Emily Skrutskie’s debut novel The Abyss Surrounds Us made a splash when it released earlier this year. Queer pirate girls working with giant monsters? Yes, please. Its sequel The Edge of The Abyss releases this April – and it looks just as awesome.
“When you’re planning the cover of your first book, anything goes,” said Skrutskie. “I mean, mostly anything goes. Point is, your cover could go in any direction. Planning the cover of a sequel is a different beast. And on this cover, we decided to take that entirely literally, playing up the contrast between the first book and the second. Where the first cover had Cas backgrounded by a terrapoid Reckoner, we decided to use this one as a chance to show off another kind of monster swimming the NeoPacific. And of course, like the first cover, Cas stands in the foreground — only not as a Reckoner trainer anymore. Something’s a little bit different there.”
Three weeks have passed since Cassandra Leung pledged her allegiance to the 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 that Bao is not the only 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 creatures she used to care for and protect?
The Edge of the Abyss releases from Flux on April 18.
Want to win a copy of The Edge of the Abyss? Fill out the form below to win one of two complete sets of The Abyss Surrounds Us and The Edge of the Abyss. Giveaway prizes donated by Flux. Open to the U.S. and Canada only. Void where prohibited.
