Incarceron (Incarceron, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Apr 21, 2010 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, youngadult

So, a couple of my friends have RAVED about this book, so I thought I'd give it a try. First couple of pages, "La La La, this seems all right, don't know what the fuss is a- WHAT THE?!"

This was a wild and crazy book. Tense. Intricate. Claustrophobic. (So very, VERY claustrophobic.) Basically, in a future where even the moon shows the scars from many wars, peace has been made by taking all the unsavory elements and putting them into a giant, sentient prison. On the outside, people live in a semb ...more

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Feb 16, 2011 Marsha rated it liked it

I actually really like this book and would have given it four stars, but I am sick of books that don't really finish because they have a sequel which 37 other people are on hold for at the library. Not that I don't like sequels, but at least finish the story at hand and then start a new adventure in the next book. That being said, the setting was interesting--sometime in the future, but where everyone is forced to live as if they were in the 19th century. At one point in the past, the undesirabl ...more

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Nov 25, 2010 Sara ♥ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: action-adventure, suspense, young-adult, books-i-own, 2010, science-fiction, dystopian, challenge-fall-2010

WOW! That was a REALLY cool book! I tried SO HARD to stay up late last night to finish it, but my eyes would NOT stay awake... and with only 15 pages left! And OF COURSE, the second book doesn't come out for a month. Why does that always seem to happen to me? SRLSY!

Anyway, so this book is kinda sci-fi/dystopian... Like amazing technology EXISTS in the world of Incarceron, but it's being suppressed by the ruling monarchy in order to keep themselves in power. So the idea is that generations ago, f WOW! That was a REALLY cool book! I tried SO HARD to stay up late last night to finish it, but my eyes would NOT stay awake... and with only 15 pages left! And OF COURSE, the second book doesn't come out for a month. Why does that always seem to happen to me? SRLSY!

Anyway, so this book is kinda sci-fi/dystopian... Like amazing technology EXISTS in the world of Incarceron, but it's being suppressed by the ruling monarchy in order to keep themselves in power. So the idea is that generations ago, for whatever reason, the ruling people decided to build a really huge prison (called Incarceron) to house all of society's low-lifes. The place was super high-tech, fully sustainable, etc., etc. The idea was that they would lock the people in and never have to worry about them ever again. They could have their perfect little world and be separate from the rest of society. The location is a secret, but it's rumored to be underground. The only person who really knows anything specific about the prison is the Warden of Incarceron.

But, of course, no "perfect" society ends up being perfect. Long ago, the computer that runs everything took over (à la HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey) and things haven't gone well for a long time. The system is running out of organic material to recycle and things (animals, people, etc.) are starting to be part human, part machine. Society has broken down (of course) into smaller warring groups. There is a (little bit) higher class and a lower class that don't get along... All sorts of crap like that.

So there is this 17-year-old boy, Finn, and 2 of his peeps who live in Incarceron, who dream of Escape. There are legends of a guy named Sapphique who was able to escape a long long time ago, and they hope to be able to follow in his footsteps. Finn remembers waking up in Incarceron about 3 years ago, but he doesn't remember anything from his life before.

On the Outside, there's a girl named Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, who is betrothed to the prince of the land. And she is NOT excited about it. (He's an idiot and would be a TERRIBLE husband.) She doesn't get along with her dad and is really fascinated by Incarceron, though she knows almost nothing about it. She dreams of going inside to that perfect society.

So Finn, through some interesting circumstances, finds a crystal key thing and Claudia steals an identical one from her dad, and through them, they are able to communicate with each other. Finn and buddies have it confirmed to them that there really IS an outside (and thus their hopes for escape are not COMPLETELY in vain) and Claudia realizes that Incarceron is NOT all it's cracked up to be! There are a lot of other details I'm not going to go into, because they're totally spoilery, but Finn and Claudia decide to pool their resources to try and bust Finn and company out of Incarceron.

This is a pair of books (Book 2, Sapphique, comes out December 28th) so the story isn't over yet, but this book covers Finn and buddies' attempt at escape and the time leading up to Claudia's wedding... Eeeeek!

Overall, this book was super-intriguing, action-packed, and just plain cool. There were twists and turns I wasn't really expecting (like where Incarceron really is... whaaaaa?) I can't wait to read the second book! ...more

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Mar 15, 2010 Kim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, science-fiction

This was one of those books that I really wanted to take my time reading---the writing is clean, evocative; the characters flawed and intriguing; and I didn't want to miss any of the details that might be important later. But the mystery of Incarceron is so compelling that I had to keep reminding myself to slow down, to savor the story as it unfolded. That turned out to be just about impossible...I couldn't put the book down! Someday I'd like to go back and rediscover all of the subtle touches t ...more

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Mar 23, 2010 Esther rated it it was amazing

Shelves: __mine-and-i-m-keeping-it, ya, author-female, favourites, zz-2010, fantasy, zz-2010-from-my-own-shelves, steampunk, dystopia, series-loved-or-to-continue

Amazing!! My favourite book of 2010

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Jan 20, 2010 Jess rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, dystopia, mock-printz-2011

This is one of those books where it's probably best if you don't know much about the story before you start reading. Any information about the plot will likely make you confused as you start reading, make you spend too much time guessing how things will turn out, or both. Just go along for the ride and trust that Catherine Fisher knows how to create a completely believable yet foreign world.

The characters are interesting, although never completely sympathetic. There's lots of gray area in the b ...more

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May 22, 2012 Sara ♥ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: suspense, young-adult, 2012, audiobook, science-fiction, dystopian, challenge-summer-2012

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... So I REALLY didn't like this book as much as I did last time. I'm trying to figure out what the deal was.

Some of it was the narrator. This book does NOT translate well to audio. Or maybe it was the narrator. I REALLY didn't think her voice was right for this book. (She was OKAY for Anna and the French Kiss, but I just don't think she does voices (especially male voices) very well!)

Some of it was the writing. I think the first time, I was reading so fast, I Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... So I REALLY didn't like this book as much as I did last time. I'm trying to figure out what the deal was.

Some of it was the narrator. This book does NOT translate well to audio. Or maybe it was the narrator. I REALLY didn't think her voice was right for this book. (She was OKAY for Anna and the French Kiss, but I just don't think she does voices (especially male voices) very well!)

Some of it was the writing. I think the first time, I was reading so fast, I blamed being confused by the plot on myself, for going to fast and skipping over things that must have been important. But with an audiobook, the narrator reads every word to you. And this book is confusing. I think science fiction/dystopian writing can be tricky, because you have to describe a world that isn't familiar in a way that the reader can picture it, you know? And I don't think that's Catherine Fisher's strong suit. I really couldn't picture the inside of Incarceron at ALL, so it was mostly just people running around through unknown terrain that really didn't make any sense. Plus, the belief system inside Incarceron and the political situation outside weren't very well-developed or maybe well-described.

And the relationships were... not clear in their intentions. In other words, I didn't know what to do (mentally) with Attia's feelings for Finn. I didn't GET the bond between Finn and Keiro. Mostly I just felt like Keiro was a big jerk-face and wanted someone to push him down a big cliff and watch him go splat! There were rumors about Jared and Claudia that seemed totally unfounded (but I was reading some spoilery reviews of Sapphique and (view spoiler)).

So I don't know what to expect AT ALL from the sequel, and honestly, after reading those spoilery reviews, I don't think I even want to know. I think I'll just write my own ending in my head about how Finn and Claudia live happily ever after, free everyone in Incarceron, get rid of the queen and her jerk-face son, Keiro and Attia can fall in love, I suppose. Or both die. I don't particularly care which. And Jared? I don't know. Whatever. See? I don't even care enough to come up with a good sequel in my mind. I doubt I'll be reading the official one. ...more

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May 30, 2010 Ellen rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya

Finn woke up in a prison that's alive and all the other prisoners had been there since birth. He has flashes of memory of a different life and is determined to prove that he was born in the Outside---outside the prison, that is. He finds a key and the chase is on to find a way to escape, although according to legend, only one other person has ever escaped successfully. Good story. ...more

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May 04, 2010 Magda rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy-fairytales, ya

I agree with Miriam that this wasn't as well done as Darkhenge, but I do like the idea. ...more

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Nov 24, 2010 Jess rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, audiobook, dystopia, reread, mock-printz-2011

I wanted to refresh my memory of the book before the Mock Printz and before getting my hands on Sapphique. It was a bit harder to follow on audio than on the page, and the narration was competent but not amazing, so I'd recommend reading over listening. But it served its purpose. Four stars for the print, three for the audio. ...more

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