Book Review: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The trouble with anger is, it gets hold of you. And then you aren’t the master of yourself anymore. Anger is

I have watched the movie City of Ember years ago, back when it came out and thought the story of it was great, I found a copy in a secondhand bookstore in Barcelona last year. The book is a little (much) less amazing as the movie.

Book Review: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

Rating:


Title & Author: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Genre: Dystopia, Adventure
Release date: May 13 2003
Series: Book of Ember
Publisher: Random House

Synopsis

Many hundreds of years ago, the city of Ember was created by the Builders to contain everything needed for human survival. It worked…but now the storerooms are almost out of food, crops are blighted, corruption is spreading through the city and worst of all—the lights are failing. Soon Ember could be engulfed by darkness…

But when two children, Lina and Doon, discover fragments of an ancient parchment, they begin to wonder if there could be a way out of Ember. Can they decipher the words from long ago and find a new future for everyone? Will the people of Ember listen to them?

I give The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau three out of five hearts because the novel is well done, but nothing spectacular. The story simmered out in something that I didn’t recognised

The story of The City of Ember is something new and the travel to get out of Ember is interesting. But I thought it wasn’t something very special and the main character of Doon was one dimensional. Where Lina cares for her little sister and her grandmother, Doon falls flat because all he cares for is wanting to fix Ember.

The story is like a river, it just starts out slow, then has a couple of fast patches and then ending in this calm and boring part again.

Overall the writing is great, you get a good impression of Ember and even though the city is dark and amber, the writing makes it seem colourful. I hated the end because it felt like there was supposed to be more, but it didn’t.

The Movie

In 2008 City of Ember was released with Saoirse Ronan and Harry Treadaway as the main characters Lina and Doon.

I thought the movie was more spectacular than the book. It was funny and had Bill Murray as the big fat mayor. The movie is great and a good teen movie.

Let me know what you thought of this book and/or movie!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.

For now, let books enrich your life!

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