The City of Ember

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: I read this book in one night and one morning (I sat in a cold train station for ten minutes after getting off the train just to finish it!) because I couldn't put it down. It's terrifying in some parts, psychologically, and I can't wait for the sequel! Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Get this book, it is grate!!! (The City of Ember)
Review: This book was really grate. It was fun, and sad and really really good. There is no way that I would change this book. The main charecter is Lina and one day the mayor came to her school so that the can have a time to knoe how it is to have a job. She really wanted the person that runs all arond and delivers notes to people. But what she got was...........a job at the pipeworks. She was mad!!!! So on her way home Doon ran in to her. Do you know what he wanted? ............ He wanted to trade her jods. His job was.............. the Mannager! What she wanted. She said i will trade. The reson that he Wanted was too be the pipework person. Things keep happening with the lights and will Doontry too keep the lights on for good. Well just read this book to find out. This book had me on the tip of the chair, and it will have you on the tip too. So if I were you I would get this book asap and get reading.

Rating:
Summary: Richie's Picks: THE CITY OF EMBER
Review: THE CITY OF EMBER is a post-apocalyptic page turner in which two twelve year-olds, Lina and Doon, uncover vital clues to escaping the rapidly deteriorating civilization in the dark which they and previous generations have inhabited for more than two hundred years.

Disintegration of the crucial infrastructure, depletion of the finite and over-recycled resources, hints of impending crop failure, and widespread corruption by those in power have together eroded the underpinnings of the City. Every time the municipal generator breaks down, plunging Ember into utter blackness, the inhabitants hold their collective breaths--nobody certain whether those responsible for nursing it along will succeed in getting the generator started once again.

Also, what nobody seems to know--but what WE know from the Prologue--is that The Builders of Ember have left instructions for their descendants to depart The City two hundred years after its inception. Securing those instructions in a time-locked strongbox and entrusting that box to the succession of mayors, The Builders are long departed and the two twelve year-olds are still generations in the future when a dying Mayor unfortunately misplaces that box after unsuccessfully attempting to force it open.

THE CITY OF EMBER is a relatively simple read which is sure to unlock the door to extraordinary discussions relevant to today's headlines regarding power and corruption, fear, and war, as well as moral responsibilities and relationships between siblings, neighbors, friends, and those of individuals as part of a community. But most of all THE CITY OF EMBER is a thrilling and mysterious tale of two great preteens finding their way in the world.

Jeanne DuPrau is at work on the sequel--PEOPLE OF SPARKS--and I'll be waiting anxiously to hear more of the story of Lina, Doon, and The City of Ember.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: We were required to write a book review and we choose this book for our project. Neither of us like science fiction, but we both enjoyed reading The City of Ember. This book was very suspenseful and it made you want to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next. We really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A good read, nice and quick
Review: Read this book over the course of about three days. An easy read with just enough interesting happenings to keep you wanting to read. It seemed to me the end was a bit hurried (but that did seem to enhance the hectic few chapters of the book). I can see how this easily leads into a sequel, and I hope it does, will let us explore this world a bit more. A good read, but I would not say it is a must read as some have.
My daughter is almost 9 and she has shown no interest in this book, and I think it's themes are a little beyond her yet, but I would recommend it for children a bit older with an interest in sci-fi themes.

Rating:
Summary: Have to Read!!!
Review: This book is amazing. Jeanne DuPrau's writing style catches you and sucks you into the city's blackness and into Lina's problems. As your heart beats fast you keep on reading and reading until you realize that its 1:00 in the morning. You have to tear yourself away from it and you get left hanging and all the ideas that have been planted into your head race through your mind until you wake up in the morning. You're urged to get through school, finish your homework and get into bed where you can read. DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK!!! YOU HAVE TO READ IT!!!

Rating:
Summary: a good start
Review: this falls neatly and admittedly a bit predictably into the dystopic-"our world is the only world" genre. Characterization and world-creation is somewhat sparse, but detracts very little from what is an enjoyable quick read and one well-suited to young adult The story moves along at a good pace and if you see some of the events coming from a while away, DuPrau throws in enough nice small touches so you don't really mind. Nor do you mind the obvious opportunity for a sequel--if the characters are not deeply drawn, they are likable and interesting enough that it would be nice to see them develop further. The book would also work for teachers as a nice companion piece to similar works, such as the Giver or Anthem.

Rating:
Summary: Coincidence
Review: All nine people who've already reviewed this book gave it five stars. I wouldn't go that far, but it was pretty exciting. I started reading this book at lunch on August 14, the day of the blackout from New York to Detroit. In the story, there are frequent blackouts, though none as long-lasting as the New York blackout. The difference is that in the city of Ember, when the lights go out, there is no sun, moon, or stars to alleviate the pitch blackness. The generator that supplies power to the entire city was built to last 200 years, but 240 years have passed, and it can't last much longer. Food and other supplies are becoming scarce.

The original builders of the city left "instructions for egress," but over the years these were lost until one day a baby finds them and starts chewing on them. The instructions are rescued by the baby's sister, but not before the baby has consumed parts of the message. Will Lina and her friend Doon decipher the message in time to escape?

The book, as I said, was very exciting, but thinking too hard about the unanswered questions in the story could ruin it for you. It's not so important to know why the city was built under these conditions. I can accept that there must have been a good reason. It's harder to accept that people are eating the contents of 200-year-old cans of food. A can of fruit recently bulged at both ends and leaked a foul-smelling liquid in my cupboard, and it wasn't even 20 years old. There are huge gaps in people's knowledge. Children leave school at the age of twelve. Why, why, why?

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: City of Ember is an awesome book. It's written in an extremely unique, steampunk-ish setting, and has interesting characters and an engaging plot. A feeling of tension is kept throughout the book, never letting you forget the threat that looms over the city. It's been some time since I have read such an original, well written story.

Rating:
Summary: Glowing story, lacks the final spark
Review: Unique setting, intricate plot, fascinating premise, fast-paced narrative, suspense--these and more set The City of Ember apart as sci f worth reading. Details abound. Characterization, however, is this book's weakest link. Lina and Doon, while spunky and individual, didn't drawn me in as much as they could have. I found myself wanting more, wanting to feel their emotions and see things from their perspectives much more clearly and immediately. I knew too much from being told, rather than inferring it from their actions, dialogue, or emotion. That said, Jeanne DuPrau is definitely an author to watch--no doubt she will only get better. I look forward to the sequel.