Blurb on the back:

Imagine a prison so vast that it contains cells and corridors, forests, cities and seas. 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 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.

One inside, one outside.

But both imprisoned.

Imagine Incarceron.

This is Incarceron by Catherine Fisher (2007), a YA dystopian adventure story.

I’ll start by saying that this story is just bursting with wonderful ideas and Fisher does a great job of taking the reader on a journey though the world she has created.

For the most part, the chapters alternate between focussing on Claudia, who feels trapped on the Outside, and Finn, who is trapped on the Inside of Incarceron prison. As the story progresses, their separate lives become ever more intertwined, as they each navigate the Inside and Outside worlds.

It’s difficult to review this without giving too much away, but the characters are engaging, and I enjoyed discovering more about the two worlds that Claudia and Finn inhabit, as they both realise that things are not always what they first appear to be.

Intriguing and exciting, but I don’t feel the need to read the sequel, Sapphique.