While this book was slightly better than the first of the series, it definitely wasn't worth even a star more. The author really has a stereotypical way of describing people and it's so ridiculous that the characters are pretty one-sided in a 'I'm such a smart nerd no one understands me way'. The dialogue also hasn't improved much. I can't recall if I mentioned this in the review for the first book, but it reads like a fanfiction and published works should not even come close to that; that's why I rated this book so low.

The first thing I noticed about this book was that nothing was mentioned about Jordan's stay with Dan. Did it not happen as Dan promised at the end of Asylum (which in itself was uncharacteristic of a teenager as they normally ask their parents' permission before promising something with circumstances like that - at least, it felt like Dan would)? Then I was assaulted with how annoying Dan is as a high school kid. No one gets your sense of humour because you're a nerd no one understands, eh? I really can't help but feel like this is a self-insert by the author as so much of the last book was. It's terribly annoying to constantly have to deal with the special snowflake descriptions but at least this sequel didn't have as much of it (though there are still plenty to roll your eyes at). Thankfully we don't have to deal with that much, but it felt very badly done to be introduced to some characters and almost never have them referenced again throughout the entire story (worse than how some characters in Asylum were only seen once, fulfilled their duty to the story, and were never heard from again). Also (this is something I didn't get to point out in my review of Asylum), I could swear that Dan refered to his adoptive parents by both 'Mom' and 'Dad' as well as their names and I feel like someone wouldn't use both - and for Dan, I definitely felt like 'Mom and Dad' would've been more appropriate. At the very least, he should've stuck with one (and as much as he like them, he certainly didn't show them as much respect as they deserved).

The author also dates her book by making far too many references. As classic as you think they may be, it's terrible to be bombarded by 'nerd references that only nerds will get' but really everyone will understand them so stop making them so stereotypical. It pulls me out of the story to have pop references thrown at me - especially in ways that no one (not even teenagers) would make. It's terribly awkward to have to wade through things like this that make you wonder whether the author even knows what teenagers sound like.

Something else that bothered my was Aunt Lucy's normalcy despite her lobotomy. It's seems pretty fantastic (not in a good way, in a far-fetched way) that she'd be so normal, but more so if it was deemed a successful operation her outburst in the last book feels like it wouldn't have made sense. At the very least, from what we were informed about in Asylum it didn't feel like it made sense - especially with the sacrifice that happens later in Sanctum. Also, Dan gets startled by his phone a lot - and this happened tons in Asylum, too. Even if he's a jumpy kid there's no reason for such a cheap reaction, and definitely not good enough to overuse it. The romance between him and Abby is another thing that's so pointless there's no reason to even have it in the story. They don't come across as a couple at all and the closest thing that comes to it is when Dan thinks about responses he could give to her but it stupidly sounds like the kind of answers a girl would like to hear but a guy would never think (furthering my belief that the author doesn't have a good sense of teenagers, especially teenage boys). Their relationship is so boring and empty it really serves to purpose even to the characters themselves. I kept wishing for Jordan to at least 'get lucky' with someone to make up for the complete lack of romance between the other two main characters but all we got were gay jokes. Again.

One thing that bothered me was the group's lack of concern for Micah (the only slightly good character) after he helped them escape. At least they thought about him soon after the event, but frankly not soon enough considering he was with them and then gone. Besides Dan, it didn't even seem like the other two even cared what happened to him which in itself was upsetting because it felt like his character was only there to be sacrificed (which you get the feel for very early on) and his friend Cal didn't even properly redeem himself because of it (especially since he lives). I also found it terribly unbelievable that someone like Micah (who randomly was a stoner - yes, randomly; it felt poorly done) would alcohol to underage kids, too; even if that's how they were poisoned, they made him seem like the kind of person who'd strictly adhere to the rules - especially considering his past - like we saw when he was ordering around the redheaded kid to take care of unsightly things during the tour for the prospects.

The plot is only slightly more cohesive than the previous book (and even then it felt like it was a novel made into a series as there wasn't anything in Asylum referencing anything in this book except Professor Reyes involvement - and even that was done poorly) and the ending was so poorly done. It was abrupt (didn't leave the reader done slowly - no denouement), didn't give a proper hint as to what to expect in the next book, and didn't wrap everything up satisfactorily (I still don't understand what the point of the missing women was, what the mailman was about, and why Professor Reyes was so involved). The town-wide conspiracy was also laughable. Firstly it should've kept to a much smaller scale (I'm not even referring to the town part here), secondly I thought in the last book the entire town hated the warden for what he did so the brainwashing didn't make that much sense - especially how wide it spread.

While the author may have gotten slightly better at story telling in this book, it's still a terrible book to have made its way into the traditional publishing world. There's far too much to roll your eyes at. I'm glad I'm almost done with this series because I can't stand this writing.