Book review : The abyss surrounds us by Emily Skrutskie

For Cassandra Leung, bossing around sea monsters is just the family business. She’s been a Reckoner trainer-in-training ever since she could walk, raising the genetically-engineered beasts to defend ships as they cross the pirate-infested Neo Pacific. But when the pirate queen Santa Elena swoops in on Cas’s first solo mission and snatches her from the bloodstained decks, Cas’s dream of being a full-time trainer seems dead in the water. 
There’s no time to mourn. Waiting for her on the pirate ship is an unhatched Reckoner pup. Santa Elena wants to take back the seas with a monster of her own, and she needs a proper trainer to do it. She orders Cas to raise the pup, make sure he imprints on her ship, and, when the time comes, teach him to fight for the pirates. If Cas fails, her blood will be the next to paint the sea. But Cas has fought pirates her entire life. And she's not about to stop.

*****

If you enjoy reading about pirates, sea monsters and lesbians, than this is the book for you! 

This book was about a sea monsters' trainer named Cassandra who was abducted by a group of pirates led by the pirate Queen Santa Elena. She was ordered to raise and trained an unhatched sea monster on the pirate ship or her life will be at stake. Santa Elena assigned one of her crew named Swift to keep an eye on Cassandra and if Cassandra failed or tried to flee, she will kill Swift as well. Reluctantly, Cassandra must obey Santa Elena and gradually befriended and attracted to Swift as their life depended on each other.

I supposed the event in this book happened in an alternative real world (or the future) where sea monsters roamed the high sees and trained to guard ships from pirates. The idea was fresh and I really like it. The characters were interesting; Santa Elena was a real badass, Swift was really cool and Cassandra wasn't that bad either. I like how Cassandra and Swift's relationship deepened. I like how they have this love-hate relationship and how much they would do to save each other. 

The author was quite knowledgeable about ships and mechanical device and it felt like I was watching an action movie or something. I like Cassandra's character development and how she tried to get along with the pirates and thinking about killing them at the same time. The thing that I don't like about this book is how thin it is and I finished reading it in less than a day. But I think there should be a sequel to this book as the ending was a cliffhanger. 

I like this book. I give this book 4.5 stars.

Book review : The invisible library by Genevieve Cogman

The first installment of an adventure featuring stolen books, secret agents and forbidden societies - think Doctor Who with librarian spies!

Irene must be at the top of her game or she'll be off the case - permanently...

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she's posted to an alternative London. Their mission - to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it's already been stolen. London's underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.

Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested - the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene's new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.

Soon, she's up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option - the nature of reality itself is at stake.

*****

When I read the synopsis, I was very excited to get my hands on this book. Who wouldn't like the idea of a spy working for a mysterious library and travelling to different universes to obtain special books? I was very tempted to read this book, so I bought together the second installment; The Masked City. 

This book was about a spy named Irene and her assistant, Kai embarked on a mission to an alternative chaos-infected London to retrieve a book. However, the book was already stolen and they have to play detective and risked their life to find the stolen book.

Frankly, I did not like this book. The idea was very interesting and fresh, however I did not like how the author wrote this book. The plot was confusing and I felt like the dialogues were inconsistent, dragging and not interesting. I got bored in the middle of the book but I tried my best to finish it anyway. I like the general idea of the story, but I think the writer failed to write well or presenting this story as good as I thought it would be. Irene's character was okay though, she was a street smart woman with interesting pasts.

I give this book 3 stars.