The City of Ember Review

Book Talk: The city of Ember is in the dark.  The only light in the city comes from bulbs and beyond the city is nothing but shadow.  The citizens of Ember live and work and die under this electric light, getting supplies from vast stores under the city left by those known as the Builders.  They live in ignorance, not even understanding how the very electricity that keeps their city running works.  Supplies are running low, and blackouts are plaguing the city--will two twelve-year-olds be able to save Ember before the lights go out for good, or is it already too late?

Rocks My Socks: I love the two protagonists--Lina and Doon.  Their curiosity and persistence leads them to keep following clues and asking questions about how the world around them works when most everyone else seems content to just keep living their lives despite all the problems plaguing the town.  I also love the little details that DuPrau puts in--such as words or phrases like whose meaning have been lost or the fact that the town can only keep track of the time and date by clocks and calendars because there are no seasons or sky.

Rocks In My Socks: The plot was pretty basic and predictable and I felt like some things were explained almost too thoroughly so that the book seemed to drag a little bit at times.

Every Book Its Reader: I'd recommend this book to 9-12 year-olds or adults looking for a really quick read.  The book isn't really geared toward one gender more than the other with a protagonist of each and plenty of adult characters of each as well.  Even though the book does take place in the future it definitely felt more like a fantasy than a science fiction book to me.  It's not heavily either genre though, so I'd recommend it to fans of general fiction as well.  The book reminded me of The Giver but for younger readers.  The citizens of Ember aren't very intelligent and don't have particularly advanced vocabulary and because the plot is so basic it would be good for children who aren't very strong readers.

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau