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A review by betwixt_the_pages
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
4.0
"The ship cracked. The mast splintered, toppled, wood showering around them. Attia fell against him, scrabbling after a crystal glitter that slid from his shirt. "Get the Key," she yelled.
But the ship hit the back of the cube and darkness crashed down on him. Like a finger crushing the ant. Like a main mast falling."
---
I've only read a handful of books that nod toward steampunk, so I REALLY enjoyed this first foray into something a bit more set in that genre. This book kept me guessing throughout; even the reveal of the "lost prince" isn't really a reveal, but something that could, later on, be a red herring.
When Claudia discovers a secret about Incarceron, the prison her father is Warden over, she expects that breaking the lost prince out and returning to a more "normal" world will be easy. She doesn't know there are more secrets to Incarceron--and her own past--than meet the eye...
The writing and world building of this are gorgeously done. While I wish that the prison had been described a bit MORE in detail--there were some moments I found myself getting confused about just where they were in their travels across the prison--there were also plot points and reveals that I hadn't expected. A world of this magnitude takes a lot of imagination to come to life--and this book has that in full.
Some of the characters fall a bit flat of their promise--they have moments where they seem interesting, as if we're going to see something deeper of them, that never actually occurs. The focus is, as with most novels, on the main characters, though part of me wishes a few of the "sidekicks" had been given their due on the page as well.
If you're looking for a novel that is more "steampunk" than fantasy (but still manages to retain both genres, plus a little of everything else); a novel with interesting, complex characters and a habit of never quite revealing all its secrets to you--this book is for you!
But the ship hit the back of the cube and darkness crashed down on him. Like a finger crushing the ant. Like a main mast falling."
---
I've only read a handful of books that nod toward steampunk, so I REALLY enjoyed this first foray into something a bit more set in that genre. This book kept me guessing throughout; even the reveal of the "lost prince" isn't really a reveal, but something that could, later on, be a red herring.
When Claudia discovers a secret about Incarceron, the prison her father is Warden over, she expects that breaking the lost prince out and returning to a more "normal" world will be easy. She doesn't know there are more secrets to Incarceron--and her own past--than meet the eye...
The writing and world building of this are gorgeously done. While I wish that the prison had been described a bit MORE in detail--there were some moments I found myself getting confused about just where they were in their travels across the prison--there were also plot points and reveals that I hadn't expected. A world of this magnitude takes a lot of imagination to come to life--and this book has that in full.
Some of the characters fall a bit flat of their promise--they have moments where they seem interesting, as if we're going to see something deeper of them, that never actually occurs. The focus is, as with most novels, on the main characters, though part of me wishes a few of the "sidekicks" had been given their due on the page as well.
If you're looking for a novel that is more "steampunk" than fantasy (but still manages to retain both genres, plus a little of everything else); a novel with interesting, complex characters and a habit of never quite revealing all its secrets to you--this book is for you!