Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language: Profanity about 3 times. B-word 3 times.

Violence: The world of Incarceron is brutal, but we don’t see a lot of graphic description. There is an ambush with fighting, mention of “selling of women and children,” and a woman is murdered where she falls into a bottomless pit. A few other brutal punishments mentioned, like tongue-splitting and cutting hands off. We see three old crones who apparently had their hands cut off at some past time. A knife fight where a hand is pinned to the floor with the blade. There are a couple of kidnappings. Some “lives” are trapped in rings they can use to save themselves later—the killings were sometime in the past.

Sexual content: A boy is expelled from school for various crimes including “getting certain girls pregnant.” Claudia’s fiancé tells her she can have as many lovers as she wants.

Adult Themes: There is a drug that is used in the prison. The gang has at least one slave.

Synopsis

Claudia will be queen. This much has been determined her entire life. She is betrothed to Caspar, a shallow, selfish boy, who has become heir to the throne through the death of his older brother Giles. Behind the perfect face she presents to the world, however, Claudia is determined not to go through with the marriage. With her tutor Jared, Claudia secretly searches for the truth about the death of Giles, and about the enigmatic Incarceron, a place where half her society was imprisoned 150 years ago. Claudia’s unbending father is the prison warden and one of the few people alive who knows where Incarceron is. At that same time, it was decreed that the remaining society would forever live as they did in a past time, that technological and scientific knowledge would be hidden away, and that future innovation and progress would be forbidden. Inside Incarceron, we meet Finn, a boy who has no memory of his childhood. Now he is part of a brutal gang of thieves, in a violent world where survival is everything. He has visions that make him think escape from Incarceron is possible, although only one man is believed to have ever escaped. His quest joins with Claudia’s quest when he comes to possess a “key” that allows communication with the outside world, and Finn and Claudia desperately try to find and reveal the truth and escape their separate prisons.

This novel is unique and compelling, with lots of creative detail that convincingly creates a new world, or actually two new worlds with a portal that connects them. There are all kinds of interesting twists between old, new, good, bad. The story is unpredictable, and the characters are developed well so that you care about them. Even in the brutal world of Incarceron, right and wrong exist and are accepted by the characters. Both female and male protagonists have lots of spunk, and middle and high schoolers would enjoy this story, which is the beginning of a series. I listened to much of the recorded book, which is done really well by a great actress.