One of the most intriguing relationships is that between Keiro and Finn. Some, like the Queen, are clear enemies right from the start – but others are far more nuanced and ambivalent.

He is one of an interesting cast of characters who accompany the two protagonists on their journeys. But I didn’t foresee the Warden’s story arc, or that by the end I would be feeling sorry for him.

Some of the progression is reasonably predictable – I guessed who Finn was very early on. What Fisher also manages to achieve is the steady pulling together of the two separate strands until they intersect while moving towards the climax. She manages to pack an enormous amount of backstory and detail about the two very different worlds without silting up the pace – a much harder trick to pull than Fisher makes it look, but crucial when writing a successful dystopian science fiction thriller, like this one. That she is a skilful and technically adept writer is evident right from the first sentence. I was interested to learn many other reviewers enjoyed Finn’s journey and his character more than Claudia’s – whereas I found her story more immediately gripping. While this book isn’t a barrel of laughs, it is dialled to YA sensibilities, so although there is plenty of unpleasantness Fisher doesn’t see fit to dwell overmuch on the more violent side of what happens within Incarceron, other than the nastiness that befalls our protagonists and their companions.Īs with all dual narratives, Fisher has to balance the unfolding stories of Finn and Claudia. Imagine a girl in a manor house, in a society where time is forbidden, held in a 17th-century world run by computers, doomed to an arranged marriage, tangled in an assassination plot she dreads and desires. Imagine a prisoner with no memory, sure he came from Outside – though the prison has been sealed for centuries and only one man has ever escaped. Imagine a prison so vast that it contains cells and corridors, forests, cities and seas.

I picked up this book from Fantasycon last year, and finally got around to picking it up this week… Which was when I discovered it was YA.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher