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.

So, let me get this out first: I wanted to like Claudia more. She was too whiny, yes she does eventually rebel, but… she was just so selfish the whole time. Her quest was never really about Finn or helping him, it was about helping her escape her arranged marriage/her father’s authority.

The “best” character is Attia, but even then, her seeming complete servitude to Finn is also disturbing. If Claudia could take a little of her self-sacrifice and Attia a little of Claudia’s self-interest they would be good characters. They’re just so flat. All the women characters pretty much suck. Either they’re evil (Queen), selfish (Claudia), or self-sacrificing (Civicry lady and Attia).

My favorite character is Keiro, he’s the only one who’s complex and surprises you in the end. He doesn’t try to pretend to be anything he’s not. Sure he’s self-serving but he was raised by Incarceron and he makes no qualms about it. He was flawed and that made him a much more fascinating character.

Some things we talked about in book club: 

About being stagnant- “if you’re not growing you’re dead.” I think that was Kate. Very astute statement, Zamyatin would agree with her.
There was also quite a bit of complaint about the ambiguity of the novel. Which is surprising since some of it was SO predictable. But I have to agree, there’s not a lot of explanation for things and AN AWFUL lot of random… exposition. Plus the end that leaves you hanging.

It was thrilling and unlike everyone else apparently I didn’t guess where the prison was. But the ending was very unsatisfying. I really feel like it should have been 1 book (combined with the second) and started the first right smack dab in the middle. One of the other girls read the second book Sapphique and wasn’t very impressed. I have it already, I’ll get around to it eventually.

Long story, short: it was enjoyable, but not brilliant. Maybe my standards are a little high after Hunger Games. I shouldn’t be so hard on it. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think! Book club girls feel free to add your comments.

Image credit: faraesia.deviantart.com