Release Date: January 26, 2010
Pages: 464
Genre: Sci-fi dystopia
Rating:

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Summary:

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 ...

Review: I LOVE convoluted sci-fi books, and dystopias. I dunno why, I just do. However, one of my biggest pet peeves is when an author doesn't explain something! Explanation is crucial in a sci-fi book, otherwise you run the risk of the reader getting so confused that they just check out.

This book had a lot of sci-fi in it, but it didn't explain hardly any of it!

Every time they would mention a sci-fi aspect of the book and then not explain what that meant I felt a little... itchy. They used words that clearly meant something to the characters, but I had no idea what they meant! And they only briefly touched on aspects that I was dying to know more about! I'm always wary when a sci-fi author does this, because it makes me think not even they know how their world works.

So why did I give it a 4?

Well, even though the explanations were minimal, the story could go on without it. And it was a good story. I wanted to know what would happen to Finn, and I really wanted to know what was up with Incarceron. You found out both those things, so the book was still good. If confusing.

I'm thinking I might buy the sequel from England, just because I hate waiting! And it doesn't come out here until 2011!