Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

The Realm is ruled by Protocol.  Time stands still as no progress is allowed.  Everyone must adhere to an arcane code of conduct and rules.  The Queen wants Protocol to continue, but some, including Claudia want to see Protocol ended.  Finn has escaped from Incarceron, the inescapable prison.  Claudia believes he is the true heir to the throne, imprisoned in Incarceron and wiped of his memories by the Queen.  Finn is still not convinced he truly is Giles.  He is more worried about his oath brother, Keiro, and his friend Attia, still trapped in Incarceron.  However, since the Warden took both Keys and disappeared into Incarceron, there seems to be no way to get them out.  Time is running out for both Claudia and Finn and for the Warden, Keiro and Attia, trapped in Incarceron.  The prison itself wants to escape too, and to do so would most likely mean the end of both their worlds.

There was a lot of stuff going on in this book.  I was getting pretty confused at points actually.  What was going on with Claudia and Finn out in the Realm I was fine with, but the stuff that was happening in Incarceron I had a hard time following.  I think part of this has to do with the fact that I've never really grasped what the world of Incarceron is like.  This is in partly because it's constantly changing; Incarceron can pretty much do whatever it wants.  But as Kiero and Attia are running all over and all this crazy stuff is happening and suddenly they're in the middle of an ocean and suddenly they're on top of a cliff climbing through a hole...there were so many shifts.  It was hard to keep up at times.

Anna had mentioned how in Incarceron, Claudia kind of annoyed her.  I was fine with her in the first book, but man, did Claudia ever annoy me this time around!  She was so clueless!  She was so whinny!  She was totally incompetent.  Isn't she supposed to be really smart?  Why is she doing all this stupid stuff?  She was also totally doing all of this for her own personal gain.  She was using Finn just like everyone else was using Finn.  She tried to make herself feel better about this by saying it was for the kingdom or for Finn's own good and whatever, but no, totally all for herself.  Moreover, she needed her father and Jared to get anything done or make any decisions.  She was completely lost without them.

It was interesting, it was exciting.  I did want to know what happened next.  Sapphique ends with plenty of the story left to tell, so there will be another book coming no doubt, which I will want to read.  So while it's not going to be my favorite fantasy/dystopia book, I did enjoy it.

Sapphique comes out December 28th.