They are then summoned by Incarceron to go to a certain location, that has its humanoid body, and along the way they go to a nursery that gets them in contact with Finn. She catches a ride with Keiro, Finn’s oath brother, and they fight a twelve-headed monster together. She steals his glove which actually belonged to Sapphique, the legendary Sapient who escaped from Incarceron. She tags along with him for a while and they go to a few places then she turns on him, leaving him to die but he comes back with a vengeance later on. His name is Rix and he is known as the Dark Enchanter. She goes to a magic show pretending to be an average bystander because she is the magician’s helper. The story starts off with Attia who helped Finn escape but wasn’t able to escape herself. There is no technology in the realm because of protocol and Finn who escaped the prison believes the realm is just as bad as Incarceron. Combining elements from classic fairy tales, fantasy fiction, historical fiction, and steampunk, the story is fast-paced and captivating.įor readers who enjoy fairy tales, this middle-grade novel is sure to be a hit.The setting is divided between two locations: 'the Realm', a place of artificial harmony, and “Incarceron”, a microscopic prison that contains a vast world, all controlled and monitored by the prison itself, which is an artificial intelligence. However, what makes this story so magical is the mood Fisher evokes of winter enchantment, from the sinister attic room to the fierceness of the fairy world and the warmth of a family Christmas. Seren is a lively and engaging character, and her determination and spirit are reminiscent of Gerda, rescuing the hapless Hans in The Snow Queen. The Clockwork Crow is one of those rare children’s stories that stays with you long after you have finished reading. In fact, her only friend now is a motheaten mechanical crow, dumped on her by a mysterious stranger at the train station.Ĭan the crow help her find Tomos and have a family at last? However, Seren’s daydreams of a magical Christmas with her new family are shattered almost at once: Tomos is missing, the Captain and his grieving wife have fled to London, and no one wants to tell Seren about the mysterious nursery in the attic or the unearthly bell that rings in the middle of the night. When Captain Arthur Jones, her dead father’s best friend, calls on her to come and live with his family in his grand mansion Plas-y Fran in Wales, she dreams of finally having a family because Captain Jones has a wife little boy, Tomos. Seren has never been loved and cherished first as an orphan in an institutional orphanage and then when living with a bedridden relative, she has always been neglected and mostly ignored. What to Expect: Historical, fantasy, steampunk.

Sapphique incarceron