My first comment in reviewing these two books is that I was about to leave on a long flight to Austin and had about 30 pages left of Incarceron to read. Practicality would say I should leave it behind to finish after returning 5 days later (It is quite a big hardcover book.). The reader in me needed to know how it turned out. So gentle reader, what did I do???
Obviously I took it with me, and finished it before the plane took off. (You spend a lot of time in the plane on the ground.) The only disappointment being having to wait until I got home to read Sapphique which I had left behind.
The story begins by switching back and forth between Finn and Claudia. Finn is inside the prison, Incarceron and Claudia is the warden's daughter. We flip as the two move inexorably toward each other. Finn as it turns out, may be the lost prince Claudia's society needs to redeem themselves from the restrictions they have been living under since the Rage. Claudia is the agent of change needed to make the society see the error of their ways. Finn's entourage inclues his oathbrother Keiro; Attia, a former slave he has rescued, and a Sapient named Gildas. Claudia has her own Sapient (a monk type tutor) named Jared, but few other allies.
Each believes themselves to be in a prison. Claudia in her manufactured world, and Finn in Incarceron, a literal prison, but the reader is led to wonder who really has it worse, those on the inside? Or those Outside?
The characters adhere to some pretty predictable types, but their adventures and the unpredictable nature of these worlds makes the stock characters feel comfortable instead of tired. The action and strangeness of this dystopian society lend all the surprise the reader needs.
Sapphique picks up precisely where Incarceron leaves off. This is a two book set, not a trilogy, which is a nice change. The second book is always such filler before the big "ta-da" in the third. Gratifyingly, the story does not end with a nice neat bow to tie it all together. Just like the characters we wonder if they really will be better off now. I like a book that ends with the reader having the same questions as the characters, because those questions are universal.
