Sanctum (Guards of the Shadowlands, #1) by Sarah Fine Review

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Series: Guards of the Shadowlands #1
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children's/Amazon Children's Publishing
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Dystopia, Fantasy
Release Date: October 16, 2012
Pages: 417

Goodreads Summary

“My plan: Get into the city. Get Nadia. Find a way out. Simple.”

A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos’s best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance—hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures. But Lela isn’t just anyone—she’s determined to save her best friend’s soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife. 

As Lela struggles to find Nadia, she’s captured by the Guards, enormous, not-quite-human creatures that patrol the dark city’s endless streets. Their all-too-human leader, Malachi, is unlike them in every way except one: his deadly efficiency. When he meets Lela, Malachi forms his own plan: get her out of the city, even if it means she must leave Nadia behind. Malachi knows something Lela doesn’t—the dark city isn’t the worst place Lela could end up, and he will stop at nothing to keep her from that fate.

Before I started reading Sanctum I thought I knew exactly what I was getting into. I mean the summary kind of kind of says it all, right? Lela goes to save her friend Nadia's soul. Check. She gets captured by the guards of the Suicide Gates and falls in love with the guards over-protective leader Malachi. Check and check. 

My Review

Now while all of that does happen, it didn't exactly go as I expected, see I thought that this books was going to be like every other paranormal YA books out there (now don't get me wrong I occasionally enjoy those books.) but it wasn't like that at all. I mean in the beginning of the book it actually shows Lela's relationship with Nadia and although their friendship wasn't perfect it was believable enough that when Lela lost her you could actually feel her loss as well and completely understand why she chose to go save her instead of just going on her merry way. 

I loved Lela as a character because not only was she strong on the outside but also in the inside, she didn't hesitate to sacrifice herself. I couldn't imagine myself going through with what she did and still be strong and yeah sure she wasn't completely selfless all the time. She had her selfish moments *cough* *cough* *Malachi* but that's what made her feel so real and made me like her even more. Lela wasn't just a strong character though she could woop ass real good and of course resort to using her feminine wiles if kicking ass didn't work.

Now enough about Lela let's go on to the eye candy. *wink wink* Malachi. Oh Malachi. Can I just say how much I love him? Can I? Malachi's character was just as strong as Lela's though you would think that they wouldn't be able to love each other and see eye to eye, they did. Although, Malachi is a lean, mean, killing machine he wasn't like that at all with Lela he was sweet and gentle with her and was really worried about hurting her.(Sure he did hurt her while he was teaching her how to fight but it hurt him while he did it and that just broke my tiny little heart.) 

You wanna know another reason why enjoyed this book a lot? Do you? Okay get ready here it comes. NO.LOVE.TRIANGLE. I repeat there is no FREAKING love triangle in this book. Nope. Nada. To be totally and completely honest I always dread love triangles in YA books. 

Why you ask? Just look at this picture, then you'll know the answer.

Thank you so much Sarah Fine for saving me from this. 

Apart from the oh so wonderful kick ass characters and romance, I totally loved how Sarah described the setting of the Suicide Gates. I could actually picture myself there which by the way gave me goosebumps. What else can I say other than how freaking amazing this book is and how much I freaking love it and how you should totally be reading it now if you haven't already.

Rating: 5 stars