Incarceron

Author: Catherine Fisher
Ages: 14+ (for language)
Rating: 3/5

About: Incarceron is a prison intended to evolve into a paradise. It was an experiment that went horribly wrong.

Thoughts: I have mixed feelings about this book. I mostly enjoyed reading it, though it got overly complicated and drawn out towards the end. The main character Finn spends so much time thinking about himself and wondering who he is, that his lack of character growth is a pretty big annoyance for me. I wasn't very fond of Claudia either, despite the amount of time the author put into showing the stress of Claudia's double life on her identity. And ultimately she also was solely preoccupied with herself -hang the consequences that might mean for anyone else.

All along the journey was the threat that their trials may all be for nothing. This is definitely where most of the suspense comes from, sharing the characters' fears that Sapphique really is a legend and that he never did escape Incarceron. I did kind of like the dialogue of hope and faith between the characters on what they believed and why, especially since the journey through Incarceron was based on this legend. I like the ideas that Fisher had for the journey sequence, but overall I think it dragged on a bit too long.

What I liked about this novel was the main idea structure for the story. That outside Incarceron peace and perfection are tried to be achieved by stepping back in time to an idealized past. And yet, there are cheaters everywhere sneaking technology making it clear for the reader that a far more advanced technology exists in this world. On that note, I quite liked the reveal about the truth of Incarceron and where it is...