Incarceron (Incarceron Book #1)

This time I have decided to review a rather dark and sinister tale of belief and hate. But I must say that Incareceron  shall hold a place in my heart forever.

                          

One of my close friends (the one who suggested Ender's Game) told me to read this some time later. I didn't really have any problem with the age rating because it was also in our English teacher's room. After quite a bit of thinking and rethinking, I mustered up the courage to get it from the library. Yes, I got quite a few questions which could be interpreted as "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!", but it was all worth it.

Here's the cover-

Finn is all alone in Incarceron. No one listens to him because they think he's too weak. Even his oathbrother Keiro doesn't care at all. In Incarceron the worst criminals are thrown into this prison in order to be punished for their crimes. But no one gets out of Incarceron alive. No. One. At. All.

There are the criminals and then there are those who are born from Incarceron. They can emerge as infants or they can emerge as fully grown adults. It's all up to the monster that calls itself Incarceron to decide who lives and whom it eats. To Finn, there is no world except Incarceron. But that all changes when he accidentally kills an officer and steals a key from her pocket.

This is no ordinary key. It helps him get in touch with a girl named Claudia and her mentor Jared. At first Finn thinks that she is in some remote part of Incarceron that simulates the real world, but he couldn't be more wrong.

To Claudia, he is Prince Giles, a young prince of her age whom she was supposed to marry, but had to switch to be betrothed to his half-brother Caspar because of Giles's untimely death. But Caspar is an idiot. He was never fit to be king and surely Claudia doesn't want to be at his side when he does ascend the throne. To her, Giles is not dead and is in fact in Incarceron. She is completely sure that Finn is Giles. So Claudia makes it her ultimate mission to get Finn out of Incarceron so he can take the throne instead of Caspar.

Faced by strange challenges and the betrayal of the ones closest to them, Finn and Claudia try to find each other and put an end to the Queen's plans before Caspar inherits the kingdom.

My thoughts- (Do I even have to say that they contain spoilers anymore?)

I also believed that Giles was dead up until when the Warden of Incarceron reveals that he is Sapphique and that Claudia is not his daughter. Then I knew that Giles was in fact well and alive. I must side with Claudia in the sense that Finn is Giles. The mark on their wrists are the same. The same bird shape. the same appearances, even the same way of thinking.

I have to say that the end wasn't nearly as dark as the beginning implied. But it wasn't at all  light either.

The sequel Sapphique will also be an equally compelling read if you like this one. (It's at my house, but I'm reading Froi of the Exiles and then I'll read Quintana of Charyn and then there are some more books on my desk, so it'll be a long while before I get to read it.)