I just finished reading
Sapphique by Catherine Fisher. It's the second and final book following
Incarceron. They're a unique take on distopian fiction. Incarceron is a prison that is alive and has the power to care for or torment its prisoners. The outside world appears to be a medieval kingdom, but they have advanced technology and have chosen to not use it -- or so it appears.
I also read
Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George, the author of
Dragon Slippers, and a local author. When I bought it, I took it to my seven year old granddaughter, and she read it within a few days. Then it was my turn. It's an enjoyable story about an eleven year old princess, her older sister, and their fourteen year old brother who is the crown prince. Rhat means he will be the next king.
They live in a very unique castle. Here is the opening line: "Whenever Castle Glower became bored, it would grow a new room or two." The plot thickens (rising action) when their parents go missing and are apparently dead. A wicked foreign prince and traitorous counselors from their own government plot to take over the country, underestimating the three royal children and the powers of the castle itself.
I just realized that
Sapphique and
Tuesdays at the Castle share a common idea -- a building that lives and thinks. However that two books have very different moods and outcomes.
Sapphique is distopian fiction, and
Tuesdays at the Castle is fantasy.
