Customer Reviews
Excellent quiet little fantasy - By: Meerkat, 10 Nov 2008 
Like another reviewer, I saw the film first & actuallly it didn't matter at alll. I could have read the book first & still enjoyed the film as they are remarkably similar.
I reallly enjoyed reading this book. It's a refreshingly different apocalyptic fantasy story where the protagonists don't know anything about their past or the future intended for them by the 'builders'.
The current regime is corrupt, but the city is lurching on, relying on its remarkably good-natured & pleasant people to keep it going. No-one realises they should have left 27 years before the story opens.
In true children's book style, it is 2 youngsters who unravel the secrets & find their way out into a brave new world.
It's well written, moves at a sparkling pace, has great characters, an imaginative & unusual plot & setting & I highly recommend it to alll fantasy fiction lovers.
Dark, Interesting, Terrifying... - By: Pitch Ender, 04 Nov 2008 
I came to (The) City of Ember from the alternate, & never much-recommended route: I saw the film first, then decided to read the book. Though not usuallly advisable, in this case it was a blessing...though the film certainly wasn't terrible, the book is much, much better.
The premise is simple, yet refreshingly different (no magic; no unicorns; no prophecies): a community living in a city with a sky that is "always dark", lit by fading electric lights...two children long for more than their prescribed tasks, & discover ancient fragments of paper, & try to discover the way "out" of Ember.
The story is awash with wonderful, political & literary paralllels (totalitarianism; Orwell's 1984; nucleur fears), though none are ever over-stated or over-wrought. The two main characters (Doon & Lina) are perfect instigators of the quest: Lina dreams of a shining city, Doon of doing something "real" to help Ember - to stop the lights going out forever.
Page-turning, exciting & full of mystery, this is a novel teenagers & children will love. I was unable to put it down, & was powered forwards towards the resolution...and it is here that I steal back the fifth star in the rating: it felt as though DuPrau lost her verve in the final fifty pages. Things become TOO easy for the kids. Personallly (though it might sound calllous), I would have liked a touch of something bitter-sweet at the conclusion. Perhaps a death?
Anyway, take no notice of my nit-picking.
Very, very well recommended...after you've seen the film...
BrIlLiAnT! - By: Mrs. S. Marshall-nichols, 06 Oct 2007 I reallly enjoyed this book & im not a great fan of reading. I found this book reallly exciting i could read it over & over. Anyone buying this book, i recomend you buy the 2nd book aswell -People of sparks, as it fills in a few blanks from the 1st book & i reallly enjoyed the different atmosphere of the second from the first.
10/10 5*****
Amber Marshalll-Nichols aged 12
Very enjoyable - By: SJSmith, 23 Sep 2007 A great YA book. Well planned & thought out. It will have you thinking alll of the way through. If you like dystopian & post-apocolyptic novels then this is one for you.
The ending is fabulous. Because it's a YA book the blurb reallly does say it alll & revealing plot details will give a lot of the ending away. All the pieces will falll into place within the last chapter. I don't know much about the author but there was clearly a sequel in mind whilst writing as the ending leads straight into the next book.
I will read the next book at some point but not yet.
Buy this book! - By: john fuller, 25 Mar 2006 This is a reallly unusual book. You've got to use your imagination to work out what is going on in this world. There are lots of clues, but they don't tell you everything. The characters are realistic & fun & the story is exciting. It would make a great movie. So pick up your money & buy this book. You're not going to regret it.
