#Emily Skrutskie

[skrutskie]

THE SALVATION GAMBIT is now available wherever books are sold!

I commissioned this incredible art of Fitz and Murdock from @anaeolist, whose work I have been a fan of for literally ten years, and they absolutely crushed it. 🥰

[sapphicstrawb3rry]

The Abyss Surrounds Us 🦈⛴🌊🖤 by Emily Skrutskie (Book #1)

"But she underestimated me. I played my cards, I lay in wait, I let myself be beaten and manipulated. If she keeps that promise she made to me, I’ll show her the truth I’ve learned on her boat. I don’t just raise monsters. I am one."

One of the first sapphic YA books I ever read and maybe one of my favourites! A dystopian sci-fi coming-of-age series with genetically-engineered sea monsters, pirates, gripping action sequences and a complex romance. Skrutskie’s prose is so immersive and consuming in the way it subtly brings you into the fold, not just of the marine-pacific new world order she has created, but also of the moral ambiguities that arise in all her distinct characters. Absolutely loved reading about Cas’ unique role, her tumultuous bond with the reckoners she trains, her clashes with Swift and her grappling to stay afloat under the manipulative games of pirate matriarch Santa Elena.

Most wonderful of all probably is the series’ subversive underlying message on building a relationship on equal footing of power, with Cas coming into her own, realising her ambitions. Tbh it’s a good and important reprieve from many sapphic novels that romanticise dynamics of uneven power play, though they have their own existential neuroses and reasons for being the way they are. The plot twist in this novel was, to say the least, totally unexpected and I loved it. Book 2 moodboard coming soon! ❤︎₊ ⊹

[wearethekat]

December Book Reviews: The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie

I think someone recommended this book to me, but it's been in my Libby get to later pile for ages, so props to you if this was your recommendation. In The Salvation Gambit, young hacker Murdock and her team have been arrested for conning rich people, and sacrificed to a mad AI warship for their crimes. But the Justice is more than it seems, with a whole community of people inside of it—and an AI mind fixated on recruiting Murdock.

I was so-so on Skrutskie's earlier book, Bonds of Brass, but willing to give her work another try for this sapphic scifi prison break. I liked the worldbuilding aspect of the mad AI still trying to execute its duties to an empire centuries dead while desperately attempting to repair itself as it crumbles. I also liked the hardscrabble civilization that the press-ganged citizens have built inside the ship, from the vicious scavengers in the outer reaches to the self-sustaining communities farther in. I also liked the push and pull romance between hotheaded Murdock and Fitz, who's the "face" in their con games and an intriguing mix of polished iciness and awkwardness.

However! I thought that our MC Murdock read as unusually inexperienced, impulsive, and naive for an adult fiction protagonist, and strongly reminiscent of the teens from the YA I stopped reading because I found the characters annoying. It was also fairly obvious to me as the reader that their leader Hark was deliberately setting Murdock and Fitz at each others' throats to fight for her attention in order to manipulate both women. It read to me as deeply toxic if not outright abusive, and Murdock didn't really catch on to what was happening by the end of the novel, outside of reconciling with Fitz and reaffirming their little band as a found family. Well! I suppose family you acquire has a right to be toxic as the one you were born with. Perhaps this plot thread might be addressed in a sequel, but there doesn't seem to be one in the works.

A fun enough sapphic heist, but it's strongly reminiscent of new adult or YA due to the feel of the protagonist.

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Queer Sci-Fi Thrillers

The Last 8 by Laura Pohl (YA) The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Book names + authors under the cut

KJ Brandman/Mac Coyle- Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan & Cliff Chiang

Ettian Nassun/Gal Ump Ember- Bonds of Brass/Bloodright Trilogy by Emily Skrutskie

Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus- The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir

Tennal Halkana/Surit Yeni- Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell

[pirate-deathmatch]

Round 1 Starboard: Santa Elena (The Abyss Surrounds Us) vs Jack Rackham (Black Sails)

(Santa Elena art by @may12324)

Santa Elena is excellent at scheming and manipulation. Jack is good at convincing his enemies he has more men than he actually does.

[the pirates MAY use any special skills or equipment they possess. They may NOT call on any friends or creatures to assist them. For the sake of this tournament, all pirates CAN be killed and cannot come back to life during the fight. Remember: this isn't about favorites, this is about fighting power. Deathmatch masterpost Here.]

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Bonds of Brass | Author: Emily Skrutskie | Publisher: Del Rey Books (2020)

[magpiesbones]

It does honestly impress me how EXACTLY and PRECISELY Emily Skrutskie constructs the most INCREDIBLE and Appealing premises only to do LITERALLY nothing with them. These books are SO empty!!

like okay. First book of hers I read, a fun little synopsis:

woman who works as a sea monster trainer to train massive genetically engineered Beasts to protect ships from pirate attacks falls in love with a pirate! INSANE right. Should be accompanied by an exploration of THE CREATION OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED WEAPONS and probably also the ECONOMY LEADING TO PIRACY and not to mention the JUSTICE SYSTEM and what it means to have ALL THAT GODDAMN POWER but no. There’s nothing.

weird! Funky little book I’m sure I can just excise from my mind and never think about again—

BUT I CANT. BECAUSE HER PLOT POINTS ARE TOO DAMN INTERESTING. and oh big surprise but all the rest of her books have the EXACT same issues!!

hullmetal girls: two girls fall in love (I think?) in a military academy after being turned into weapons in a completely space-faring society. I believe one of them was a rich officer-track girl and the other was poor and in it for the family pension. But oh that’s so interesting! Will we be exploring THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM? Themes of BODILY AUTONOMY? Themes of perhaps even GENDER relating to bodily autonomy or MEDICAL AUTONOMY or PHYSICAL DEVALUATION? How about a look into WHY THIS SOCIETY IS SO DAMN BIFURCATED? or perhaps WHY THERES A NEED FOR MILITARY AT ALL? We sure fucking won’t!

All of this is Backdrop you see! Because it sounds Cool. A little bit of spice, perhaps, for what is maybe the MOST milquetoast romance I have ever read wherein neither of the characters was even differentiable from any other. Nobody had an arc. Nobody had a theme or god forbid a thematic resolution. Things happened because they were cool and sounded neat.

I’ve read books with bad writing before but usually those books were at least passionate and TRYING. I’ve never read before or since a book that was so empty and devoid of any deeper meaning. Shallow in the MOST literal sense. And to be frank I WAS digging! These books are a backyard sandbox marked out like an archeological site.

[judgingbooksbycovers]

The Salvation Gambit: A Novel

By Emily Skrutskie.

[zahroreadsthings]

cheering so loudly when the latest skrutskie novel continues the proud tradition of vent crawling

[skrutskie]

"hey, murdock. i like the new look."

This year's gift commission from the outrageously talented Sarah Skrutskie, of a certain someone entering her villain era.

THE SALVATION GAMBIT is available wherever books are sold!

[the-dust-jacket]

[aurorawest]

I’m so excited to read the final book in this gay space trilogy!

Hm the printing seems messed up…

Hm I literally cannot read the words on the page…

I mean who needs to READ a book, amiright?

Terrible job, Del Rey.

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

[madlovenovelist]

Slow and Steady Wins the Race.

A February 2023 wrap up With January wiped off from suffering with a moderate-to-severe case of COVID-19, it carried over through February, but at least the symptoms were much milder and I was able to feel like I was achieving something. Though, admittedly, I’m still not at 100% but the Doc assured me things will be back to normal in March… I just have to start getting my body used to activity…