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novelheartbeat's review against another edition
3.0
2.5/5
In case you missed my review for Sanctuary, I absolutely loved the first book! It was gripping, the aliens were chilling, and I loved the dark Alien-esque feel it had going for it. It was a space horror through and through and kept you on the edge of your seat.
This book? Not so much. There was some major Second Book Syndrome going on here. The parts that I loved so much about the first book - namely, the scary aliens - were almost missing from this book. There were things happening but it didn't feel like anything was really happening, if that makes any sense? The first half felt very redundant. It felt like there wasn't much plot except "stop the ship's signal from reaching the aliens." I was actually quite bored for the majority beginning, and the middle really dragged. There was such a buildup in the beginning leading up to the inevitable "aliens receive ship's signal" that it was almost painful. They kept talking about the aliens and what would happen if they got the signal, and I desperately wanted the aliens to come back and spice things up. I missed that from the first book!
Sadly, I didn't get what I wanted until the last third of the book. So it didn't get exciting for me until three hundred pages into the book. That's a lot of pages to not grab my full attention. Like I said, I was pretty bored until the real action started. I didn't really care about what was happening until that point, because it just felt like a bunch of running, getting caught, and escaping (followed by more running) and that was the extent of events leading up to the aliens returning.
Things I didn't like:
-Slow pacing despite things happening
-Lack of plot or anything interesting happening
-Redundancy of events (running, getting caught, escaping)
-Lack of connection to characters (as compared to the first book)
-The "twist" (see below spoiler)
Spoiler
I hated the big twist of Matt being alive. It made his death (and Kenzie's PTSD over killing him) feel cheap and contrived, as well as making the first half of the book where Kenzie did nothing but dwell on it completely pointless. It also felt like it was out of left field, deus ex machina. It made zero sense and was completely implausible even if you suspend belief for the fact that it's sci-fi and the kids have extraordinary powers. He had no pulse, wasn't breathing, on a ship full of murderous aliens that BLEW THE FUCK UP and he's alive? Really? "Oh but the ship only exploded because I took the shuttle to safety." Yeah, okay.Things I liked:
-ALIENS!
-X-Men feel with the characters' powers (especially the compounded powers!)
-Um....aliens?
Okay, that looks bad, doesn't it? It's not that I didn't like the book, it's just that I felt massively underwhelmed and disappointed after loving Sanctuary so much. The sequel was definitely missing the magic of the first book. On the bright side, though, it was actually a pretty fast read despite my lack of interest.
This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.
gemihi's review against another edition
4.0
teens on the run combined with even more chaos than before, what more could i ask for? this had a totally different vibe from sanctuary but it was still super entertaining. i'm just really happy that this series exists because my sci-fi loving self would've never been satisfied otherwise :')
teawithalibra's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure this concept is unique enough for a trilogy, but I guess we're getting one anyway!
bibliomaineiac's review against another edition
4.0
Caryn Lix continues the story of Kenzie and her new friends from the prison Sanctuary, as they flee the alien creatures and fight Omnistellar. I enjoyed this sequel just as much as the first book. The pacing of the story is good, with moments of excitement and worry intermingled with moments of thought and reflection. I look forward to Book #3.
swatbooknb's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
jackierabbit's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Vomit and Drug use
jasmine6563's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
infinitysbookshelf's review against another edition
5.0
I received this copy from NetGalley a while back without having read the first book in this series. Long story short I loved Sanctuary, I really found I could connect with the characters and the powers were unique. This sequel put all the best parts of the first book into overdrive and I found myself along for the ride. It was a fast-paced thrill ride that pulled no punches and the ending was just superb. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by receiving this book from NetGalley.
Since this is a sequel I often find that even the blurb on the back is full of spoilers for the first book, so I will describe Sanctuary instead. Imagine you have worked for a corporation for your entire life, wishing only to become a security guard to defend it from insurrection. You work on a prison space station watching over superpowered teenagers, then one day everything goes wrong.
The atmosphere of both novels were fantastic and it all had to do with the perfect setting. The first book was solely based in one place, but jumping between places in the sequel was actually a little more interesting. The author was able to describe so many unique places and her descriptions were on par. It really allowed myself to visualize everything.
The story was a little tropey, but in a good way. The tropes made the story better as it was interesting to see unique characters go through familiar situations. The introduced characters were also quite interesting and it was interesting to see the reintroduction of some.
The real pull that the story has on me is due to the powers, everyone had unique powers in the first book, but gradually throughout this sequel the powers got even more interesting. I wish that certain peoples powers were used more often or even used effectively in a fight, but that characters ineptitude was also a high-point in this fantastic novel.
Finally the ending. But what can I say, it was completely out of left field and is making me so urgently need the next book. I really want to find out what happens. At the ten pages left mark, I was so certain that the book would end in a really weird place as so many things were happening at once, but it pulled through and made a weird ending that was so satisfying.
I had a really fun time with this book, despite being forced to only read it on my computer, and I always looked forward to getting back into the story. Now I need to add the next book to my TBR, hopefully I won’t have to wait that long.
5 stars
Since this is a sequel I often find that even the blurb on the back is full of spoilers for the first book, so I will describe Sanctuary instead. Imagine you have worked for a corporation for your entire life, wishing only to become a security guard to defend it from insurrection. You work on a prison space station watching over superpowered teenagers, then one day everything goes wrong.
The atmosphere of both novels were fantastic and it all had to do with the perfect setting. The first book was solely based in one place, but jumping between places in the sequel was actually a little more interesting. The author was able to describe so many unique places and her descriptions were on par. It really allowed myself to visualize everything.
The story was a little tropey, but in a good way. The tropes made the story better as it was interesting to see unique characters go through familiar situations. The introduced characters were also quite interesting and it was interesting to see the reintroduction of some.
The real pull that the story has on me is due to the powers, everyone had unique powers in the first book, but gradually throughout this sequel the powers got even more interesting. I wish that certain peoples powers were used more often or even used effectively in a fight, but that characters ineptitude was also a high-point in this fantastic novel.
Finally the ending. But what can I say, it was completely out of left field and is making me so urgently need the next book. I really want to find out what happens. At the ten pages left mark, I was so certain that the book would end in a really weird place as so many things were happening at once, but it pulled through and made a weird ending that was so satisfying.
I had a really fun time with this book, despite being forced to only read it on my computer, and I always looked forward to getting back into the story. Now I need to add the next book to my TBR, hopefully I won’t have to wait that long.
5 stars
lpcoolgirl's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, such a fantastic book! Great sequel, so many reveals and twists and awesome action scenes and tense scenes! Great read!