So Many Books... - Ow, ow, ow

11:10 pm - Ow, ow, ow

Okay - the second two ows are actually book-related, if it wasn't possible to tell anyway.

The first of those is a moan of pain at my own abject stupidity (can you have un-abject stupidity? a nice, dignified stupidity sounds somehow oxymoronic, as well as the other type). I somehow managed to gloss over a very modest mention of Senrid on Sartorias' LJ page, for no better reason than because it was one of the Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day posts. I eventually figured out what that was about, but hadn't time to read any stories posted then, so just did a bit of a skim without taking in too much. Only way to successfully withstand temptation is not to encounter it. But - yeah. There's a whole new book. By Sherwood Smith. YA. And I didn't notice! Yeech. (I'm now not only better informed about P-STD, but also about Senrid's publishing company norilanabooks, and their beautifully tongue-in-cheek name for their YA line: 'YA Angst'. ) All good now.

The second is - well, maybe I should ameliorate my pain a little by flaunting my pioneering, trail-blazing role as being (according to Google Blogsearch, at least) the first blogger to talk about Catherine Fisher's Incarceron. And thus ensuring that anyone reading this will be warned that this is NOT a STAND-ALONE. Because, y'know, nobody bothered to warn me. And, as of last night, there is no mention of this fact on/in the book, on the publisher's site, or on Amazon. And I'm not really impressed by that. Not Catherine Fisher's fault, obviously, but a bit shabby on the part of publishers. (Yes, I am sure it's not just an ending that didn't feel sufficiently tied-up-in-a-bow-ish to me; she's said she's at work on the sequel.) It's good, I'll say more behind a cut about what I liked about it (spoiler-safe, except for the most exquisitely sensitive - who should avoid reading Amazon's and Hodder's blurbs, btw), but I think I wish it had been a stand-alone. Much as I loved the Oracle trilogy, it didn't grow that much on me on a reread (except for the scene in the underworld in The Scarab), while Corbenic definitely did. And I think some of that might possibly have been related to its being a trilogy. Maybe. Of course it could just have been Cal, who's my favourite character of any in her books.


I still refuse to worry about 'proper' definitions of science fiction v. fantasy, and still go with my original impression, which was science-fiction with a fantasy sensibility. The set-up is really great: a world scarred by years of war has developed a huge (as in world-size), sentient prison, into which all the criminals and dissidents are sealed, along with volunteers from the group of scholars, the Sapienti. And it's a totally closed system: not only in terms of people's ability to move in and out, but also in materials, as Incarceron itself recycles everything. So if you think Big Brother crossed with Eden Project - with a touch of every dystopia you care to throw in and mediaeval dungeons too, that would be about it. In the Prison, the main character, Finn, has all kinds of problems: belonging to a particularly violent group, the Comitatus, in a lawless, dangerous society, tormented by fits which give him what might be visions, or might be memories of a life before he came to consciousness three years ago, with no idea of who or where he was. But are they his memories, from a life Outside? Is there an Outside? Or has he truly been created by Incarceron - a 'cell-born', with only fragments of memories from the others whose recycled matter made him? Is there any truth in the legends of Sapphique, who was the only one ever to escape Incarceron? What is the tattoo on his wrist, which matches the design on an artifact (Finn alone recognises it as a key)?

And that's just Inside. Outside, the ruler who ordered the creation of Incarceron also ordered the return to a peaceful - a perfect - era from the country's history. Everything is run by Protocol; everything is 'in Era'; nothing must change or progress. Roughly our 17th century - although one in which advanced technology exists, if either kept invisible or illegal (but available to the rich). Here, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, engaged to the the heir to the throne, lives on her father's Estate with her tutor Jared. Her father has raised her to be the future queen, from her betrothal at five to the King's son, Giles, who died two years later, to her current one to Caspar, the present Queen's son. Caspar is described as 'feckless, brutal, and thinks he's beyond control' by Claudia's father - which shows something about the way in which he arranges Claudia's life. Claudia and Jared find evidence suggesting that Giles may have been murdered, and their suspicions lead Claudia to break into her father's study, where she picks up a crystal key, which allows her to... (well, you can read the blurb on Hodder, if you want a bit of spoiler - I won't do it!)

Both Finn and Claudia are imperfect but sympathetic characters - damaged by their very different environments, which leave them about equally lacking in freedom. Their stories get more gripping as Finn tries to escape the prison and Claudia is increasingly isolated in a world of political intrigue and betrayal. There was a certain sense of familiarity to Finn's group of companions: his arrogant and ruthless oathbrother, Keiro; the Sapient Gildas, with his fervent belief in the possibility of escaping like Sapphique, and Attia, former dog-slave to the Winglord of the Comitatus, whom Finn has rescued. Not entirely different from the groups of companions in the Oracle trilogy or the four Books of the Crow, although the settings are so very different. I also felt that there wasn't quite enough explanation for how people outside Incarceron could have been led to believe that it was a wonderful Utopian experiment, rather than a convenient dumping-ground for those not wanted in society (along with those heroic Sapienti). There seemed to be a few, mostly minor plot-holes, such as the ease of locating records for people Inside, given that there are supposedly a thousand million of them. But it's entirely possible that things which seem inconsistent or unexplained will be made perfectly clear in subsequent book(s). And I'll so be getting that, or those, as soon as I possibly can...



The first 'ow' was memory of a killer headache, which woke me up early this morning, and so made my brain so mushy that this took far longer to write than its coherence would ever justify.