The Sandcastle Empire

The Sandcastle Empire is by debut author Kayla Olson.

When all hope is gone, how do you survive?

Before the war, Eden’s life was easy—air conditioning, ice cream, long days at the beach. Then the revolution happened, and everything changed.

Now a powerful group called the Wolfpack controls the earth and its resources. Eden has lost everything to them. They killed her family and her friends, destroyed her home, and imprisoned her. But Eden 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 their 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.  

The Breakdown:
1.  In this book, Olson creates a dystopian empire where the have nots, after a  series of disasters, have overthrown the haves in the US.   Those not part of the Wolfpack are placed in these work camps to provide for the Wolves. Eden and others are lucky to escape this place and find the sanctuary island her father's journal detailed.

2.  Eden is a girl who lost everything.  Her first love was killed on Day Zero when the Wolfpack took control.  Her father is later killed by them.  She wants nothing more to be free.  She is determined to find the sanctuary, and quickly learns that there is more to this sanctuary than she knew.  I become very frustrated with her character.  She misses so many clues about the island and those around her motives.  She spent the better part of two years obsessing over her father's journal, but missed so many clues he left her.

3.  While on the island, the Resistance people show up.  Their leader, Lonan, becomes the love interest for Eden.  There really is a forced feeling to their relationship.  He goes quickly from not trusting her to telling her everything.   Their relationship is just not very believable.

4.  There are a lot of unanswered question at the end of this book especially for one that is suppose to be a stand alone novel. The one that bothered me the most was the Edens memories of Birch, her first love, and Emma, her best friend.  She tells us what happens to Birch, but there is no explanation for Emma.  Was she killed, sent to different work camp, or part of the Wolfpack?  There is absolutely no closure in that area.  If Emma was so important to her, why does she not think about happened to her.  Then the ending felt unfinished.  There just so much more that needs to be resolved.

To Read or Not to Read:
As much as it pains to me say about a dystopian book, Don't Read.  Maybe if a sequel comes out I might change my mind.