Book 1 of the
Sanction Series
Publisher: HJLawson
Date Published: March 1, 2015
Pages: 168
Young adult, sci-fi, fantasy
Purenet is one of six wealthy Sanctions, formed by the Emperor and the Untouchables after a devastating world war.
Only those born in Purenet have the privilege of living under the dome, protecting their bodies from the sun’s deadly UVA rays.
Skylier is desperate to escape her underground confines and save her mother’s life.
On
a school visit, she hears something she’s not supposed to, and now she
realizes that not only is her whole life a lie, but she is in grave
danger… She doesn’t know who to trust, and her enemies are everywhere…
even closer than she realizes.
Now she is in a race against time
to save not only her life, but her mother's and those she cares about.
And if she fails, she'll suffer a fate worse than death..."
After nuclear warfare Purenet was created, a domed city offering sanctuary
from the harsh climates of the Earth. Not only radiation from nuclear warfare
but from UV as well. The author did not give an exact date to when the world
went to hell, but from what I gathered at least a century. The people who were
not allowed into Purenet resided in Cueva, a network of caves.
Life is more difficult in Cueva, thus many try to get into
Purenet. There are two ways for females to move out of Cueva and into Purenet,
you can become a host and live in a compound forced to surrogate children to
the wealthy Purenet couples. The first child pays the fee to live at the
compound the two children after can be sold for extra money. The second way to
get into Purenet is to become a Bazi and sell your body to the highest bidder.
For the males you can only be selected for the Sanction Games and hopefully
earn money and citizenship.
With Skylier’s white hair, blue eyes and beauty it was
inevitable that she caught the attention of the Sanction Chancellor’s son,
Xander. Even though I was in her head the majority of the book, I still
couldn’t get a grasp on her personality, nor could I invest in her. The
dialogue wasn’t too strong and sometimes the conversations made no sense.
Oh and Skylier and her family have telepathy along with Dax the protagonist and
Xander the antagonist.
The idea of this book is not original; it’s quite like a few
other dystopian novels when it comes to segregated populations due to some
worldly disaster, and some sort of violent games to earn money. Even when
the foundation seems similar to other books it’s the flesh of the book that
makes it or breaks it. I personally felt like the meat of it didn’t stand out.
The cover is absolutely beautiful, the writing wasn’t bad
and world building needed more work. I think the story was too short, there was
too much left unsaid. There were a lot of questions raised and not enough
background information. Maybe more could have been said about the Sanctions and
Untouchables, why the war happened, and why so few have telepathy. Also I would
like to know why the couples in Purenet need surrogates. Is it for vanity or are
they physically not capable of carrying a child? I know this is the first
of the series and I do hope some of these questions will be answered in the
following books.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Netgalley provided a copy in exchange
for an honest review.
