BOOK REVIEW | Sanctuary by Caryn Lix

Title: Sanctuary
Author: Caryn Lix
Series? I couldn't find any information on a sequel, but there is room for another book. However, if the this could stand alone.
Publication Date: July 24, 2018
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: I received an e-arc of Sanctuary via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. :)

Alien meets Alexandra Bracken’s The Darkest Minds in this thrilling debut novel about prison-guard-in-training, Kenzie, who is taken hostage by the superpowered criminal teens of the Sanctuary space station—only to have to band together with them when the station is attacked by mysterious creatures.

Kenzie holds one truth above all: the company is everything.

As a citizen of Omnistellar Concepts, the most powerful corporation in the solar system, Kenzie has trained her entire life for one goal: to become an elite guard on Sanctuary, Omnistellar’s space prison for superpowered teens too dangerous for Earth. As a junior guard, she’s excited to prove herself to her company—and that means sacrificing anything that won’t propel her forward.

But then a routine drill goes sideways and Kenzie is taken hostage by rioting prisoners.

At first, she’s confident her commanding officer—who also happens to be her mother—will stop at nothing to secure her freedom. Yet it soon becomes clear that her mother is more concerned with sticking to Omnistellar protocol than she is with getting Kenzie out safely.

As Kenzie forms her own plan to escape, she doesn’t realize there’s a more sinister threat looming, something ancient and evil that has clawed its way into Sanctuary from the vacuum of space. And Kenzie might have to team up with her captors to survive—all while beginning to suspect there’s a darker side to the Omnistellar she knows.

Goodreads

When I saw Sanctuary available to request on NetGalley, I was convinced to request right away. The synopsis drew me in, and though the book delivered what it promised, I did find the story lackluster at times. 

Sanctuary follows our protagonist, Kenzie, who is a citizen of Omnistellar Concepts. She works on a spaceship with her mother, in hopes of one day becoming a guard. The guards watch over people with superpowers. On Kenzie's ship, all the detainees are teenagers. Soon into the book, Kenzie is taken hostage by the prisoners, and loyalties are tested. Later in the book, another adversary, one much more dangerous for the immediate future, invades the ship.

As other reviews have mentioned on goodreads,  Sanctuary is distinctly separated into two parts. The first is Kenzie's hostage by prisoners. The second is the sinister threat that the synopsis mentions, and has a much different feel than the first half. Personally, I felt as if Sanctuary was two books mashed into one. At 480 pages, I would have liked if Sanctuary was two separate books that took more time to develop the characters and make the world seem more realistic.  

Because the book had two distinct acts, I don't think there was enough page time to develop any of the characters properly. For instance, when Kenzie is taken prisoner and her mom struggles to meet the prisoners demands in exchange for Kenzie's freedom, I wasn't convinced of that betrayal. Not enough time was given to Kenzie and her mother's relationship, so when Kenzie felt betrayed, it didn't resonate with me. The same goes for character deaths. There were a couple characters who died, and it didn't mean anything to me. 

Despite my problem withe lack of character development, I did like the action. There aren't many slow points in Sanctuary, especially int he second act. If I'm being honest, I preferred the second act over the first. There were several twists, and the action scenes were well done. The superpowers could have been utilized a bit more, but I thought they were paced and planned out well. 

If you are looking for romance in the books you read, you're in luck! There is a good bit of romance in Sanctuary. While it wasn't my favorite romance, I thought it was done pretty well. Kenzie and her love interest have an instant connection, and since the book takes place in a day or two, the romance moves fast. However, Caryn Lix acknowledges the quick pace of their relationship. I liked that the characters took time to acknowledge that they had much more to learn about each other and that they moved fast. By having that scene in the book, it shows that Lix is self-aware of the romance and ensures that their relationship doesn't have the insta-love many readers loathe. 

Sanctuary isn't my favorite science fiction book, but it is far from the worst. I wish that the characters were developed a bit more, but the action scenes were done very well, and I liked the romance. After the open ending of the first book, I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. 

With that, I give Sanctuary 
3.5 out of 5 Spaceships! 

Have you read Sanctuary? What did you think?

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Happy Reading!

Genni @ Ready, Set, Read!