one is astounding, and you can see and understand every step of it. Same thing with Swift and the other characters--so many of them get so much more development.

Santa Elena was barely in the first one except for her key appearances, but you really get to know her in this last book. She's a horrible person, but you get hooked on her with how intricate and amazing her character is, and it's near addicting.

Intense to the very end

I also adored the plot for this one. While it doesn't really line up with TASU's plot, it still connects in a way that doesn't make it feel random. In fact, the events in TASU affect what happens in TEOTA greatly, and so many events come rocking back to the surface as if these books were not two, but one.

The entire book was important--either to the plot or to the characters. When the characters weren't being developed, the plot was being pushed along. One of those things were always happening, with never a boring part in this book to be seen. In fact, I literally only have one complaint about this book, because I was so overjoyed with the rest of this book.

TASU's ending had so much action and it was honestly my favorite literary scene from the moment I read it. TEOTA was just as amazing . . . if it hadn't been cut off randomly. I seriously wanted to see the interactions that would have lead up to the actual conclusion, but it was sadly cut out and there was an odd time skip that didn't sit well with me. Despite this, I really didn't drop my rating any lower, because the entire rest of the book made up for this small fact.

Final Rating: ★★★★★

Overall?

The Edge of the Abyss was probably one of my favorite sequels ever to sequel. There was so much character development and dynamic and the plot was amazing and that twist at the end literally had me screaming at 9 at night. Skurtskie is an expert mood-crafter, and I am jealous of her talent. She will forever be an auto-buy author. I don't care what else she writes. I'll buy it.

Would I Recommend?

Yes. If you read and loved The Abyss Surrounds Us, then you'll love The Edge of the Abyss just as much. This is a very solid and diverse duology to support, and it has an amazing ending that doesn't disappoint (too much).

I really enjoyed "The Abyss Surrounds Us," and Emily Skrutskie has provided a perfect follow-up to it with "The Edge of the Abyss"!! Give this to any teens (or adults) who enjoy high-stakes action-adventures (and *definitely* give this to anyone who enjoyed the film "Pacific Rim")!

As its sequel, The Edge of the Abyss really delivered.

It has SO MUCH ACTION SCENES and just fights between huge monsters that you will love to read. This book has a more Pirates of the Caribbean 3 vibe than the first one and it's a perfect thing to say because that movie was my favorite from all of the PoTC movies tbh. You'll see more pirates and ships and crews and meet so many new characters. It's such a good follow-up from The Abyss Surrounds Us.

PS. You'll want more. Like I want more. Please.

The Edge of Abyss, sequel to last year's lesbian pirate / kaiju adventure The Abyss Surrounds Us, cheerfully embraces that it needs to go big or go home. This is sea battletastic - more fights and more scale, from small boats and rocket launchers against one sea monster to a no-holds-barred finale with all the monsters and all the pirates. Literally.

It's stupidly cinematic, and Cas Leung is a great heroine - spiky, conflicted, lesbian, determined and delighted to find some Canto food after months at sea - but I'm at least as fond of pirate captain Santa Elena. She reminds me strongly of fictional pirate favourite Zamira Drakasha (and that's a face-off I'd break my fan-fiction-free diet for), although we get fewer fabulous coat-swishing moments and a lot more sight of the ruthless manner in which she manipulates her trainees. I've never been able to take my eyes off her, and here we really get to see her impressive leadership skills in full flow. We also get to meet LOTS of other pirates and begin to understand the tenuous ties that bind. Even without the sea monsters it would be fascinating stuff - but we get loads more of them (and get up close and personal with the various breeds) too.

There's also two themes woven through it that I really liked: nobody stands alone (ecosystems are bigger than states, and we need to put aside our differences to save them) and everybody has a choice (with side helpings - albeit largely left on the table unchewed - of intergenerational conflict and privilege, which I would like to have seen explored more in retrospect, although at the time I was distracted by the sea monsters).

Great stuff.