. (not active on this account stop adding me)'s Reviews > The Edge of the Abyss

Representation: f/f romance, Asian American MC

my twitter thread and my blog post

I’ll start off by saying that the ending of the first book seemed like a perfect, open conclusion so I was sceptical about this sequel. However, I ended up liking this more than the first book.

The main selling point for this novel was the romance. Skrutskie is excellent at establishing angst in the relationship and keeping the audience on their toes for the remainder of the book to see if they’ll end up together or not. I particularly loved the characterisation of Swift – especially since she’s modelled after “bad boys” in Young Adult. She’s supposed to be the unemotional, badass love interest, but instead, she’s the soft one in the relationship that admits her feelings first and just wants to stay with Cas.

I liked that we explored more of Cas’ family in this sequel since I felt like it was open-ended in the first book. It felt somehow unrealistic that she would want to completely leave her family for her life as a pirate, but it was ultimately resolved in the end.

My main complaint was that I could barely tell what was happening at all times. I said this in my review for the first review, but I didn’t understand the various sci-fi terms used and it was difficult for me to pay attention because I wasn’t engaged.

Overall, this was a strong, action-packed sequel with a perfect blend of humour and romance, but there was just something that fell flat for me.