By: Catherine Fisher
Published: December 28, 2010
Published by: Hodder Children's Books
Description: Finn has escaped from the terrible living Prison of Incarceron, but its memory torments him, because his brother Keiro is still inside. Outside, Claudia insists he must be king, but Finn doubts even his own identity. Is he the lost prince Giles? Or are his memories no more than another construct of his imprisonment? And can you be free if your friends are still captive? Can you be free if your world is frozen in time? Can you be free if you don't even know who you are? Inside Incarceron, has the crazy sorcerer Rix really found the Glove of Sapphique, the only man the Prison ever loved. Sapphique, whose image fires Incarceron with the desire to escape its own nature. If Keiro steals the glove, will he bring destruction to the world? Inside. Outside. All seeking freedom. Like Sapphique.
My Thoughts: Incarceron was a wonderful book that gave its readers deep philosophical questions to ponder, and its successor, Sapphique, was the same. It went deeper into the world Incarceron built and crumbled it all to pieces and made you think even further and harder about those issues.
To begin, I was a bit bored with Sapphique. It seemed to progress uselessly slow for me and I was waiting and hoping to get to the real meat of the story. I wanted things to happen, and all the characters seemed to be focusing on other things. About near the middle of the book though, I started to get into it, although it never really captured me as Incarceron did. I merely enjoyed it and wanted to see what happened at the end. Something just seemed to be missing in my opinion.
The book seemed to end very close to how I expected it to end. Some people say it was left open but I disagree. How else was the author supposed to portray the image she wanted to portray, one of new beginnings and possibility. I wont give any details, but I was pleased with the ending.
I don't have much to say about the book without giving too much away, and I fear I may already have given a lot away, nonetheless, I'll say this was a good book, worth reading if you liked Incarceron. 3 Stars.
4 comments:
There's just something about books involving prisons that really creep me out. I think because I can't sit still for 5 minutes let alone be stuck in a small space for years on end. Sounds like this one is really interesting.
I think I'd really like this series. I love books that make you ponder and become thought provoking. Too bad this one was a bit slow, I find that happens a lot during sequels. Great review!
Well, I havent read (or actually even heard of) Incarceron or Sapphique, but it seems that there is a lot of world building (which I love) and though this wasnt as great as the first one, you still enjoyed it. So that says something.
I think Ill go find Incarceron, and if I enjoy it, Ill read this one too.
Great review.
Btw- Im a new follower via GFC. If you get the chance, you could come see me at my BLOG and follow back :)
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At first I couldn't remember if I agreed with your review of this book or not. I read this book long enough ago (about 4-5 months) that I can't really remember it. I have a horrible memory when it comes to certain things, especially something like the fine details of a book. Unless that is, whatever the subject was, really left an impression…and sadly even sometimes still I struggle. However, I think back to the time I spent reading this book and I do remember that I had some of the same issues. It's lack of pace like you expressed being one, and the other was this weird knack the author had for using words that I thought didn't quite fit, or make sense to use. It's a problem that I have sometimes when writing, as many people do I'm sure, not wanting to use the same predictable word to describe/express something. Although her remedy to the solution seemed to be just as bad as the problem; replace the "common" word with an unusually, unusual word, and then repeat that word over and over again in place of the more common one. I feel like I'm ranting and being nitpicky but I'm only doing so because I felt this quirk threw off my flow in reading the book. But that's not to take away from some of her strong points. She does a really good job with imagery, creating pictures in your mind of what you are supposed to be imagining, and the idea itself of these parallel worlds is really cool.
Otherwise I'll say this; the book did pick up a lot in my opinion toward the end. I did find myself wishing there was more of a discovery and mystery solving element to the books conclusion like there was with Jared briefly toward the end. The concept was good, and I did enjoy the book over all. When I first finished this book, I was still just getting re-acquainted with the idea of book reading, and probably would have given this book a 4 compared to your 3...but now that I have read a really amazing book called Little Brother,(which I do suggest you read even though it's a bit more real life than you usually read), I would rate Sapphique on a lower curve I think. Instead of a 3 was thinking more like a 3.5758901(kidding), but seriously though, I probably honestly give it a 3.5. I also assumed that the only reason I liked it a little more than you was because you have more experience having read a crap ton more of books than I have…But mark my words Sherre I’ll surpass you one day. Muwahahahaaa.
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