Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

Overall: 3 out of 10 stars


Sapphique by Catherine Fisher
Received from Around the World Tours

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. 

Sadly I just didn't like Sapphique. I marginally liked Incarceron, and that was because I really loved the writing. Fisher's skills with the written word aside I just couldn't get behind the time wasting circles she constantly put the reader and her characters into. I had hoped that in the sequel there would be some romance, some growth in the characters in the beginning, but Finn's pity me attitude throughout the beginning was frustrating to say the least. Claudia's calculating how Finn's behavior would effect her...well, I just couldn't go all the way with this book. It felt way too much like Incarceron, and I didn't like Incarceron enough to want to read in circles and take forever to get anywhere. Although Fisher's writing is good I just always feel like I'm getting yanked around, and like she's taking too long to get to the point. 


Sorry guys. As always go to the tour page and see what everyone else thought. Quite a few people liked Sapphique and Incarceron more then I did. You never know! You might like it too. 

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

For the first time since starting this blog I'm putting a score on a review. Sometimes I just feel like it would help a lot to put a score on a review. So here I am doing something I didn't think I would do. Go figure. 

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Overall Score: 4 out of 10

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 prison--a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage he 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. 

From the moment I read the plot to Incarceron I knew I wanted to read it. The very idea held so much potential. I hadn't read any other reviews before I signed up to read the sequel, Sapphique, on an ARC tour. Unfortunately I didn't like Incarceron as much as I thought I would. The backstory was rarely explained throughout the novel (a 400 page novel mind you) and you simply followed along as Claudia and Finn tried to find a way out of their respective prisons.

Why Incarceron exists, outside of creating a so-called paradise, isn't well explained within the confines of the story. Yes, there are notes, bits of letters, and pieces of history in the header of each chapter--which is very creative--but I felt like a lot of those small quotes were used in place of telling an actual history. I kept waiting for someone to give me a backstory on the Era, why the powers that be would decide on a such a drastic change in everyone's lives to halt time as it were. To chose to send thousands of people into a prison that no one would return from. Also, did sending all prisoners to Incarceron instantly stop crime from occurring. Do they chose to send new prisoners from people who break the law Outside, and these people are really the cell-borns? It would make some kind of sense, wouldn't it?

I was left with so many questions that I felt weren't really answered. Instead we were left with a story about a girl who didn't want to get married and a boy that might be the heir to a country he knows nothing about. The book ended and yet I still felt like I just didn't understand the world that Fisher was trying to build. I got the idea, I understood the Era they were trying to recreate, and sort of why it happened, but I wanted to know more.

Finn is your tortured teen who knows, believes, feels that he doesn't belong in a Prison full of thieves and killers. Claudia is a girl who feels the same way, but has no idea how she could Escape. She is trapped just as much as Finn except with prettier dresses and better hygiene. I found so much of this book to be interesting and fun to read, but I also felt like so many words were wasted on not telling us what and why this world existed. Perhaps leaving us with so many questions at the end of Incarceron was Fisher's way of making us want the sequel to answer them. Unfortunately I was left with a half-finished feeling. I liked the story well enough, but if I wasn't receiving Sapphique as an ARC I don't know if I would of bought it on my own.

The writing was beautiful, but I felt all too often that I was being dragged along on a trip that was taking too long. I could have done with a story that was 50 pages less. Like I said it wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. So far the sequel is proving to be just as intriguing as Incarceron, but we'll just need to see how the story goes.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Received from Around the World Tours.

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

Jennifer Donnelly, author of the award-winning novel A Northern Light, artfully weaves two girls’ stories into one unforgettable account of life, loss, and enduring love. Revolution spans centuries and vividly depicts the eternal struggles of the human heart.

I've heard of A Northern Light but never read it. This was my first Jennifer Donnelly novel. To be honest I was not in the mood for a girl that was so depressed and distraught from her brother's death. I wasn't looking for such a sad premise. The thing is when I sign up for a book it's often months in advance, and what seemed so interesting then can hit me at a bad time.

So reading such a sad story about a girl wanted to kill herself because her brother's death tore her family apart so badly was hard to get through. Actually going through such a thing, of course, can't be easy either. In this case Donnelly was doing her job. Andi was a snarky, distraught, and angry teenager. When her father finally comes around to put her mother into a hospital and take her to France I was really to drop the book. 

Then the French history came into play. The way that Donnelly wrote about the history, the time, the political turmoil was so vastly interesting. Her characters were so passionate about it that they really made you want to learn about that time. It was, for me, when the story turned around. (Although Andi's statement that even Pre-Kers know about the revolution is a little far-fetched. She's probably being just a little snot, but still.) 

Needless to say that the story took a turn for the better. I loved what I read, and knew from the moment that Andi saw her little brother in that painting that it would be amazing. I will definitely be buying this book and re-reading it. It brought a time in history to life as well as interweaving Andi's progress from a broken, suicidal young women into healing. All of it happening because of her interactions with a girl from the French Revolution. 

Long story short I ended up loving this story. If you're like me and you enjoy historical fiction you'll really enjoy this book.