Book Review: Incarceron

Title: Incarceron

Author: Catherine Fisher

Pages: 442 Pages

Rating: E for Exceeds Expectations

Review: It will always watch you with its red beaded eye. Hear every word you speak and whisper, feel every move you make. It knows every single thought you think inside your very own head. There is no sanctuary from this vile beast. No where to hide or to find comfort. Not even in your own body. There is no way to escape from the clutches of this monster. Incarceron controls you. You are Incarceron.

Imagine a prison, like many states put together controlled by itself. Imagine being trapped inside the prison for your whole life and wanting to see what is out there. If there is an outside. You are now Finn, a young boy who wants all of this. He has heard stories of one man, Sapphique, leaving the prison, but he does not know if they are true. He would do anything to leave and he’s finally gotten his chance.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher is a captivating tale about escaping something that is part of you. When Finn finds a key that allows him to communicate with the outside world, he starts to learn the truth that he was never told. With the help of Keiro; his oath brother, Attia; a slave girl, and Claudia; the mysterious girl from outside, they’ll discover secrets that were better left uncovered.

To say that Incarceron was beautifully written will not cover it all. Even though the story was wonderfully written out, the way the words formed did not exactly flow well together. There were parts where I had to go back and re-read it, just to understand what I had read. Now this may be because I was tired when I read it, but either way I still had to go back every few pages. But when I say the story was beautifully written, I mean the general idea. A prison that controls you and gives you life is something that we can all learn to fear. But without spoiling, there were certain parts that made me hesitate to liking it even more.

For some very odd reason I really hated the fact that they saw little animals. Now for everyone who has read this, you will understand what I mean. I am talking about Claudia and Jared, when they see the little animals in the field. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, go read the book. But that part really bugged me because for some reason it did not fit with the story. I mean if you were able to see the animals, should you not be able to see the others?

The characters are well written out, full of life and emotions that make you want to get to know them more. Catherine Fisher plays with your own emotions, making you feel pity for certain characters and then despise them a second later. Every character you meet has a pivotal role to setting the story forward, so it was impressive that they were all third dimensional.

The novel is action-packed and full of thought provoking incidents that make you wonder if everything is happening by accident, or if it was all planned out. Both the world outside and the world inside the prison mesh well together as they both fight to see what is real and what is an illusion. And it all leads up to the final moment where everything they learned is thrown away and one question pops up. Will they ever be able to escape Incarceron?