Thank Goodness It Wasn't a Trilogy!

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

Steampunk/Dystopian Fiction

This is the second and final book to Incarceron.  Thank goodness this wasn't a trilogy!

This one starts just where the other leaves off.  Really, it was more like chapter two of one terribly long book.

In this book, Finn finally gets his wish to escape Incarceron and takes his place as the rightful heir to the kingdom, except he doesn't know for certain that he's the rightful heir.  Things feel off for Finn and when someone else steps up claiming to be the lost heir, Finn's doubts grows.  Finn also feels crippling guilt at leaving his two best friends behind.  He literally can't do anything productive because his mind is always churning with how to save them.  And, the outside isn't all that much better than inside Incarceron.

Claudia isn't fairing much better.  She is relentlessly pushing Finn into his role was future heir, only to save her own skin.  She is a thoroughly unlikeable character.  Both of them are.  Claudia is desperate to save her own life, desperate to save the life of her ailing tutor Jared , and desperate to find Incarceron and perhaps her father, the Warden.

And, everyone is hunting for Sapphique, the legend who holds the key to all their problems.

I was glad this series was over.  The book seemed to drag on and on and the characters seemed very whiny to me.  There was no love interest in the book and maybe that's what it was missing for me.  The motivation and passions of the characters were greed, loyalty and fear.  I just found them distasteful and hard to connect to.