Can my Herione be more Heroic please?
Here is the LONG time coming review of Incarceron by Catherine Fisher! (I do promise an awful lot on this blog don’t I? You should stop believing them.) It was interesting…and yes there is a but coming. Being this far distanced from the book I can more easily assess what it was that bothered me. Was it thrilling? Sure, it had it’s moments. But, I had some problems with the characters…
Before I get to that, a quick synopsis without spoilers: the book is set in a retro-futuristic “utopian” society where the ruling class decided change was the root of all evils so of course, they put an end to it. It was mandated everyone revert back to living as a more “simpler” time called “Era” (which appears to be somewhere in the 1800’s). To further make society more civilized/peaceful they closested away criminals into Incarceron, a “humane” prison that was supposed to provide everything they needed while sending their wisest men in to rehabilitate them with no way in or out. (Obviously the point is that they’re trying to find a way out.)
Please excuse the rampant use of double quotes, but as in all dystopian books not all is as it seems. Technology advances anyway, rich people keep up the facade of living Era while poor people become serfs. Inside the prison, Incarceron has turned into a dog eat dog world where the prison plays with it’s toys. The main characters are Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, and Finn child of Incarceron who has visions of the outside world. As most dystopian novel, the themes focus on how NOT perfect things really are, also a mysterious plot unfolds around Claudia and Finn (duh, they’re the main characters).
Overall, it was an interesting and I especially liked when both worlds realized that neither one was perfect. The whole book screamed Zamyatin’s argument of entropy versus energy. Are we advancing or digressing as a society? Also the horrible consequences of trying to force things to stay the same. Stagnation leads only to further disintegration and eventually revolt. Read We by Zamyatin. It’s A-mazing. Inspired 1984 and it’s better.
After the jump, more of my and the book club’s opinions on the book. There are no spoilers per say, but my opinions were strong. I would suggest reading it for yourself first so I don’t influence your reading.
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