Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Reviewed by Lori
Incarceron
Title: Incarceron

Author: Catherine Fisher

Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 41041

Description:  To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner escape.

Rubric Rating: Level 2: Like It

Why I Read It: I loved this book's cover and title and that's the reason I started this novel.   I was captivated by the beautiful key and I liked that the companion novel's cover shows a keyhole.

Lori's Notes:  I'm sad that the inside of the book didn't live up to the outside for me.  A living prison and social experiment, Incarceron has been sealed for centuries and no one has escaped. Claudia, the warden's daughter wants to escape an arranged marriage and through the use of a crystal key meets Finn, trapped within the prison.  Finn has no idea whom he is or how he ended up in Incarceron.  Each day is a struggle for survival but with Claudia and the sapient Jared's help, Finn and his friends might just be able to escape the prison.  A prison that has ideas of its own.  A typical hero's journey with the hero/heroine,  mage, trickster, thief, and the evil villain. While the premise of this story was incredibly interesting I found the setting of the story confusing.  The story takes place in the future; however, the time period chosen as ideal is a medieval period so the women and men are dressed in period costume, they live in a castle with feudal serfs, and must practice the social mores of that time period.  I found the dichotomy of a future dystopian set in an historical time frame more than a little jarring.  Particularly, the fact that the characters who seemed to idealize the medieval period fail to take proper care of the technology that allows them to continue the pretense of this fabricated world.  In fact it took me quite some time to realize that the novel was not set in the past but rather in a future looking backward.  Juxtapose that with a shift between the "historical world" and the "prison world" and it becomes even more confusing.  I also would have liked more information about why Incarceron was set up as a social experiment -- not just a prison. While I am a fan of the Dystopian genre I felt that this book missed the mark.

Recommended Reader:  This novel is probably best for individual reading for Grade 7 and up. Because there was some confusion with regard to time/place I would recommend this book for an experienced reader.

Themes: Hero's Journey, Self-Discovery, Truth and justice, Relationships, Dystopian, Prisons and Prisoners, Arranged Marriage, Individual Rights, Orphans, Mutants, Secrets, Identity.

Cross-Genre Links:
Web Search:  Stanford Prison Experiment
Movie: The Experiment (2010)
Movie: Pleasantville (1998)
Movie: The Cube (1997)
Music: Care of Cell 44 by the Zombies (1967)

Possible Essay or Discussion Topics: 

  • What is Incarceron?
  • Did you think the novel was set in the future or the past when your first started reading? What made you think so?  
  • Why would society decide to pick one time period in history and not move forward?  (Discuss the implications for the use of technology)
  • Who is Finn?  What makes you think so?
  • Explain how Finn and Claudia are both facing Incarceron.  How are they both prisoners?

Other Books in this Series:

Other Titles by Catherine Fisher:

Series: The Obsidian Mirror

Series: Relic Master




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