Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

Sapphique is the sequel to the New York Times bestseller (so read it first!) Incarceron
I admit that I am not much of a fantasy reader, but the basis of both of these books are pretty cool.

There were two stories in Incarceron - Finn who is trapped in a horrible prison and Claudia the daughter of the Warden is trapped in her own prison in the 'free' world. At the end of Incarceron, Finn and Claudia's two worlds meet and that is where the story of Sapphique takes up.

Claudia believes that Finn is the prince who is destined to become the king and her husband. Finn however isn't so sure. He has no memories of his life before Incarceron and he is filled with guilt over the two friends he left behind when he came out of the prison. Claudia and Finn must deal with the politics and games that take place at court where they are desperately trying to prove that Finn is the prince. Meanwhile, in Incarceron, Keiro and Attia are trying to reach the outside world. Keiro is filled with anger at Finn for leaving him behind and Attia is trying to believe that Finn hasn't left them to suffer.

With both books, Fisher has a very well developed story. It is obvious from the quotes that begin each chapter that there is a back story that was very well thought out even though we only catch glimpses of this story. I found all of the clues these quotes offered to be a bit frustrating- I want to know the whole story and see it develop from start to finish. Fisher leaves the reader at the end of many chapters wondering what will happen to the main characters and I think that is what keeps kids reading these books.
While these books aren't my favourite- I found them hard to get through- I am glad to have read them and have them to offer to my real fantasy buffs in my classroom.