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katdfleming's review against another edition
5.0
I was eager to find out what happened in this prequel to the Ember series. What happened that led to this Disaster we had heard about in Books 1 & 2? Jeanne DePrau has done it again -- completely surprised and delighted me with a wonderfully woven story. The ending truly made me gasp and smile. Looking forward to delving into the last book!
protoman21's review against another edition
3.0
An odd departure from the first two books in the series, but a fairly enjoyable story. I felt like there was a level of misrepresentation though. This was definitely more of a companion book, or a book in the Ember world, rather than a book 3 in a series. And then the way the end of the story wrapped up everything from this book, it leaves me really wondering where the author will go with book four.
ewagner78's review against another edition
2.0
I had read the City of Ember books years ago but had never read this prequel. I found it to be lacking the charm the primary trilogy has. While it was an okay book overall I don't think it was as good of an introduction as the story deserved.
alex_watkins's review against another edition
3.0
The weakest of the series so far. It mostly suffers because it only has a very tenuous connection to the other books in the series. It is a prequel, and trades the interesting post-apocalyptic times of the other books, for a time in our not so distant future, and or alternate universe? I'm not sure there were a couple plot points that didn't really make sense and ending up not really being important. Kinda the whole book was like that. I mean mostly the value of a prequel is that it tells you all about the storylines you like from the original. Instead it is pretty much a completely different story, but then they grew up and many many year later something that relates to the main story happened. This story was pretty good though in its own right, though not as good as the first two.
anaariel24's review
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
lindscrone's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
lsparrow's review against another edition
3.0
I was expecting a bit more tie in to the other "City of Embers" book but really this book can be read alone. I did enjoy reading this book but I did not feel pulled into the story.
bjoymcknight's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0