Incarceron

I have found myself becoming obsessed with dystopic, big brother-esque, totalitarian YA Lit recently.  (Please see my last blog on The Line for a great example.)  Incarceron turned out to be no exception to this trend.  And, yes, I am still judging books by their covers.  That is how teenagers choose books, so, if I want to know what they are reading, I have to choose like they do.  Look at this cover.

It is hard to pass this cover up.  So...I did not, and I bought it without even knowing what it was about.  It turned out to be a good choice.

As I am not a blurb writer (and never will be), here is the blurb on the inside cover:

"Incarceron is a prison unlike any other:  Its inmates live not only in cells, but also in metal forests, dilapidated cities, and unbounded wilderness.  The prison has been sealed for centuries, and only one man, legend says, has ever escaped.  Finn, a seventeen-year old prisoner, can't remember his childhood and believes he came from Outside Incarceron.  He's going to escape, even though most inmates don't believe that Outside even exists.  And then Finn finds a crystal key, and through it, a girl named Claudia.  Claudia claims to live Outside - her father is the Warden of Incarceron and she's doomed to an arranged marriage.  If she helps Finn escape, she will need his help in return.  But they don't realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye.  Escape will take their greatest courage and cost far more than they know.  Because Incarceron is alive."

If that does not give you chills, then I do not know what will. 

The book is wonderfully written.  It flashes back and forth between Finn's world of Incarceron and the Outside world of Claudia.  There is never a dull moment between the two, either.  This book has so many twists and turns, and it constantly leaves you guessing, which, of course, forces you to keep reading.  This should explain to you why I am writing this blog at 4 in the morning.

However, it has so many more merits to it than just "edge of your seat" fiction.  The main character of Claudia is a powerful female protagonist.  She is quite intelligent and very "take charge" in the most dire of situations.  She also is forced to resolve some serious ethical dilemmas regarding the bonds between family and what is just.

An important evaluation of every YA text that I read is to determine what is its classical alternative currently used in secondary schools.  In a standards driven system of education, we find ourselves constantly defending YA Lit to every colleague, principal, and supervisor in the school system.  As with my last blog, which connected The Line to Brave New World or 1984, Incarceron has several connections to the current "canon".  The connection that stands out most is 2001: A Space Odyssey.  In both stories, an artificially intelligent machine is making decisions based on what it thinks is right for humanity, as well as what is necessary to preserve itself.  Both texts lend themselves to great class discussions regarding universal themes, including what is the place of technology in today's society, is the innate nature of man so evil that machines are necessary to keep man in check, and what will lead to the destruction of humanity: man himself or the technology man creates?  Another "canonical" link can be made to Lord of the Flies.  Inside Incarceron, humanity has deteriorated to every man for himself, even within the small communities that have been created.  Thus, a great conversation can be had regarding the state of man.  Does man desire civilization or savagery, order or chaos?  What about reason versus impulse?

Some great connections can also be made to prominent popular culture movies, such as The Matrix or Escape from New York/L.A.  For those interested in language and mythology, the book relies heavily on Greek and Roman mythology, including the use of Latin throughout the text.

There is only one problem with the text.  As usual with every book I seem to choose, this is not the end of the story.  Once again, I read the last page of a book, only to find a note about the release of a sequel, which is Sapphique, scheduled for release in December of this year.  However, do not worry, my fine YA fan friends, this book has already been released in the U.K.!  Apparently, Incarceron was released in the United States this year and in the U.K. in 2007.  Sapphique came out in 2008 in the U.K.  For £4.49, you can order the book from the U.K.'s Amazon.com.  I am seriously contemplating this, and I probably will.

The author, Catherine Fisher, is a prominent fantasy writer and has won several awards for her work.  Incarceron won The Times Children's Book of the Year award.  Incarceron is already set to be a big budget motion picture, as Fox 2000 won a bidding war for the right to produce both Incarceron and its sequel, Sapphique.