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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
it was very refreshing to read a book about 12 year olds that actually used their brains and were excited about learning and figuring things out!
Reminded me slightly of Divergent, just in the fact that they were living in an area and thinking that they were the only ones on the whole earth.
Reminded me slightly of Divergent, just in the fact that they were living in an area and thinking that they were the only ones on the whole earth.
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I thought this book was really fun. It was fast-paced and I could really get absorbed into the descriptions of Ember. The type of story and the writing style kind of reminded me of the Mysterious Benedict Society, though I don't know why. But I didn't necessarily consider this an AMAZING book. It was entertaining and I enjoyed it, but it stopped there. A majority of the way through this book, I figured I would give it a 3/5 but towards the end I considered more of a 4. So my real rating is a 3.5
The sky above Ember has been black ever since the Builders created the city over 200 years ago. The citizens of Ember thought the Builders supplied them with everything they would need, but now they are having to do without more and more things. However, only 12-year-olds Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow seem to be the only ones trying to find a real solution to the problem by deciphering a very old list of instructions they find hidden in an elaborate box in Lina's closet. The audiobook contains a lot of sound effects which can be a little strange at first, but ultimately I thought were a nice addition.
In a lot of ways the isolated community of Ember reminded me of The Giver by Lois Lowry. Ember starts with Assignment Day where the 12-year-olds are assigned their first adult jobs, similar to the Ceremony of Twelve in The Giver. Unlike The Giver, though, 12-year-olds in Ember are randomly assigned their job, rather than having the job they are best suited for picked for them, which is alright because they have a chance to change careers in three years. More than, that, though, the people of Ember have not experienced many things that we take for granted, much like the people in Jonas' community.
The people of Ember have never seen the sun, moon, stars, or any light in the sky that isn't powered by the city's generator. They have never seen candles or flashlights and therefore have no idea how to make "moveable light", which is why no one has ever successfully left the city. There are no animals other than a few bugs and worms and so phrases like "hogwash" seem mysterious because they have never seen or even heard of a hog. The only large body of water they have is the swift river that runs under the city where the pipeworks are (and occasionally claims a careless pipeworks worker).
While the book initially reminded me of The Giver the story ends up going in a slightly different direction. It ends up being not so much about the lack of variety in Ember society, but the quickly dwindling supplies and ever increasing blackouts and general disrepair of the city. At the end of the story when you learn more details of how the city was created, I finally was able to find the word to describe the general attitude of the city. They are not only ignorant of a lot of things we consider common knowledge, but their stories to explain those gaps in knowledge seem very childish. So many details about how the city is run remind me of how my brothers and I dealt with the unknown when we would play pretend when we were little.
Knowing the way City of Ember ends I can see why DuPrau spends more time focusing on the survival aspects of the story rather than turning into a more philosophical book like The Giver. Even though the people of Ember don't fully realize it, their community is literally falling apart, and although Lina and Doon may have found the solution to their problems, it doesn't mean that life afterwards will be easy either.
I really enjoyed this book & it's only furthered my interest in YA and children's literature. While writing this I discovered that there actually two more Ember books: The People of Sparks, which tells what happens after Mrs. Murdo gets Lina's message and is essentially a post-apocalyptic tale for kids, and The Prophet of Yonwood, which is a prequel to this book and explains more about the events leading to the creation of Ember.
In a lot of ways the isolated community of Ember reminded me of The Giver by Lois Lowry. Ember starts with Assignment Day where the 12-year-olds are assigned their first adult jobs, similar to the Ceremony of Twelve in The Giver. Unlike The Giver, though, 12-year-olds in Ember are randomly assigned their job, rather than having the job they are best suited for picked for them, which is alright because they have a chance to change careers in three years. More than, that, though, the people of Ember have not experienced many things that we take for granted, much like the people in Jonas' community.
The people of Ember have never seen the sun, moon, stars, or any light in the sky that isn't powered by the city's generator. They have never seen candles or flashlights and therefore have no idea how to make "moveable light", which is why no one has ever successfully left the city. There are no animals other than a few bugs and worms and so phrases like "hogwash" seem mysterious because they have never seen or even heard of a hog. The only large body of water they have is the swift river that runs under the city where the pipeworks are (and occasionally claims a careless pipeworks worker).
While the book initially reminded me of The Giver the story ends up going in a slightly different direction. It ends up being not so much about the lack of variety in Ember society, but the quickly dwindling supplies and ever increasing blackouts and general disrepair of the city. At the end of the story when you learn more details of how the city was created, I finally was able to find the word to describe the general attitude of the city. They are not only ignorant of a lot of things we consider common knowledge, but their stories to explain those gaps in knowledge seem very childish. So many details about how the city is run remind me of how my brothers and I dealt with the unknown when we would play pretend when we were little.
Knowing the way City of Ember ends I can see why DuPrau spends more time focusing on the survival aspects of the story rather than turning into a more philosophical book like The Giver. Even though the people of Ember don't fully realize it, their community is literally falling apart, and although Lina and Doon may have found the solution to their problems, it doesn't mean that life afterwards will be easy either.
I really enjoyed this book & it's only furthered my interest in YA and children's literature. While writing this I discovered that there actually two more Ember books: The People of Sparks, which tells what happens after Mrs. Murdo gets Lina's message and is essentially a post-apocalyptic tale for kids, and The Prophet of Yonwood, which is a prequel to this book and explains more about the events leading to the creation of Ember.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Pretty solid dystopia YA about climate change...very quick read that was interesting enough for me to want to read the 2nd book. The narrative is pretty simple but compelling...sometime prior to the beginning of the book "The builders" send a group of elders and babies into a sealed environment to wait out the disaster. The children are not supposed to know that there was ever a world outside so that they can be content within the confines of biodome. There is a mechanism to let them know when enough time is past when the children of the children's children can return to the surface of the planet… But of course the mechanism fails. If that sounds good you should probably read the book!
Interesting book, but not great. Kind of a kids version of Hugh Howey's awesome book series Wool.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Nice adventure story, I could tell it was written for kids as the description of characters and what not is kept pretty basic, but I enjoyed reading it and will probably read the whole series eventually. The story was actually comparable to the game Fallout, which is a theme that always manages to keep me hooked. It was also a nice quick inbetweeny read, I finished it in two days. Probably something I will read to my future children :) Adventures are always good :)