Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron is the first novel I've read by Catherine Fisher. At first, Incarceron reminded me a lot of the book The Maze http://tinyurl.com/2eksezq where people are kept inside a different world. However, Incarceron has many more things happening.

Incarceron is a place that was created years ago for society to get rid of criminals. Incarceron is above all else a prison, but it is also a place where no guards are needed. There is a Warden whose job it is to manage Incarceron, but this Warden doesn't ever go into Incarceron.
There are really two stories taking place in this book. One is of some of the people inside Incarceron. Finn- who believes he is from the outside because he has memories of a different time and his 'family' that he has created. Very few people within Incarceron believe there is even an outside, Finn keeps his thoughts to himself because he knows they won't be well received.
The other story is of Claudia. She lives outside of Incarceron. Claudia is the daughter of the Warden and she has grown up believing that Incarceron is a perfect place. That is what all of society has been told, that the experiment of Incarceron was so successful and created such a beautiful society that nobody wants to leave it. Claudia is very curious about Incarceron, she doesn't trust anything her father says because she has been taught by her tutor Jared that life isn't what it seems.
As the stories of Claudia and Finn are told, their stories start to run together. They each have one main goal- to escape the world they know and live in.
While I found it hard to follow the story all the time, the strange names and different threads that were all being pulled together, I really liked the story and the characters. I look forward to the sequel coming out in December. Check out the website here: http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780803733961,00.html