Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron is a prison unlike any other: Its inmates live not only in cells, but also in metal forests, dilapidated cities, and unbounded wilderness. The prison has been sealed for centuries, and only one man, legend says, has ever escaped.

Finn, a seventeen-year-old prisoner, can’t remember his childhood and believes he came from Outside Incarceron. He’s going to escape, even though most inmates don’t believe that Outside even exists. And then Finn finds a crystal key and through it, a girl named Claudia.

Claudia claims to live Outside—her father is the Warden of Incarceron and she’s doomed to an arranged marriage. If she helps Finn escape, she will need his help in return. But they don’t realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye. Escape will take their greatest courage and cost far more than they know.

Because Incarceron is alive.

I've read numerous reviews of this book, the majority of which have been 5-star reviews.  So I was expecting Incarceron to be amazing.  But, it fell far short of my expectations.

First of all, the terminology was confusing.  It took me quite awhile to understand what certain words meant.  I also had a hard time grasping what was happening.  Maybe it was too complex a world for a simple girl like me.  I enjoyed Finn and Claudia as characters, and was rooting for them to find a way to free Finn from Incarceron, but the story as a whole didn't do much for me.

I read a week or two ago that Taylor Lautner has been signed to play Finn in the movie version of Incarceron.  Catherine Fisher seems pleased, but, personally, I don't think he fits the part.  At all.  I tried to imagine him as Finn while reading, and I just couldn't do it.

I have the sequel, Sapphique, on reserve at the library, but I don't know that I want to read it anymore.

3/5