All right, I'll be honest, I'm kind of obsessed with this book. Now, granted, it took me way longer to read than it should have (I started it during school and then got distracted by other things when school let out...) but now that I've finished it I can easily say that this is the YA book that's replacing The Hunger Games for me (sorry... but... you know how I felt about Mockingjay)This book is both sci-fi and steampunk at the same time. Hold on and let that settle. Yeah, it's basically fantastic. The story follows two worlds, the Outside, and inside Incarceron. Incarceron is a giant prison created by a group known as the Sapienti (oh, I am quite certain that that is probably spelled wrong...) a group that are a little like wizards except with technology. Kind of like that. The prison was meant to be a utopia, a perfect world for these people to start over, but somewhere the technology went wrong. Of course, one of the catches was the the prison itself was alive. Which is supremely creepy I'll have you know. Inside Incarceron the story follows Finn, a young boy born inside the prison. Finn is a starseer, he dreams of the stars of the Outside. The only other starseer was a man named Sapphique, the one man who has ever escaped Incarceron. Outside, the story follows Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron. She is engaged to be married to the prince of the realm who is basically a terrible person who is absolutely dull and boring. The Outside realm is held underneath Protocol, which requires everyone to dress and act like that of people in Victorian England. So, the realm is set back in time when in reality it's technologies are quite advanced. Along with Jared, her Sapient tutor, Claudia steals a key that allows her to speak with the coinciding key that is inside Incarceron. The key that Finn holds.The plot takes twists and turns that I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting. Actually by the end no character was acting like i was expecting to do and i was quite shocked by the turns the story took. At times the writing left some to be desired. There were times while inside Incarceron that I could never accurately picture the setting. It always seemed like they were just talking in the dark. Aside from that, though, I loved how this was written. I loved the steampunk elements that were weaved throughout the entire book- through 'Protocol' and an airship that the team in Incarceron steals. This was actually one of the most interesting steampunk YA books i've read yet. The story drops off in a rather abrupt cliff hanger, however, so i must quickly get my hands on the sequel. Basically, this book incorporated all my favourite elements in one with a great cast of characters. There were a few characters I was not fond of, but i was a huge fan of Jared and Keiro, they were by far the best.
