Against All Odds - The Postal Service

Sapphique
Incarceron, Book 2

Author: Catherine Fisher
Genre: fantasy, young adult
Pages: 460
ARC Acquired From: Penguin booth at ALA 2010

I reviewed Incarceron a few weeks back and, although I didn't like it, I already had a copy of the ARC. Sapphique was not better than the first book in the series, but it was easier for me to get through, perhaps because I had much lower expectations. All of my problems with the first book still remain here.

The characters, all of them, are pretty much entirely unlikeable. Jared, Claudia's tutor, is the character I most liked, but the reader has known since the beginning of book one that he has an incurable disease, distancing one's affection for him. Claudia is obnoxious, power-hungry and mistrusting. Finn alternates between being emo and arrogant. Keiro is as he has ever been. Attia never really seems to coalesce into a definite personality. And those are just the characters you are supposed to be rooting for.

Romance is not to be found in Sapphique, even though the book ends with an engagement in place for two of them. Those two characters have absolutely no chemistry; in fact, the girl is clearly in love with someone else.

If you liked Incarceron, I doubt you will be disappointed by Sapphique. Otherwise, don't bother.

"How can I just let you walk away,
Just let you leave without a trace
When I stand here

Taking every breath with you
You're the only one who really knew me at all

How can you just walk away from me
When all I can do is watch you leave?
'cause we shared the laughter and the pain
And even shared the tears
You're the only one who really knew me at all

So take a look at me now
There's just an empty space
There's nothing left here to remind me
Just the memory of your face
Take a look at me now
There's just an empty space
You coming back to me is against the odds
And that's what I've gotta face"