REVIEW: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

07. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Publication: Random House Books for Young Readers (May 13, 2003), ebook, 434KB / ISBN 9780375890802
Genre: MG Sci-fi

Rating: Buy it!
Read: January 15-16, 2011

Source: Bought

Summary from Amazon:

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.

Review

I’ve been meaning to read this book for AGES, but somehow I kept forgetting to, y’know, actually do that! It wasn’t until my mom started watching the movie version one day that I remembered it again, and since the ebook was pretty cheap I decided to go ahead and buy it and maybe read it on my vacation.

I’m kinda regretting taking so long to read this book, y’all. It’s really good! The beginning chapters are some of the BEST beginning chapters I’ve read in a while, and I simply adore the main characters, Doon and Lina. They’re the sort of people you want to have around in a dystopic world, I think: strongheaded, imaginative, and willing to take chances. And I REALLY like that they’re actually two equal partners in this whole adventure (at least, they’re equal in the first book; maybe it changes in the next ones), rather than Doon as the “real” main character and Lina as his sidekick. I’m tired of having the men be the “true” heroes while the women are delegated to a side role (mostly “dictionary/encyclopaedia”) even though they were billed as frontrunners in the story along with the dudes. City of Ember? Yeah, Lina’s a MAIN character. I love that! Really a lot.

The author

Anyway, I don’t want to say too much more about it, because I think I’ll be giving stuff away then. One of the best parts of reading a dystopic novel is figuring out HOW the world went dystopic in the first place. And then you get the horror of figuring out what went so wrong and stuff. It’s great! Being a MG book, of course, it’s not too scary even if it is a dystopia, but I still got little shivers in some places.

Basically: Excellent little book that moves quickly, has a great premise, great characters and a great story.
If you like: dystopias, Kate DiCamillo’s books, action-adventure books, strong female characters, and/or secret societies living underground, you’ll like this book.

When the city of Ember was just built and not yet inhabited, the Chief Builder and the Assistant Builder, both of them weary, sat down to speak of the future.

“They must not leave the city for at least two hundred years,” said the Chief Builder. “Or perhaps two hundred and twenty.”

“Is that long enough?” asked his Assistant.

“It should be. We can’t know for sure.”

“And when the time comes,” said the Assistant, “how will they know what to do?”

“We’ll provide them with instructions, of course,” the Chief Builder replied. (from the prologue)

And

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Other reviews: Fyrefly’s Book Blog | Sci-Fi Fan Letter | Book Dweeb | The Zen Leaf | Library Queue

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but from the summary it looks like Doon takes over the lead role and Lina gets the sidekick position. Is that true?

Note: Author photo lifted from her website.