Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Waiting on Wednesday (31)

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron -- a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology -- a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber -- chains, great halls, dungeons.


A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier life, and cannot believe he was born here and has always been here. In the outer world, Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, is trapped in her own form of prison -- a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage she dreads. She knows nothing of Incarceron, except that it exists.


But there comes a moment when Finn, inside Incarceron, and Claudia, outside, simultaneously find a device -- a crystal key, through which they can talk to each other. And so the plan for Finn's escape is born ... [summary from Goodreads]

Incarceron has been out for a few years already in the UK, and will be published in the US next spring. I've been following it ever since I read R. J. Anderson's review of it on Goodreads, where she begins with, "I love this book with a mad passion" and from there descends into reverent sort of incoherent babbling. Sometimes it's the most innocuous synopses that can be the most amazing, and this seems like one of those, something that will contain fantastic world-building, subtly well-done characterization, and a quiet, looming plot out of which grows true writerly admiration.

Incarceron will be published by Dial Books on February 23, 2010.

12 comments:

  1. Oh I think Kristi at the Story Siren just got an Arc of the US edition of this. I like the new cover and it made me want to read it, but this just totally made me wish I could read it right now. I love it when reviewers start babbling, it means the book is too awesome for words (if you trust their reviews).

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  2. I am definitely waiting for this one too.

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  3. Sounds like it's right up my alley - thanks for the heads up.

    PS: Have you seen/heard anything about 'Impossible' by Nancy Welin ?

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  4. Okay, this is one occasion when I feel lucky to live in the UK. I read this last month and loved it! And yep, the world-building is amazing.

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  5. I've been seeing this on a few WoW lists and I'm so looking forward to it!

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  6. This sounds amazing. I'll watch out for it.

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  7. This sounds quite interesting. Why is it out so far away? :)

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  8. I am looking forward to reading this one, too.

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  9. That was weird. I was reading the blurb you posted and thinking how English it sounded, then you write that it's been out in the UK for a while. So it is English. But I wonder what made it sound so English to me. I'll have to look out for this.

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  10. Ok, obviously another one to try and order when I am at the bookstore today!!

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  11. Hahahah! Ok, the first thing I was going to say is EXACTLY the way the first comment on this post starts. ;)

    However I have added this one, and its sequel to my Book Depository wishlist since I'll be ordering a book that comes out in January from the UK, I think this will be a nice extra birthday gift for myself. ;)

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Hello! I'm so excited to read what you have to say. Due to high amounts of spam, I'm forced to disabled anonymous comments for the time being. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes, and I hope you can understand and still appreciate the content here!

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