The City of Ember (The First Book of Ember) | Jeanne DuPrau

The City of Ember (The First Book of Ember) | Jeanne DuPrau | What a great book

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The City of Ember ...

	The City of Ember (The First Book of Ember) Jeanne DuPrau Yearling, 2004 - 270 pages average customer review:based on 408 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she?s sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever! This stunning debut novel offers refreshingly clear writing and fascinating, original characters.

From the Hardcover edition.

A Great Start To A Fantastic Series

This is the type of book that gets you hooked. You start reading and are enjoying it, but then the more you read the better it gets, the more you like it, you feel involved in the drama and action and want to help the characters, help them solve the mysteries and problems. I highly reccommend this book. It has an air of mystery and intrigue about it that fills you with curiosity for what will happen next. The author can perfectly relate to you the characters thoughts and feelings and not one emotion is out of place. The novel is not highly predictable so you don't feel like it's a waste of time to finish. This book has light humor in it and would be good for kids aged 8-12. It will even satisfy fantasy and sci-fi lovers alike. Not at all confusing, expertly written and worthy of five stars.

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What a great book

Being eager to read this book I hoped it was as good as I wanted it to be. It was. Lina and Doon are good characters for this story. Lina's love for Poppy is very clear and the way she puts Poppy first sends a good message. The death of granny was sad, I was hoping to find our more about her lost item before her passing. This book starts hot and keeps burning hot. During their explorations in the Pipeworks I was on the edge of my seat they were going to get caught. The world was painted very clear for me, I could not imagine living in a world without the sky and never knowing if it's really morning or not. The mayor is a loathing worthless man. Other characters aren't painted as clearly as the 2 mains but then they really shouldn't be the story isn't about them. Being a page turner I read this book in one sitting. I'm very curious to know what happened so many years ago to make the Builders create Ember, was it nuclear war, was it ecological destruction, are there other people alive? The ending leaves this wide open for the second book which I and if you like this book, MUST read. This is a keeper for my bookshelf, I'll read this again.

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Rediscover the Joy of Learning

Through this book, Jeanne Duprau takes us on a journey to The City of Ember, an underground city built as a home for a new civilization detached from the existing advances of the human society, but safe from its impending apocalypse. However, as the years advance beyond the age Ember was built for, the society's infrastructure starts to fall apart - and the natural instincts of greed and survival starts to tear into the previously blissful city.

While the plot may seem familiar, it contains all the elements of a good story and allows us to discover what a world would be like without many of the things that we take for granted. We relive what it feels like to discover new objects and we find ourselves urging them to find out how to use the so called inventions they have just discovered. In fact, this "ignorance" of common modern household items is also used as the basis of much of the more effective humor found in this book.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable read and an inventive way to tell a story. It is a provocative story that not only entertains but teach us to be more grateful of what we have. While the plot may be predictable for the older age group, the journey itself is fully worth the read.

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OK audio book, but one I would rather have borrowed from the Library

The age listing for the book is accurate. It was entertaining and a good story. I have suggested to my daughter that she read it (she is ten). Having listened to it, I feel it is age appropriate for her and is close to her reading level.

As an audio book, the narrator was excellent, but the female voice did seem to fit in my mind with the story. The dramatic parts never really held a sense of drama.

At times the book drug on at a slow pace and whereas I would have skimmed had I been reading, I more or less had to endure it in the audio book format. Though I could have fast forwarded on my iPod, I find that that is not the same as skimming.

I suspect I will donate my copy to the library.

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Great Story, Recommend for Younger Teens

This book has a great story-line, but it is very predictable and much too simple for advanced minds. Although I felt like I always knew what was about to happen, I still found it pretty entertaining. Even though it wasn't my favorite book to read, I still want to read the next one because I liked the story.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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