She is forced to think about whether or not her actions as a Reckoner trainer are just as immoral as those of the pirates. While she has been raised to believe that pirates are evil and must be eradicated, her time with Santa Elena’s crew allows her to see them as real people struggling to make a living.

Throughout the novel, Cas struggles to reconcile her conflicting emotions. This pattern continues throughout the novel, and the two extremes balance each other out well. For example, Cas’ descriptions of the pirate attack are followed by a scene in which she contemplates her crippling guilt about her inability to protect the ship she had been assigned to. The plot switches between high-intensity action scenes and slower emotional scenes. The author also acknowledges the diversity that would have accompanied the described socio-political situation, adding authenticity to the novel’s set-up: Cas is of Chinese descent and the novel subtly includes characters who are Hindu, Pacific Islander or racially ambiguous. The comparisons that Cas makes between herself and Swift, the pirate girl assigned to watch over Cas during her time aboard, highlight the social issues present in the world of “The Abyss Surrounds Us” like the disparity between the rich and poor. “The Abyss Surrounds Us” is a thrilling fantasy packed with action and emotion.įrom the descriptions of the Reckoners and how they are birthed to the complex governmental situation and social hierarchy, Skrutskie has thought of everything in building her world. However, Cas has been raised to battle pirates, and she has no plans to change her ways anytime soon. When Cas’ first mission alone goes awry and she is captured by pirate captain Santa Elena, Cas is forced, the threat of death at her back, to raise the pirates’ unhatched Reckoner to fight for them. The first of a planned duology, the novel follows Cassandra Leung, a 17-year-old who has been taught all her life to train Reckoners, genetically-engineered beasts designed to defend ships in the pirate-ridden NeoPacific. “The Abyss Surrounds Us” by Emily Skrutskie confirms this truth.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the union of sea monsters and pirates makes for a great fantasy novel.

The abyss that surrounds us