Ambrosia Salad Book Reviews

City of Ember
Jeanne DuPrau



rating: 8.5 out of 10 "books"

Review from Amazon.com:

"It is always night in the city of Ember. But there is no moon, no stars. The only light during the regular twelve hours of "day" comes from floodlamps that cast a yellowish glow over the streets of the city. Beyond are the pitch-black Unknown Regions, which no one has ever explored because an understanding of fire and electricity has been lost, and with it the idea of a Moveable Light. "Besides," they tell each other, "there is nowhere but here" Among the many other things the people of Ember have forgotten is their past and a direction for their future. For 250 years they have lived pleasantly, because there has been plenty of everything in the vast storerooms. But now there are more and more empty shelves--and more and more times when the lights flicker and go out, leaving them in terrifying blackness for long minutes. What will happen when the generator finally fails?

Twelve-year-old Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet seem to be the only people who are worried. They have just been assigned their life jobs--Lina as a messenger, which leads her to knowledge of some unsettling secrets, and Doon as a Pipeworker, repairing the plumbing in the tunnels under the city where a river roars through the darkness. But when Lina finds a very old paper with enigmatic "Instructions for Egress," they use the advantages of their jobs to begin to puzzle out the frightening and dangerous way to the city of light of which Lina has dreamed. As they set out on their mission, the haunting setting and breathless action of this stunning first novel will have teens clamoring for a sequel".--Patty Campbell

So I got this review from Amazon.com just FYI (me giving credit where credit is due, and so I'm not breaking copyright laws). Originally I tried to think of how best to sum up this story and came up short, but I think a large majority of it is just that I've been on a lazy streak again. I have to say I really liked this book. I saw the movie when it first came out on DVD, and it was yet another one of those movies that I was surprised to find had come out of a series. I don't know why I was surprised as most movies are adapted from novels... But anyways, this book was a super quick read and I personally couldn't put it down. I do a lot of my reading before bed so this combination did not help my sleep cycle one bit. A lot of the time I had to force myself to put the story down and go to bed!

The best part about City of Ember is the idea of it. I had never heard of anything like this story before and that's what really attracts me to certain books. It seems like a lot of books these days are either knock-offs, or stories that borrow themes/ideas/plots from others. It would get to the point where I would literally come away from story after story thinking I had already read something just like it. City of Ember is truely original though and although it's technically a children's book, I'd recommend it to anyone. Read the book, and then go rent the movie, because both are fabulous :)