Catherine Fisher's new series Incarceron is a futuristic nightmare where no one seems to be having a happy or peaceful life. The two worlds portrayed in this novel--the prison underworld called Incarceron and the "outside" world--are dystopic and dysfunctional in there own ways. Incarceron is basically a huge prison world, where one of the main characters, Finn, grows up. Finn desperately wants to flee Incarceron, but is unsure and unable to break through the think metal walls.
On the other side of those walls lives the other main character, Claudia. She is the privileged daughter of Incarceron's warden and live relatively comfortably in her artificial 17th century world. The outside is kept as simple as life was in the 1600's by computers and technology. Why? So that people are kept working hard and are unable to revolt against their repressive government.
Though Claudia and Finn lead very different lives, they are united in the fact that they are trying to break free of the restraints of their respective environments. So, when they each find a crystal key and are able to communicate with each other, they form a friendship and a common mission--to break down the walls of Incarceron.
This review counts toward my participation in the 2010 Dystopian Lit Challenge.
