I read this book straight through in one sitting, because I simply couldn't put it down. DuPrau did a terrific job of making this imaginative city real and tangible. I found myself, more than once, wanting to walk the streets of Ember, just to see what it felt like. The latter is a far superior book, in every way. When I finished reading this I couldn't help but think to myself: what a shame that more children will have read Shadowmancer than The City of Ember. I felt that the city of Ember, with its surprisingly complex social order was an ingenious invention, and the handling of all other points mentioned above was done masterfully. They exist to move the story from one point to another, and the story isn't really about the discovery of the Instructions for Egress, it's about the city of Ember itself, how its inhabitants have adjusted to living in a city where there is no light after nine (because the only light the city has is electricity and it knows nothing of the Sun), deciphering the Instructions for Egress, and the action of egress itself. I found a few plot points strained: 1) Lina being the great-great-great whatever of one of the mayor's mentioned in the prologue 2) Her own grandmother's mad search for something that now, in her dotage, she remembers is of the utmost importance and 3) Poppy getting her hands on the thing that is important and rendering it nearly indecipherable. I should have laughed when Doon threw a shoe heel and it hit his father in the ear, but I didn't. The only thing that wasn't handled with perfection was humor. It never felt rushed, always felt poised. These are three-dimensional characters, a rarity in children's books. Doon has a temper and is rather sullen, and Lina is a bundle of hope and joy.
We see the development of this through the eyes of two twelve year olds, both very different children.
#CITY OF EMBER CHAPTER 8 MOVIE#
We know that something is afoot, that there is more to Ember than Ember, and that empowers us, to a certain extent - like when you're watching a movie and you know something that the characters don't. The (barely) three page prologue sets a splendid dramatic tension for the story. Plot descriptions have already been done, so I'll offer my commentary.
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