The City of Ember

This is another book that I wish that I had read before I saw the movie. The movie was actually very well done and stayed pretty true to the book however because I knew the story I was not as motivated as I think I would have been to finish the book (As you can see it took me a while to finish this book even though it is not very long).

This story is that of a community that was built hundreds of feet underground to protect them from "the destruction that is coming." This society has existed for over 240 years and many generations, and the facilities that the "builders" left them are breaking down and supplies are running out. They were only meant to be there for 200 years yet because of a sudden death the instructions to leave were not passed to the appropriate person and they were lost. This story focuses on two young people, Lina and Doon, who strive to find ways to improve the situation of the city.

This story is very intriguing and I like the science fiction aspects of it. However I did feel that themes and messages the author was trying to convey are only thinly veiled by the story (more thinly than The Chronicles of Narnia), though the message was a very good one. The central premise of the story is the eminent failure of the city's infrastructure. The message of the story is in how different groups face the problem.

The first group is the mayor and his cronies. These individuals are siphoning off supplies and hoarding them to give themselves a more comfortable demise. They know that the end is coming and there are problems but they don't care about anyone but themselves and they are going make sure they are comfortable until the end.

The second group is called "the believers". This group (which seems to be a veiled knock on organized religion) states that we just need to be patient. We will be rescued. "The Builders will return." And they go about the lives as if nothing were wrong.

The final group is mostly Lina and Doon and a few others, such as Doon's father and Clary, Lina's friend. These are individuals who are actively searching for solutions and doing what they can to help others as well. You can imagine which group comes out ahead in the end.

A great book and I look forward to reading the next in the series The People of Sparks and I hope that the only reason I had such trouble reading this was because I had seen the movie.