silea's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A bit generic and predictable. Characters often seem to make decisions solely to drive the plot/drama rather than doing things in character or that make sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Right in the opening chapters, an animal suffers a graphic injury and death.blacksphinx's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Violence, Animal death, and Grief
Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence
Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Gore
kathrynhoss's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
4.5
Worldbuilding? On point. I didn't understand some of the science-y words but they sounded real!
Plot? On point. Constantly moving. Almost too breakneck, but I like that.
Romance? On point. Cute. Fraught. Root for them.
Characters? Could've been filled out a bit more IMO, but The Abyss Surrounds Us is clearly just the first half of this story. I can't wait to read The Edge of the Abyss to see what develops.
Plot? On point. Constantly moving. Almost too breakneck, but I like that.
Romance? On point. Cute. Fraught. Root for them.
Characters? Could've been filled out a bit more IMO, but The Abyss Surrounds Us is clearly just the first half of this story. I can't wait to read The Edge of the Abyss to see what develops.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Cruelty to sea monsters (not a joke)solarel's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
This book had me surprisingly enthralled for 90% of it. I found the writing engaging and approachable, something a lot of YA books have, but it wasn’t so juvenile that it was just drivel. Something a lot of YA does struggle with.
The ending however felt like a letdown.
And the love story was great till the ending as well.
Decent read but the ending sucked all my joy out.
The ending however felt like a letdown.
Spoiler
Our main character didn’t even dare to dream of the best case ending for her story… merely went with the shitty option.And the love story was great till the ending as well.
Spoiler
what a shallow ending… finding out a betrayal from her love interest, which was the only thing keeping her going till now, I’m the last five pages.Decent read but the ending sucked all my joy out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Violence, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail
asclepius's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Suicide attempt
hatterell's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The Abyss Surrounds Us introduces a really unique concept and portrayal of the future, particularly how society and politics interact with an ocean setting. Overall I liked Strutskie's ideas - both training the Reckoners and having trainee pirates compete to be the next captain was a lot of fun.
However, this book lacked in a lot of areas. The writing was decent but I didn't connect with any of the characters or relationships, and Cas's logic was consistently disjointed and confusing. A main issue for me was that I struggled to visualise what the Reckoners looked like, so I felt like there was a huge hole in scenes as I was reading. Even though there's lots of death in this book, it never made the story feel high stakes.
I'm glad I read this but, other than the concept, the best word I can think of to describe it is average.
However, this book lacked in a lot of areas. The writing was decent but I didn't connect with any of the characters or relationships, and Cas's logic was consistently disjointed and confusing. A main issue for me was that I struggled to visualise what the Reckoners looked like, so I felt like there was a huge hole in scenes as I was reading. Even though there's lots of death in this book, it never made the story feel high stakes.
I'm glad I read this but, other than the concept, the best word I can think of to describe it is average.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, and Grief
Minor: Slavery
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