Review: The City of Ember

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Doon and Lina have just finished school and have to pick their new careers that they will start work the next day. Lina wants to be a messenger and run around town all day to give messages to people. Doon wants to be down in the Pipework so he can get his hands on the generator and figure out how to fix it before their town is in darkness forever.

Sadly, Doon and Lina get each others dream job and are devastated by this news. Happily, Doon asked Lina if she wanted to switch jobs - which of course! - she jumped on that right away.

And things were good for awhile. Life couldn't get any better... well except that the electricity is going out and making their world darker more often lately. And the mayor doesn't seem to be doing anything about it.

When Lina's grandmother is insistent upon finding something of importance in her house that used to be her grandfather's - the 7th mayor of Ember - Lina actually finds it in the mess of her house. Well, really Poppy, Lina's 2 year old sister, is eating it.

It's a letter. Of Instructions. Instructions to what, Lina's not sure because Poppy was eating the paper, so a lot of the words are gone from the letter, but now Lina is determined to figure it out. And she goes and asks Doon if he can help her with this mystery.

Because the people of Ember were not supposed to be in Ember for this long. But because this letter was lost for many, many years, nobody knows that. Now that Lina and Doon have found this, they need to figure out a way to save their friends and family, before it is too late.

This was a really good book. It was short, easy, and fast to read, and it kept me entertained throughout the whole novel. I was very intrigued by the letter and was trying to figure out the clues before Lina and Doon could figure it out. I actually did pretty well, too!

I can tell that this was just the first book in an adventure for Lina and Doon and I am so excited to start the next one to see what happens after the ending I got! Not that it's a cliffhanger or anything, but it certainly leaves the reader wanting more, so I'm very excited to see what happens!

I like both Lina and Doon. They are very passionate when it comes to friends and family and their home, and they are willing to do just about anything to save what is theirs.

I could never imagine being in a place like Ember where I have to go to bed at 9p and wake up at 6a all because it is pitch black in the town. That would drive me batshit crazy to be honest with you. But the people of Ember don't know any better, so to them, that is how the world works.

I'm very glad that this was picked for my bookclub and I'm excited to see what else is going to happen to Lina and Doon!

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