The Sandcastle Empire

Written by Kayla Olson

Narrated by Andi Arndt

Before the war, Eden’s life was easy. Then the revolution happened, and everything changed.

Now a powerful group called the Wolfpack controls the earth and its resources. And even though Eden has lost everything to them, she 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 the 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9780062683328

Kayla Olson

Kayla Olson is the author of two books for young adults and The Reunion. Whether writing at her desk or curled up with a good book, she can most often be found with a fresh cup of coffee and at least one cat. Find out more at KaylaOlson.com.

Reviews for The Sandcastle Empire

[Nancy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book and would love to get the next one.

[bella_roell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There's a reason I got this book's logo tattooed on my wrist.My rating for this review just became higher than it originally was when I first read it! I feel like I understand so much more now, being a bit older than I was when I first got my hands on this book, which definitely helped shift and shape my perspective on a few things.Kayla has to be one of the most kind and compassionate authors I've ever had the opportunity of knowing. And that definitely shows throughout her book.In TSE, the world is in post-apocalypse mode. Those who aren't dead from Zero Day are in barracks, essentially working their lives away just to survive. However, our MC Eden decides that she's had enough of just surviving and plans an escape.Though, she wasn't exactly expecting explosions to go off or three other girls to escape into the open sea with her.The first few chapters of this are incredibly intense and eye opening. You'd have to not blink to make sure you catch everything. We're given so much information in these chapters, so much important information, and I absolutely loved that.Kayla really broke barriers with this book, and this reason was one of them. Starting off the book with intense scenes is a risky play, but she pulled it off really well and managed to effectively catch our attention."The enemy wore sheep's clothes for many years before it bared its fangs and went for blood."One of my favorite quotes is from one of these first, few chapters, and I absolutely adore this.The Wolfpack could have attacked as soon as they banded together, but they didn't. They waited, gathered a bigger following—one large enough that more than half of rooms were missing—and then they attacked.They took lives, they created fear. They were brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, parents, friends, coworkers, teachers, etc. They were everywhere and everything, and nobody saw it coming. They took the power and freedom from the people, and they enslaved them.This is one of the reasons I love this story. This circumstance could very well happen one day, and when it does, we need to prepared for it. Kayla brought that thought process, that set of questions to us that every reader should have."Those with seamless skin, and those with scars.We've been sliced into, every single one of us.It's just some of our scars are less obvious than others."This is another quote that I absolutely loved. Taken out of context, it could mean something entirely different. But in the context of the book, this quote is specific to the mental injuries sustained from the Wolfpack on Zero Day.Kayla really painted a picture for us in these first few chapters of this book, and I absolutely love that. She set us up for impact by the time we reached the next parts.I loved everything so much more than the first time I read this book. I loved the development all of the characters went through. I loved the flow of the plot, the ever coming surprises and plot twists. Everything.For that, I raise my rating from 4 stars to 5 stars. I highly suggest y'all read this book if you haven't already. Trust me, it'll be worth your time. 

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book tells the story of a girl named Eden who was once one of the privileged but is in an internment camp when the story begins. She has lost everyone she loved. She saw her boyfriend killed in front of her when the Wolfpack took over. She was separated from her father who was one of the most important engineers in the fight to develop habitats that would protect people from the rising polluted waters. She is convinced that her father is dead because the wolves gave her a vial containing his blood and teeth. She is determined to escape the camp and find her way to a sanctuary island that her father described in a fieldguide that is her only remaining possession from him. She escapes with some other people from the camp and one young girl who is a disaffected wolf. They have harrowing adventures getting to the hidden island but then discover it is not what they thought it would be. The are joined by some young men who are part of the rebellion that is trying to overthrow the Wolfpack. They have still more adventures and learn that things are not as they seem and that they can't trust each other or themselves.This is a dystopia. It is a science fiction story. It is also the story of trying to overthrow those in power when the odds are very much stacked against our heroes. It was an action packed story with all sorts of exciting episodes. The science was cool! I liked the underwater habitat that is being built. I found the mind control practiced by the Wolfpack to be extremely creepy. If there was a problem with the story, it was that I never did feel connected to Eden or any of the other characters. Fans of science fiction adventure will enjoy this one.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This dystopian novel made for a fast-paced, highly compelling read. Opening in the middle of an escape, the narrator Eden finds herself fleeing from the barracks she's been confined to with three other girls she's never met before and isn't certain she can trust. They use the sailboat they escaped in to find Sanctuary Island, a place supposed to be a refuge from a warring world. However, when they find the island, things are not what they appear - one member of their group disappears, the plants attack them, optical illusions abound, and soon the girls aren't the only ones on the island. Overall, this is a book that's hard to put down - it reads like a thriller from beginning to end and makes for a satisfying tale.

[krau0098 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I got this book in one of my Owlcrates. This seems to be a stand alone book, but the ending didn’t tie things up very well. I went through a dystopia reading phase a few years ago and am still burned out from it; it’s not my favorite genre and this addition to the genre was mediocre at best. I enjoyed the way the book started but once the characters get to the island and got involved with all these different competing factions the book became like a lot of other YA dystopian novels I have read.The characters were really one dimensional and I didn’t really enjoy them. A ton of characters are added in the last third of the book. The plot starts to get so convoluted that it was a bit hard to follow and just plain boring. It really didn’t hold my interest and I almost stopped reading the book 400 pages in but decided to go ahead and push through.The style of writing is very easy to read and there were some good action scenes towards the beginning of the story. It just couldn’t hold my interest all the way through Overall an okay YA dystopia/post-apocalyptic novel but not great. I enjoyed the beginning of the book but my attention really drifted towards the end and I almost stopped reading it. There are some neat ideas in here to start but it ended up being a pretty typical dystopian story by the end.

[shellypya · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Before the war, Eden's life was easy. Then the revolution happened, and everything changed. Now a powerful group called the Wolfpack controls the earth and its resources. And even though Eden has lost everything to them, she 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 the 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.