A review by trin
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

1.0

Basically, it's Escape From New York, except with fantasy instead of post-apocalyptic trappings. The characters are stock, and the action is propelled along by a lack of information and dull action setpieces that transpire without any real sense of excitement or danger. I never got a visceral—or even bare-bones visual—sense of what the living/mechanical/whatever prison of Incarceron is supposed to be like. And, as with far too many YA/fantasy/sci-fi/action/adventure books I've struggled through, it takes itself far, far too seriously—there's not a single joke in the whole 400-page slog.

Wait, that's not true: I found it pretty funny that Fisher expected me to believe that the great legendary hero of Incarceron is called Sapphique. That's not a hero's name, it's a Vegas revue. "Now playing at the Bellagio—Cirque de Soleil's Sapphique!"