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A review by mmeagan
The Sanctuary by Ted Dekker
3.0
You know how there's the phrase "food porn" for when you watch delicious food get made just for the gratuitousness of it? This is the same but it's like torture porn. Watch Danny get tortured for chapters on end just for the fun of it.
I was so excited when I read there was a sequel to The Priest's Graveyard. It was one of my first forays into darker adult thriller and it was a ride! I really liked Renee and Danny and was so happy to keep reading their story in this one. Although, as much as I liked reading about how devoted they were to each other even while separated I didn't like that they were apart for about 90% of the book.
Another thing that caused me to give this book a lower rating was that I didn't understand the characters' motivations:
In The Priest's Graveyard Danny's creed made sense, but in The Sactuary he was wish-washy, and it was all undone at the end. I thought there would be a message that love wins but he killed his enemies and walked free, so even his character arc/growth was unraveled at the end reversing the character growth from the first book. It could have been done well if he was willing to sacrifice even his own creed for Renee - to play it that she is his first priority, but there was no internal struggle as he dealt with his actions of taking another life and walking free of his past crimes when the whole book he was willing to endure undeserved torture because he wouldn't break his creed. There could've been a better compromise of his love and ideals at the end: ie, Danny visits prisons as a missionary or or becomes an advocate for a different type of prison/rehabilitation of inmates. Something to show it effected him more than just a one and done plot. ((Also they didn't wrap up Karney or Randell.))
I was so excited when I read there was a sequel to The Priest's Graveyard. It was one of my first forays into darker adult thriller and it was a ride! I really liked Renee and Danny and was so happy to keep reading their story in this one. Although, as much as I liked reading about how devoted they were to each other even while separated I didn't like that they were apart for about 90% of the book.
Another thing that caused me to give this book a lower rating was that I didn't understand the characters' motivations:
In The Priest's Graveyard Danny's creed made sense, but in The Sactuary he was wish-washy, and it was all undone at the end. I thought there would be a message that love wins but he killed his enemies and walked free, so even his character arc/growth was unraveled at the end reversing the character growth from the first book. It could have been done well if he was willing to sacrifice even his own creed for Renee - to play it that she is his first priority, but there was no internal struggle as he dealt with his actions of taking another life and walking free of his past crimes when the whole book he was willing to endure undeserved torture because he wouldn't break his creed. There could've been a better compromise of his love and ideals at the end: ie, Danny visits prisons as a missionary or or becomes an advocate for a different type of prison/rehabilitation of inmates. Something to show it effected him more than just a one and done plot. ((Also they didn't wrap up Karney or Randell.))