Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron (Incarceron, #1)

by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron - a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology - a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber - chains, great halls, dungeons. A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier life, and cannot believe he was born here and has always been here.

In the outer world, Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, is trapped in her own form of prison - a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage she dreads. She knows nothing of Incarceron, except that it exists. But there comes a moment when Finn, inside Incarceron, and Claudia, outside, simultaneously find a device - a crystal key, through which they can talk to each other. And so the plan for Finn's escape is born ... "I loved the book. It's a crazy, cool, dark world ... it's a great story." -- Taylor Lautner, star of the Twilight movies

Reviewed by ladygrey on

4 of 5 stars

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This is honestly one of the best fantasy/sci fi books I've read in a long time. And it's a book that legitimately blends those two genres.

I liked the way it's written, her sense of language that was straight forward and also wonderfully entwined description.

I liked that the plot surprised me. At first, like a lot of young adult fiction, I could see where it was going before there characters which is when I normally get impatient and think, "Get on with it, already!" but [a:Catherine Fisher|190887|Catherine Fisher|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1309461768p2/190887.jpg] got on with it fairy quickly and then the plot kept twisting and turning and I really enjoyed it.

The characters were great and I found myself attached to them all, even the ones who were supposed to be the bad guy or unlikable. Even after I've finished they linger and I can't wait to read [b:Sapphique|4499214|Sapphique (Incarceron, #2)|Catherine Fisher|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Mtx56jW%2BL._SL75_.jpg|4548192] and read more of what happens to them.

[b:Incarceron|332775|Incarceron (Incarceron, #1)|Catherine Fisher|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51baJ9ujjcL._SL75_.jpg|323310] is really a fantastic book, well written, surprising, filled with mysteries and intriguing characters. I'm impressed.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 24 August, 2011: Finished reading
  • 24 August, 2011: Reviewed