I enjoyed this one! I love space survival horror and enemies to allies type stories and this one was super suspenseful and I loved the reluctant allies to lovers angle. I’m excited for book 2.

Received from NetGalley
Completed 7/11/19
480 page ebook

I had a really hard time deciding what to rate this. I have odd feelings about this book. I really really wanted to love the story and there was some I liked, but more than I didn't.

I liked the story, the characters were alright, and some parts were good. I was really creeped out by her instant attraction (ugh, cliche much?) to someone who was one of the people she supposedly feared her whole life. While he was a good dude, and a much better character than her, it was too fast of an acceptance and turn around of everything. Yes Omnistellar is evil, yay for her finally figuring it out, but she'd still have doubts, rather than just flipping a switch on a lifetime of beliefs.

I dunno, just most of the book sat wrong with me. Rated down because I don't think I care to read more.


Setting = A
Plot = C
Conflict = D
Characters = D-
Theme = A

Sanctuary by Caryn Lix is amazing. I absolutely loved this book. I though she did a fantastic job with the mixture of sci fi and horror without going overboard. The characters where amazing. Lix did a great job with the world building and the characters. I thought everything was fleshed out really well. I am looking forward to book two.

Such an interesting premise. I was drawn in by the story and characters. Excellent plot and amazing character development. 1/1 will recommend!

Two words: SPACE PRISON. I was so impressed by the creativity in this novel and how different it was from everything else I've read in the YA genre. I couldn't get enough of this novel y'all. And I can't wait for book two! Typically, I turn my nose up at books that are over 400 pages because that is just looooong. BUT, that was not the case with Sanctuary. It was such a fun read that I didn't even notice how long it was. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, the setting, and the fast paced nature of the novel, and I loved that I was left in the dark about the nature of the threat aboard the space ship.

Sanctuary was an incredible ride and the suspense level extremely high and constant. I can't wait to continue this series and I would highly recommend this novel to readers who enjoy YA fantasy. Thank you to Simon Pulse and NetGalley for sending this novel in an exchange for an honest review.

Rating 4/5

After the first few chapters this book got sooooo good. I love the whole space ship things with books. There was diversity as well as a change in morals from the main character.

I think I missed the memo with Sanctuary because I wasn't feeling it.

YA sci-fi has always been a bit hit or miss for me and I thought that maybe this would be more in line with books like Illuminae or LIFEL1K3. Instead, a dragging start and annoying protagonist led to my lack of interest in the rest of the story.

Kenzie is the daughter of the commanding officer of Sanctuary, a prison for "special" teens (think X-Men special). She's training to be a guard herself and ends up going through quite a lot in that prison when she meets some of its inhabitants. And she annoyed the crap out of me. I found Kenzie's personality to be completely lacking which made it difficult to look past to the story beyond as the entire book is from her perspective. Reading her inner thoughts (her narration of everything she did which was, of course, also written out) grew old.

The rest of the cast faded into the story while I tried to get into the book. I appreciated that they weren't just no-face characters. The author put a lot of thought, I think, into giving them both the interesting group dynamic as well as their own backstories. In fact, I found the secondary characters more interesting than Kenzie. Go figure. 

Well, until the cringey insta-love was tossed in the mix. A romance that blooms in a subplot that needed to disappear. There was just SO MUCH happening in this book. Sanctuary certainly doesn't lack in the action department, so I wondered what the point of adding a love interest was, what it added to the book.

So the book keeps on rolling. There's a lot happening and yet. . . I didn't care? Too many details to get bogged down in, too much internalization from Kenzie (and too many bad decisions on her part on top of that). It all just left me waiting for the end so I could start something new.

I do think I'll give Sanctuary a try at a later time and see if my perspective changes. It seems like there's a chance that it was more me than the book this time around.

A fast-paced exciting read. I enjoyed this action packed sci-fi. The characters were fun to read about and the setting was interesting.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

I thought this was alright. I am a big Sci-fi fan but I'm not sure if the plot of this was very interesting. I liked our main character Kenzie and I thought she was a strong lead. I also liked most of our "criminal" horde but we don't really learn a whole lot about them. I found most of the plot predictable but I did like the fast paced nature of this. The aliens both interested me and bored me throughout and I felt like at the end of the day not that much happened. I believe this set up for a series or at least a sequel so maybe we will dive deeper into the background of these characters and develop the plot more. Also side note, something that really irritated me is this " YA trope" where there has to be a romance. I'm not opposed to romance if it feels natural and makes sense but in this case it felt so out of place. I felt like it threw me off and hindered the story. Overall, average read.
I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kenzie works as a junior prison guard at Sanctuary, a prison for young super powered criminals. When some of the criminals attempt to break out, Kenzie becomes their prisoner. However the escape attempt doesn't go as planned because something is inside Sanctuary and its after them. Sanctuary could get tense at points. The characters know that something is there but not what it is and why it is there. Kenzie is a citizen of the corporation Omnistellar Concepts. At first she believes in the corporation but soon she starts to question those beliefs. A tense thrilling novel for fans of science fiction and horror.

A scary sci-fi that I couldn't put down!
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for the opportunity to read and review Sanctuary by Caryn Lix!
Kenzie lives in a space prison that houses teens with super powers. Kenzie and her parents help guard the prison, with a few others, and they work for the security system company that runs the adult prison and the teen prison that both hold Earth criminals with super powers. All seems well until the prisoners of Sanctuary escape their cells. Kenzie becomes somewhat of a hostage as the teenage prisoners try to work out their escape plan. The escape plan gets overridden with an alien invasion and the struggle to stay alive. This scary sci-fi kept me reading nonstop to the ending, 5 stars!

Holy crap, this book was awesome!! To be honest I didn’t know what to expect going in – I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not, and after seeing it pitched as compared to the Darkest Minds, I was skeptical. Surprisingly, I was blown away!!

I wasn’t too sure in the beginning, though – I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing for some reason that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. But the premise was super intriguing – a prison for teens with superpowers?! It had a very X-Men feel to it and I wanted to know more. However, I didn’t get super hooked until THINGS started happening. And let me tell you, it was SO CREEPY!! I loved it so much! When the breach happened it had an amazingly disturbing Alien feel to it, and I was HOOKED!

(See link for rest of review)

I almost didn't request to read this book. Between all the things going on in my life right now, I didn't really know if I'd have the time to read it.

I can't tell you how elated I am that I went ahead with this one. Truth be told, I really didn't have the time to read it. But, I made the time. I made the time by staying up into the wee hours of the morning. It was that riveting.

Let's start with the main character! I LOVED her! Kenzie is extremely loyal and intelligent but goes through a bit of a transformation throughout the story! My goodness!

Also...aliens. Yes, there were aliens. There was action and a tad bit of romance to go along with those said aliens, too.

The only reason this wasn't a "perfect" read for me is because I like my stories with just a little bit more romance. But, I'm hoping for some of that in the sequel.

Ms. Lix is an amazing writer! I can't wait to read more from her!

I'm finding out that I just really love space thrillers. Put some people in space and throw in some monsters or some kind of mysterious disease and I'm gonna enjoy it. Kenzie's utter belief in Omnistellar Concepts was a little annoying at first (I mean, I get it, but when you as the reader know things aren't so great it can be a little annoying), but I was so happy with her growth and how much she learned over the course of the novel, even if it did happen a little fast. I really loved how she approached everything she has to deal with throughout the book (which is A Lot). She keeps a sense of humor and a clear head and I greatly appreciated that. There's a small moment where someone questions whether what she's feeling is because of adrenaline and heightened emotions and, like I said, it's a small moment but it's one of my favorites of the book. It just really shows Kenzie's personality and how well she knows herself. This was a lot of fun and I'm definitely gonna be checking out the sequel. It's one of those books where most things are tied up, but there's room for more and I'm excited to spend some more time with these characters.

I received a free copy for an honest review.

Do you like:
- Falling in love with the kidnapper kinda-situation
- Captive situation
- Science fiction
- Bad-ass criminals
- Bad-ass X-men powered teenagers
- Science fiction prison
- Good romance
- Fun plot
- Alien?

You will love this book.

Holy crap did this book blew my expectations away. I wasn't expecting it to be complete trash or anything, but I did not, in any form, even remotely allow myself to imagine the possibility that this book would be this good.

I cannot express my gratitude enough for Fantastic Flying Book Club for allowing this amazing opportunity to encounter with this book. This book fulfilled all of my recent romance and science fiction cravings, and it was the most exhilarating and satisfying feeling in the world to hit a jackpot like this one.

I also really appreciated the wide variety of range when it comes to race and culture this book focused on. This is actually my first YA book where the romance interest was Asian, and that was really cool.

Despite how fun of a read this book was (I finished it in a day), I do have to point out one problem that is just...shouldn't be there. Is it just me, or did anyone else notice the complete lack of character physical descriptions, especially for our main character? I have searched the entire book (double checked), and literally, the only information I got about Kenzie's appearance is that she has curly hair (I don't even know the length).

But other than that, I still cannot deny how much I enjoyed this book. The problem didn't take anything out of it. I enjoyed the romance (excellent chemistry and pace) along with a really attention-grabbing story-line. This book definitely did a great job on the "put-downness-factor". I am completely stoked for the sequel.

Action, twists and excitement make for a brilliant read. I don't know if there'll be more, but I really hope so. I'll be looking out for it. Sanctuary was well-written with a fast pace to it that so much so that it even sucked me, whose not a huge science-fiction reader into its exciting world.

Kenzie may be young, but she knows what she wants. Her goal is to become an elite guard on the space prison Sanctuary. She is already a junior guard and is showing the other guards that she has earned this right, even though their commanding officer is her mother. When the superpowered prisoners take Kenzie hostage in a drill gone wrong, Kenzie learns that there are secrets that her parents have been keeping. Who else is on this ship with them? What will Kenzie need to do in order to survive and hopefully save Earth?

Sanctuary is the first book in the science fiction series with the same title. Readers will begin this story thinking it has the usual sci-fi elements, yet Lix slowly weaves in additional twists and turns to keep the reader’s attention. Kenzie must juggle being the only guard on the prisoner side as she continues to try and keep her feelings separate from the tasks at hand. Sanctuary was a fun first book and I will be looking forward to more books in this universe.

Caryn Lix's Sanctuary is the first book in the author's Sanctuary series. When I read Aliens meet The Darkest Minds on NetGalley, I immediately jumped to request the book. I was not disappointed. The book takes place onboard a place called Sanctuary, where an AI runs the entire show. Sanctuary is staffed by 6 humans who oversee a prison of hundreds of superpowered teens. These teens have been told that they are abominations, dangerous, and need to be taken out of society.

The story is told in the first POV by 17-year old Kenzie Cord. Kenzie, a junior prison guard, has been on the station for 3 months having risen to the top of her class with perfect scores. She's had to fight her way to even get to this point, even with her mother, Angela Cord, as the Commander in charge of the station. Kenzie grew up knowing she is blessed and indebted to Omnistellar for always providing for her and her parents who are fiercely loyal. In this world, you either live in a corporate controlled city where you are provided with everything or a government controlled city where you fight for every scrap you can find.

During what is supposed to be a routine AI emergency preparedness drill, a system that tests of Sanctuary's team, something seems off to Kenzie. She begins to explore possible scenarios which leads her to meeting Sector 5 prisoners. After three of the 6 humans who run the station leave the station for Earth, and a distress signal sends a fourth to discover if they can offer assistance, Kenzie finds herself in deep trouble after the prisoners somehow manage to get out of their cells and take her hostage with the intent of getting off the station. But, they didn't count on what happens next.

What the teens didn't count on, is the unexpected arrival of unwanted alien visitors who throw all of their plans into disarray. Here is where the Alien comparison comes in for me. These Aliens are nasty pieces of work with sharp claws, and teeth. They are not only lethal, but highly intelligent as well. The only question is why they're on Sanctuary and what do they want? Kenzie quickly learns that everything she's been told about the prisoners is far from the truth. Especially after meeting Cage, Mia, Rune, Alexi, Matt and Tyler who were all sent to Sanctuary for having superpowered abilities.

My only hesitation in liking the story even more than I did were two factors: Romance, and how abrupt things change from chapter to chapter, and maybe the ending. I am not a fan of insta-lust romances, and never will be. I think Kenzie knew that she was falling too fast and too hard, going as to call it the Stockholm Syndrome. But, it still didn't stop her from basically going all in. Especially after her own secret is revealed, and she realizes that her whole life is filled with questions.

I know this is science fiction, and therefore things are supposed to action packed. Well, you pretty much get all the action you need plus a bit of horror mixed in. I thought the ending was pretty much what you can expect from the first book in what is apparently a series. It leaves readers set up to explore even more of this world, and these characters, and see what happens now that Kenzie's has lost so much but gained an entire new group of friends.

This cover is perfect for a science fiction book. It screams high-tech, space story. The claw marks elude to the danger which the characters will face. I really like the symmetry of the cover, if you know me then you know how I like even numbers and symmetry. This is a cover that grabs my attention instantly.


Before I begin my review, I would like to make a content warning. This is marketed as a Young Adult book and I know there are some really young people who may pick this up. In that case, know there is some graphic violence here. With that aside, let's move on.


I loved this book...I cannot say that enough. The synopsis is not lying when it says it is similar to Alien. I was reminded of many scenes from that movie while reading. I was reminded more of specific episodes of Stargate and Star Trek. Yes, I am a Sci-Fi nerd and ok with that. No, I do not pick sides, I enjoy Star Wars and Star Trek equally. I am unsure why so many feel we have to pick a side there...anyway. Yes, I was reminded specifically of the Borg from Star Trek when the novel mentioned 'Assimilate.' I really love the science behind the idea of the DNA, I am not going into details because I provide spoiler-free reviews and it will always stay that way. But the author used great scientific background when describing this. My science geek side was jumping for joy. The fact that these people "Anomalies" have special powers that are feared and they are not locked away for having them reminds me of X-men. So, basically, this book was a ton of science fiction and comic action-packed together with suspense and aspects of horror.


The worldbuilding for this novel was stunning. Descriptions were so well written that at times I thought I was watching a movie rather than simply reading. The book came alive in my mind...the way every good novel should. I could picture the prison cells, the characters, the aliens...all of it. I did not read this book I lived it, I built bonds with the characters. I was attacked by aliens. I was the one fighting those battles alongside Kenzie and the others.


Speaking of characters...I loved them. The group dynamics are perfect. There are members from all walks of life, primarily Anomalies. I do feel that some of the characters could have been developed more, but for a fast-paced story, it works well. For me, I read this more for the action, science fiction, and corporation and alien fights. Kenzie and Cage have a strange start to their relationship but I really enjoyed how it developed. Cage is also Asian! I might have found myself swooning over him at times. Kenzie is strong, I was impressed with how strong she was and how she only grew through the story. She develops into this powerful, fearless woman. Well, she is scared, yes. Who wouldn't be with aliens on their ship trying to kill them... But, she handles it very well. The romance in this novel does not take away from the action at all. There is no shortage of edge of your seat action. I was on the edge of my seat most of the time as I read, but not always in anticipation. I felt the entire range of emotions. I felt fear, sadness, loss, desire, rage, etc. It was a ride, a very enjoyable one.


With a fast pace and huge plot twists, you are always in for a treat on the following page. I was never bored while reading this, I hated to put it down. Some scenes were incredibly intense and I did not fully see some of the twists that were presented. Now, though it was full of action it is not overpowering. There are moments that slow down to bring the reader back to baseline, like a roller coaster. For a 500 page book, this is a gem to find. It maintained my interest and then some. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good science fiction novel, maybe even those who enjoy horror or dystopian stories. Come to think of it...everyone should just read it, it is that good. I felt as if there were a lot of loose ends that were not tied up, but good news...there will be a sequel! From what I have heard, it will be released next summer.