Review: The People of Sparks

*Second Book in the series*

Summary from Goodreads:

The People of Sparks picks up where The City of Ember leaves off. Lina and Doon have emerged from the underground city to the exciting new world above, and it isn’t long before they are followed by the other inhabitants of Ember. The Emberites soon come across a town where they are welcomed, fed, and given places to sleep. But the town’s resources are limited and it isn’t long before resentment begins to grow between the two groups. When anonymous acts of vandalism push them toward violence, it’s up to Lina and Doon to discover who’s behind the vandalism and why, before it’s too late.

Review:

The People of Sparks is the post-apocalyptic continuation of the first in the series, The City of Ember. I highly enjoyed The People of Sparks as I really wanted to know what happened to the Emberites after they left their underground home and this book began where the first book left off and for that I was glad as I didn’t miss anything.

Lina and Doon remained strong, independent characters. In this book, they seemed to have their own journeys to take and they grew in different ways. This was different than the first book as Lina and Doon figured more of the mystery out together, but in this book, they were physically apart for longer lengths of time. I missed them working together. Also, I figured out the mystery of who was causing strife between the two groups before it was discovered in the book.

Of course, all the Emberites had to acclimatise to their new surroundings and I believe that DuPrau achieved this realistically. They slowly learnt to live on the surface of the world and tried to get along with the people of Sparks, with mostly negative results- until the end.

The new characters, the people of Sparks, were well written and 3D. They acted in ways that I would have expected them to so the story was believable. There seemed to be a lull in the middle of the story and I was waiting for it to pick up. Luckily, it did and the climax of the book was somewhat exciting and resolved nicely. The ending, like the first book, was exciting and filled me with hope as to what would come next.

I liked the message of The People of Sparks. I think the book asks us to all work together and put aside our differences (Not working together will just lead to discord). All the themes, such as learning, friendship, the idea of community and oneness were interesting to observe in The People of Sparks.

Overall, while I enjoyed The People of Sparks, I didn’t feel as though it was as good as it could have been and it wasn’t as good as The City of Ember. However, Lina and Doon did mature and develop as characters and it was exciting to watch them learn about the world.

DuPrau’s style of writing was mostly engaging. The book was good; it ended in such a way that it made me want to know what would happen next. After this, DuPrau wrote The Prophet of Yonwood, the third Book of Ember, which was a prequel to the series and The Diamond of Darkhold, the fourth book which shows what happened to the People of Ember next.

Although I have read The Prophet of Yonwood, I have not read The Diamond of Darkhold yet.

Book Rating: 4/5

Cover: 5/5

Concept: 3.5/5

Author: Jeanne DuPrau

I wrote this review as part of Dystopian August which is going on over at Presenting Lenore. Check it out.

Review: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The City of Ember: The Ember series, Book 1

Summary from Goodreads:

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:

The City of Ember is fantastic. This novel was one of the first books that I read that got me interested in the dystopian/post-apocalyptic genre. The first time I read it I loved it. The idea of an entire society living underground (unbeknownst to them) captivated me. What would they eat? What did they look like? Did they have any knowledge of the outside world? These were questions that ran through my head.

I had many questions on how a society would live like this and they were all answered in the book. The City of Ember was a page turner and didn't disappoint. I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen next and I couldn’t put it down, so I read well into the early hours of the morning.

Lina and Doon were great characters who were in the centre of the action at all times. They were inquisitive, brave and I was able to sympathise with them. When I first read The City of Ember (around the age of fifteen or sixteen) I admired these characters a lot. However, after recently re-reading the book, I realised that I would like more character depth. While DuPrau was very good at characterising Lina and Doon to make them appealing to readers, I would have liked to understand their thoughts and feelings more.

The City of Ember is in the third person and follows the two main characters, Lina and Doon as they try to save their flagging city. I enjoyed the visual descriptions of the city of Ember, however I would have liked more. There were parts of the book that were very sad (such as when the lengths some citizens went to discover what was outside of the city). Working out the clues was also really fun and I appreciated the fact that Lina and Doon worked it out in time.

The pace of the book was great. I didn’t feel bored at all. There were some minor side-stories that became integrated into the main plot so everything in the book fit. One of my favourite parts would have to be the ending which set up the scene perfectly for the next book. The ending was emotional, visual and memorable. I felt sorry for the characters as they didn't know they were living underground and that the world had undergone a disaster.

Overall, The City of Ember was an excellent book that I was very glad to have read. It offered an interesting perspective of what could happen after a worldwide disaster. The characters were rounded and smart.

I believe that the novel can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. A movie has been made of The City of Ember. I liked the movie as it stayed mostly true to the novel. After I read The City of Ember, I was very keen to read the sequel, The People of Sparks. Look out for my review of the sequel coming soon!

Book Rating: 4.5/5

Cover: 5/5

Concept: 5/5

Author: Jeanne DuPrau

I wrote this review as part of Dystopian August which is going on over at Presenting Lenore. Check it out!