Catherine Fisher
Dial Books
February 2010
442 pg.
Summary
To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner escape.
Thoughts
Incarceron opens with a view of Finn, another major player in the saga. Finn is imprisoned but he is sure that he wasn't always inside Incarceron. He has visions of the outside.
The story then switches to Claudia. She is Outside, where Protocol rules. It's been declared that it's been for everyone if we return to a simpler time. No progress, no electronics, no strife, no hunger...HA! As if! How can you live and not learn and grow? Is that really living?
Somehow these two lives are intertwined. As Finn and Claudia fight their own personal battles they are drawn closer and closer together.
I loved how Catherine Fisher led me to make predictions that didn't turn out quite how I guessed. So I alternated between slaps on the back and groans of frustration, but I couldn't stop reading.
Favorite thing about the book: Attia. She's my hands down favorite character this year.
Kathy - love your review. But my question is this: too complicated for middle school students, or will they eat this up like Hunger Games???
ReplyDeleteTwo issues I can see being a problem (at least they were for me)
ReplyDelete1. The size of the prison - kinda unnecessary
2. The ending
Other than that, if they get past the initial set up with Finn and then Claudia, I think they will love it.