The City of Ember

Rating:
Summary: ONLY Half Science-fiction---Don't Bother Reading It
Review: I enjoyed reading this book although I think it could be bettter. There wasn't a lot of action, just adventure. The City of Ember is a story of two kids who have just graduated from the end of their school. They now get their jobs. The main character, Lina, gets to work in the pipeworks while her friend Doon gets to work as a messenger.They trade jobs and Lina gets her dream job, being a messenger. Messengers run around the city and give messeges to people from other people. The city runs on electricity because the sky is always dark. If the generator(the machine which produces electricity) dies out, the city will die with it. They will have no light and they are running out of supplies. The two children try to save Ember by finding a way out. Doon suspects the way out is in the pipeworks. The children look for a way out while the mayor sits on his lazy behind doing nothing. That doesn't seem very fair. Do Lina and Doon find the way out and save the city or don't find an escape and lose Ember forever? Read the book to find out.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book EVER
Review: I just read this book on the recommendation of a professor and loved it. It is a wonderful first novel.

The only thing keeping me from giving the novel 5 stars is a few plot inconsistencies and a few "hit you over the head" morals that I think could have been more subtle (such as "don't be materialistic or your baby sister will get lost" - read the book, you'll understand). But these don't really detract from the plot, which is entertaining and riveting.

If you enjoyed "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, I would definitely recommend this book. Although not of the same caliber, it does have a somewhat similar plot that allows for comparisons to be drawn.

Rating:
Summary: Elementary school kids love this book
Review: It is unclear to me why this book is classified as "young adult." I've recommended this book to a dozen or so fourth and fifth graders and they have uniformly loved it. Even reluctant readers have not been able to put it down. They have not been so enthusiastic about the sequel, People of Sparks, which they have found overly preachy and moralistic, but this book is a keeper.

Rating:
Summary: Not since Oz has a city been more intriguing
Review: The city of Ember is in trouble, but the complacent citizens seem to ignore the food shortages and frequent blackouts. The Builders, when they created the city some 241 years ago, made provisions for its citizens in the form of a note called "The Instructions." Unfortunately, The Instructions were not handed down through the generations as they were supposed to be, and suddenly 12-year old Lina, a city Messenger, has discovered them. After trying to tell her friends and even the Mayor about the discovery of the partially destroyed Instructions, Lina turns to a one-time school friend, Doon, a worker in the underground Pipeworks, whom she believes will understand their importance. But what can two children do with such important information, and who would even believe them?

The City of Ember is a clever novel which tells the unique story of two unintentional heroes who fight the status quo in order to bring hope to their city. The descriptions of the world of Ember are fascinating, leaving the reader to appreciate the incredible imagination of first-time novelist Jeanne DuPrau. The narrator thoughtfully informs us of the setting-the unusual and self-contained world of Ember-slowly throughout the novel, and not all at once in the first chapter. It's only in chapter 8 that we even realize that there are no animals in Ember and the words "heaven" and "boat" have no known meaning. The characters are outstandingly original yet touchingly familiar in their pre-pubescent views of the adult world. The deaths of Lina's parents and then custodial grandmother create a sympathy for her that causes us to, all the more, wish for her triumph. It is the curiosity of Lina and Doon that drive this narrative, and it is the nice balance between primary and secondary characters that keeps the reader on his/her toes. While we expect a happy ending, it's not until the final pages of the novel that we understand what has happened and why. And, as always, we forgive a good author for the blatant suggestions of a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: The City of Ember was awesome!!!
Review: The City of Ember was an awesome book! I loved it.
I don't personally like fantasy, but this book was great because it didn't have monsters popping out of the book and things like that. It is so intruging. Some books you just read and then put it aside and then start reading it again. But with the City of Ember I didn't stop reading from the beginning to end. It was on a Saturday morning that I started it and was done in about an hour and a half. It was one of the best books that I have ever read(even though I haven't had a very long life). I will tell anyone that wants to read a good book, they should go out and buy the City of Ember.

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Book
Review: The City of Ember was created around 240 years ago by the Builders. This city is only lit by the lamps in the city's streets and in people's home, there is no sunlight. Beyond the city there is total darkness and nothingness. The people of Ember have learned that their city is the only light in the vast darkness and that there is no other life beyond their city. Lina and Doon are best friends and have just finished school, at age 12, and started working at their new jobs. Jobs are given to the students by drawing job names out of a bag. Unfortunately, Lina gets Pipeworks as her job. Working at the Pipeworks entails fixing things that go wrong underground. Doon pulls out Messenger for his job, which he did not want. A Messenger runs around town carrying messages for people. Doon suggests to Lina that they switch jobs. Lina, who wanted to be a messenger, complies easily. When Lina comes home after her first day of work she finds her grandmother digging through the closet saying that she must find something that was very important and was lost a long time ago. Lina spots a beautiful box a latch that had opened. Lina's sister Poppy was chewing on a paper that she had taken from the box. On the paper there was very neat, perfect, lettering. Because of Poppy chewing on the paper many of letters where missing. Lina believes this is an important paper that the Builders left for the people of Ember to use in a time of need. Ember has been slowly running out of food and light bulbs in the last few years. Recently there have been more frequent and longer power outages. If the people of Ember can not get more supplies or travel out of Ember, they may be stuck in darkness forever with no way out. Lina decides to tell Doon about her discovery of the paper. As the two crack the code it is even more evident that the paper is very important indeed. The City of Ember was and excellent book with much suspense and plot twist. I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy and adventure.

Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: WOW! I came across this book while browsing and thought it looked interesting. Now I'm surprised I hadn't heard more about it, because it's unbelieveable. I actually broke plans with family to finish it because I could not put it down. I was intrigued by the book's mysteries, such as: Why are these people in an unusual dark city, and where is it located (since they know nothing of an outside world)? Why are they running out of supplies and who were the "builders" who put them there? Will the clever children who find a damaged note from the builders decipher its cryptic message? Not only was this story mysterious, suspenseful and well-written, but it contained powerful messages about striving for truth in a land of ignorance and not just following the status quo. The sequel, "People of Sparks," is also excellent.