Fearless

Fearless

By Tim Lott

Little Fearless is taken from her home, and sent to the City Community Faith School for Retraining, Opportunity and Hope. The school in no way lives up to its name – it is instead a dark, dismal prison, where the girls are worked hard doing the city’s laundry. Little Fearless is the bravest girl in the school, telling stories to the others in an effort to keep their hopes up. Angry about the injustice of the school, Little Fearless plans to escape – sure that once the people outside are made aware of the true conditions inside the school, the girls will be saved.

It’s a challenging story – a dystopian world, where children are betrayed so badly by the adults around them. It’s also quite a depressing tale – about the stripping away of identity and the loss of individualism, the power of sacrifice, and the importance of standing up for one’s beliefs.

Due to the heavy dependence on fairytale and fable elements, the structure of the story seems quite formulaic at times, and some sections are a bit over-written. Nonetheless, it’s a good read, with the tension lasting right till the very end.

Incarceron

Incarceron

Author: Catherine Fisher

An amazing, intriguing, thought-provoking story – with deeply drawn characters and a writing style that is such a pleasure to read. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

There is no escape from Incarceron. It was filled with lawbreakers, dissidents and society’s unwanted; then the doors were shut forever, creating a closed system from which none can enter and none can escape. The Experiment in prisoner rehabilitation failed quickly, with brutal warlords taking control of various sections, leaving the inhabitants to fight for grim survival. Finn has strange visions, and haunting nightmares, where he sees the stars, leading him to believe that he has been Outside. Finding a mysterious Key, he begins a quest to find the doorway that will lead him back to the Outside.

Outside, Claudia is the Warden’s daughter. Though she lives a life of prestige and wealth, she is also trapped – by the strange insistence of her society to live ‘In Era’, living in a faux-seventeenth century world ruled by Protocols of courtly manners, quaint affectations and no advanced technology. She is trapped too by an unwanted betrothal, by her role in courtly politics and intrigue, and by her strained relationship with her father. She too finds a mysterious Key, gains a communication channel with Finn, and becomes caught up in plans to help him Escape.

Through Finn and Claudia the story explores such interesting themes: the philosophy of identity; of personal journeying; of prisons and prisoner rehabilitation; of propaganda; authoritarianism; and the way love, hate, hopeless indifference and regret shape a person’s development. There is hope and tragedy and love and betrayal all blended together in this immensely readable story. Highly recommended.