Incarceron (random entry about thoughts and the name Chris here)

I hope that title turns out OK...
So Incarceron. It was kind of hard to follow, even as I was recently rereading it. I enjoyed it enough to pick up the sequel, but still didn't really understand it. Basically, the real world has chosen a time period to emulate to end strife. They chose the medieval era. I usually love anything to do with medieval, but this was a pretty dry medieval. To me, politics should not be in books. Brisingr did it well enough, but other than that, NO. Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron is betrothed to the future king, except this prince is the real prince's half-brother. The real prince died years back on a horse riding accident. Obviously, as in any book about medieval politics, any death ever should instantly be considered murder.
Now, we haven't even gotten to the only thing I enjoyed about this book. Incarceron. The living prison. Technology at it's finest, all centered around one goal: making sure nobody ever escapes. It enjoys torturing people as a side goal. Finn lives in Incarceron as something called a "cell-born." That means that Finn would have woken up, born of the (can you guess it?) prison. Incarceron seems to thrust strange abilities on cell-born humans. But Finn is convinced that he is not cell-born, that he comes from outside, and that the strange visions he sees are memories of his old life.
Kristen mentioned the lack of characters to "root for." I can think of one very important, honest character. Attia. She spent years as a slave of a crime lord, so she's tough already. Her one goal is to keep Finn safe. She does a good job too, actually going so far as to die.
Ooops. Spoiler alert. Oh. Too late.
Anyway, she let's people know that she doesn't like them, which is more than I could say for most of these characters. She enslaves herself to Finn's protection and well being. Read the book. As much as I hated on it in that first paragraph, it's a good enough book. Don't bother with the sequel. TOO MUCH POLITICS!!! HULK ANGRY! HULK bring book back to library with a formal letter of complaint.