Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

Lights shine in the city of Ember—but at the city limits the light ends, and darkness takes over. Out there in the Unknown Regions, the darkness goes on forever in all directions. Ember—so its people believe—is the only light in the dark world. And now the lights of the city are beginning to fail. Is there a way to save the people of Ember? No one knows. But Lina Mayfleet has found a puzzling document, and Doon Harrow has made discoveries down in the Pipeworks. With these clues, they start their search.

This was a fun little book. I didn't love it, didn't hate it. It was just a quick read. I picked it up yesterday and finished it a short while later. It was a little predictable, mostly, but it was also an interesting concept.

In Ember, you get a job assignment at the age of twelve. Lina, who is dying to be a messanger, draws the occupation of "Pipeworks Laborer"-- underground, cold, damp, and stinky-- exactly the opposite of what she was hoping for. Doon draws messanger which is where he DIDN'T want to be. He knows Ember is in trouble-that each time the generator goes out in the middle of the day, it could be the last time. He longs to be underground near the generator, in hopes that he can figure out a way to fix it. Doon begs Lina to trade jobs and she is over the moon. Soon their paths cross again, for good this time. The embark on a dangerous and thrilling adventure in hopes of saving their city, only to uncover secrets that could change everything.

Once you get to the end of the book, and you know why things are the way they are and the reasoning behind it, it's just... interesting. It made me want to pick up the next book in the series, The People of Sparks. Not immediately, but it IS in my stack and I will read it at some point. This is a great book for 4th graders on up, if you have some rugrats at home with "nothing to do" (this said in a whiney voice) now that it's summer. Happy Reading!!

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