Review of “The City of Ember” by Jeanne DuPrau
“The City of Ember,” by Jeanne DuPrau is a marvelous science fiction novel with a richly descriptive world. It is the first of four book in The Books of Ember Series.
As its title suggests, The City of Ember, is about a city, and a very unique one at that. As the first sentence of the first chapter says:
“In the city of Ember, the sky was always dark. The only light came from great flood lamps, mounted on the top of buildings and at the tops of poles mounted in the middle of the larger squares.”
In the city of Ember the lights are turned off at “night” and on during the “day.” The people of Ember are used to this system because it is all they have ever known. In Ember light had never come from the sky. But Ember is slowly dying:
“Sometimes darkness fell in the middle of the day. The city of Ember was very old and everything in it, including the power lines, was in need of repair. So now and then the lights would flicker and go out. These were terrible moments for the people of Ember. As they came to a halt in the middle of the street or stood stock-still in their houses, afraid to move in the utter blackness, they were reminded of something that they preferred not to think about: that someday the lights of the city might go out and never come back on.”
Yes, the people of Ember live in a city that is slowly falling apart; and as the story continues the lights start to flicker more and more often. It is up to the two young heroes, Lina Mayfleet, and Doon Harrow, to save Ember. In the process of doing so they discover a distant secret about the history of Ember, and discover an amazing truth about the world they live in.
“The City of Ember,” by Jeanne Duprau is definitely one of the most impressive science fiction novels I have ever read. The plot is impeccable and the world is simple amazing. I highly recommend “The City of Ember” to all young readers who enjoy science fiction.
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