Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Remember how I said I wanted to push myself to read books that were on my TBR for who knows how long? It's working. This is a book that I've owned for years but haven't read and one that I've seen a couple of people own but not talk about really ever so I thought we'd talk about it here. This book is about a prison that is alive. No one has ever escaped and no one has ever entered. It's meant for the worst type of criminals. So then we has Claudia, the warden's daughter, and Finn, the prisoner who doesn't remember anything before the age thirteen. Finn wants to escape, Claudia wants out of an arranged marriage. Let the story begin.

So the first thing I want to talk about this book is the way that it was driven. Books are usually driven by plot or by characters or by some combination of both but you can usually tell which the author is focusing on. I prefer for books to be character driven. This book was plot driven. I didn't mind it. That's unusual for me. The characters fell flat at times but you care enough so that you still root for them. I also didn't notice while I was actively reading the book. The plot was very gripping and intense with some awesome twists and turns in it but I will say there were a few times when I saw something coming but besides that, I thought the plot was gripping. 

Like I said, the characters did fall flat at times but I didn't mind it too much. The biggest issue I has with this book was the world building. I've read one other book by Catherine Fisher and I gave to say, I has pad the same issue with that book as well. There were certain aspects of this book that I wish were explained better. Like the prison itself. Life inside Incarceron is much different from actual prison life. There are no cells inmates are kept in. There are few guards. It seems as though they are able to have families in there because no one has come in or out of the prison in around a hundred years. But none of this is fully explained. You catch on to things as the story progresses but it would have been nice if this was all explained earlier on.

I also read the second and final book in this series and I have today, this is one of the few series that wish continued in for just one more book. I say this because the end of the second book is resolved but there are just a few things that I wish we got to see how they played out in the near future.

In case any of you were wondering, there is little to no romance I this series. Maybe you could see it if you squint and tilt your head but not really. I did feel like the author tried to incorporate it but it failed if that was actually what she was trying to do. Overall, I think this series is worth reading. The plot is highly engaging and the characters do fall flat but really, you don't mind it as much as you think you would. It's a good series with flaws but hey, it's still very good. 4 out of 5 stars.