Wow. This book took me by surprise. I had never heard of it, and only vaguely knew what it was about based on the grimy jacket cover. It sat next to other YA books in the library; its sequel on one side and a petty high school paranormal romance on the other. And something about it piqued my interest. 
 And now here we are. I just finished the strangest book ever. It is a fantasy. But not. It is science fiction, but not. Science fantasy? Is there such a thing? Though full of holes worth questioning, the author has created a world where past meets present and future, and science meets fantastical elements. It has real world rules and yet some sort of magic. I'm not really sure. 
 Finn is a young man who has visions. He lives inside Incarceron and believes he came from the Outside. He and some others start out on a quest to get Outside. Claudia is the prison warden's daughter. She is arranged to be married to a rotten heir. She discovers secrets about Incarceron that start her out on a quest of her own. Between the two of them, they have both worlds to try to save, as well as find their own places in life. 
 So this prison... what a place. I can tell you that I didn't see its mystery coming. The characters were some of the most fully realized I've read about. Aside from Finn and Claudia, I never really knew who was worth trusting, and that was because the author did so well of showing their good sides as well as hinting at dark thoughts, and the other way around. I truly enjoyed the alternating points of view, seeing both inside and out. I felt there was the perfect balance between telling us too much and not enough. 
 And guess what? No cheesy romance! There were very strong character relationships of all sorts throughout the book, and the few possibilities for love interests are handled with care and at the proper pacing, hinting enough at something to keep a reader intrigued but reminding us that there are far more important things than romantic love. Such as brotherly love and the love between a father and daughter, and girl and lifelong tutor. 
 The plot was new to me, and the twists were some I couldn't predict. I'm left kicking myself for not checking out Sapphique, the sequel, so I can start it right away. 
 For those readers looking for something out of the box when it comes to YA (which this doesn't even feel like YA), then give this a try. Whether you end up liking it or not, I can almost guarantee that it is at least different from most of the other cliche stuff out there.