Review – The Sandcastle Empire by Kayla Olson (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopia/Science Fiction
Length: 464 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-0062484871
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Bought in OwlCrate
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Before the war, Eden’s life was easy. Then the revolution happened, and everything changed.
Now a powerful group called the Wolfpack controls the earth and its resources. And even though Eden has lost everything to them, she refuses to die by their hands. She knows the coordinates to the only neutral ground left in the world, a place called Sanctuary Island, and she is desperate to escape to its shores.
Eden finally reaches the island and meets others resistant to the Wolves. But the solace is short-lived when one of Eden’s new friends goes missing. Braving the jungle in search of their lost ally, they quickly discover Sanctuary is filled with lethal traps and an enemy they never expected.
This island might be deadlier than the world Eden left behind, but surviving it is the only thing that stands between her and freedom.”
I got this book in one of my Owlcrates. This seems to be a stand alone book, but the ending didn’t tie things up very well. I went through a dystopia reading phase a few years ago and am still burned out from it; it’s not my favorite genre and this addition to the genre was mediocre at best.
I enjoyed the way the book started but once the characters get to the island and got involved with all these different competing factions the book became like a lot of other YA dystopian novels I have read.
The characters were really one dimensional and I didn’t really enjoy them. A ton of characters are added in the last third of the book. The plot starts to get so convoluted that it was a bit hard to follow and just plain boring. It really didn’t hold my interest and I almost stopped reading the book 400 pages in but decided to go ahead and push through.
The style of writing is very easy to read and there were some good action scenes towards the beginning of the story. It just couldn’t hold my interest all the way through
Overall an okay YA dystopia/post-apocalyptic novel but not great. I enjoyed the beginning of the book but my attention really drifted towards the end and I almost stopped reading it. There are some neat ideas in here to start but it ended up being a pretty typical dystopian story by the end.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
