Customer Reviews

The People of Sparks (Books of Ember)

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Although this is a very different book than The City of Ember, it is a perfect sequel, and not disappointing in the least. While The City of Ember may have been more inventive, in terms of an underground city that was on its last leg, this is infinitely more profound.

It's still inventive, though. A terrible Disaster has befallen the Earth, and the Emberites learn that they were sent to live below the Earth, in the event that the Disaster did, in fact, occur, and so that one day they could return to the surface and repopulate the world. If that isn't a terrific idea, I'm not sure what is.

The Emberites luckily find themselves in one of the more prosperous towns. As most in the town of Sparks are good and decent people, they agree to feed these strange newcomers for a certain amount of time, and while doing so teach them basic survival skills. As one can imagine, no Emberite possesses the skills to survive on the surface. All they knew was Ember, and the simple rules that governed survival in that city.

Sparks has its own governing rules, and Ms. DuPrau really shows a deft hand at creating intriguing cultures. It's obvious that she gave considerable thought to a post-apocalyptic world, and her vision of it is refreshing and true.

Sadly, greed raises its ugly head, on both sides, and the cultures have a terrible clash. But an important lesson is learned. It may seem trite to some, but it really is a powerful message. Paraphrased, it goes something like this: If someone does something mean to you, instead of doing something mean in return, try and do something good for them. The opportunity for such a deed presents itself, and we see this good faith effort in action. If I say more, it will be too revealing.

The ending of the book caused odd salty drops to fall from my eyes, because it brought the entire sequence full circle. The Emberites, we see, had something to teach the people of Sparks - and perhaps the whole world. Together, they are stronger than they are apart.

It's a heartwarming and beautiful story. I look forward to her next book with immense anticipation.

EMBER was a gripping novel. As soon as I finished it, I emailed the author begging to know what happened next. She wasn't telling, of course. "You'll have to wait for the sequel," she said. Man, was it worth the wait. I rarely tell people that they have to buy a book, that they must not let another week go by without reading a particular title. Literature is very subjective, after all. What I love, another reader may find uninspiring. SPARKS is an exception to this.

Three chapters in, I was literally teary-eyed at the lyricism of Duprau's writing. Six chapters in, I couldn't put it down. I lost SLEEP to finish this book - my ultimate testament to a really good read.

THE PEOPLE OF SPARKS is a post-apocolyptic view of the world, after wars, plague and famine have wiped out most of the human race and the few people left are struggling for survival. In the first book, THE CITY OF EMBER, the City Builders have constructed a small city deep underground and stocked it with supplies in vast storerooms, then sent 100 couples with two children each to live there. The Builders know the wars, etc. are coming, and this is how they will save us all. After 200 years, the city infrastructure is crumbling and the city leaders are corrupt, supplies are running out, and the massive generator that keeps the lights on is failing, about to doom the Emberites to permanent darkness, but two young people find the way out, the way to the surface.

This leads us to book two in the series. The kids have dropped a message back down to the people of Ember telling them the way out, but will anyone come? They do. And they inundate a small settlement, falling on the mercy of the people who live there, a bedraggled lot, starving, exhausted, unable to move on, and without the skills to be useful members of the new community, the tiny village of Sparks. The Emberites have never seen trees, you see, or birds, or large fields of cabbages, or adobe houses, and fire is a terrifying thing.

What ensues is a fantastic story of generosity, deprivation, jealousy, and violence that may lead to the destruction of both communities. The lesson: there are no winners in war, and making peace means taking giant risks. This book has been haunting me for the two days since I finished reading it. If there were a world-wide cataclysmic event, who would survive? Would anyone? Will we ever learn that war only leads to war, violence only to more violence? Can we do something that will take us off the course of self-destruction? Is there hope for the human race?

Buy this book. Buy a copy for your local library. Buy a class set and donate it to your kids' school. It's that good.(...)

'The People of Sparks' is an excellent sequel to 'City of Ember' although the setting is not quite as original. Jeanne DuPrau deftly avoids the trap that many new authors fall into of trying to replicate the format that succeeded in the first book. While 'The People of Sparks' presents a more familiar setting than 'City of Ember', she still manages to paint a landscape unlike any we know.

If the author had stayed with that and limited herself to showing us her vision of a post-apocalyptic world then I would have been disappointed. As it is she gives us a whole new story. What would happen if a village of 300 mostly good people find themselves faced with the challenge of taking care of 400 starving refugees without the skills and resources to fend for themselves? Tensions would build as resources dwindle and us/them divisions would be sure to arise. Is this a small-scale version of the same conflicts that brought about the global cataclysm of the misty past? It's a good story and the reader might just finish it a little wiser.

I bought this just because I wanted to know why they were underground in the first place. And after finishing the book I was quite pleased. I actulately think it was better than the first one. I was afraid at first that it would just be all "ahh we just sunburned" about the emberties getting adjusted to the new world.
And if you think the last one ended it did not. Where are the 400 members of Ember going to go? How are they going to find food? How can they live in a world that's already been destroyed? And they can't just go to a nearby city and live there, could they? This new book answers all those questions and is amazingly believable without any mistakes (meaning in the plot, not gramatically) and it had new characters that are believable and have personaity of their own. And many people can relate to the new characters.
It is also written very well. Much more so than the City of Ember. And she had more symbolism that wasn't as corney as painting the sky blue when the sky really was blue (no offense Jeanne if you're reading this).
So if you liked the first book you should definately go read this one. And we learned why the Emberties lived underground and what the Disastor was. And it has this one new cool thing (a picture of it on the back cover) but I wont tell you any more.

I am one of those Ember fans who anxiously awaited the release of the Sparks book since it was announced. I read it this Memorial Day weekend after first rereading Ember, to put me back in context.

The People of Sparks is a worthy sequel to The City of Ember, and I enjoyed reading it. Two things struck me as I read: 1st, The People of Sparks isn't as magical as The City of Ember. There is less mystery in Sparks than in Ember, and I was sad not to find it. That said, Sparks does a credible job addressing each of the unanswered questions raised in Ember. Had it not, I would have been disappointed.

The 2nd thing I noted is that Sparks obsessively ruminates on a few contemporary issues and their consequences - primarily war and conflict. Not that this is a bad thing; DuPrau does a fine job of crafting a story around issues her readers are certain to have questions about in real life.

If you enjoyed reading City of Ember, I highly recommend reading People of Sparks.

The second book of Ember
Though Ember is no more
The citizens who made the trip
Now have new things in store

They find a whole new world out there
With things they've never seen
Like sky and sun and other stuff
They'd not known where they'd been

The people of the town of Sparks
Survived the big disaster
Now faced with hundreds more to feed
Their stocks will run out faster

The Ember folk cannot adapt
There's no plumbing or power
No medicine or food in cans
It's not their finest hour

In six months they'll be on their own
It causes an uproar
People who forget the past
Are condemned evermore

Feuding, fighting, dirty tricks
A multitude of sins
Until they learn that in a war
Nobody ever wins



Amanda Richards, August 31, 2006

This is a WONDERFUL book. I can't say I love it more than Ember because I don't think of them as separate books. It's all part of one fascinating saga and I hope there will be more to come. I love the main characters and the nice balance of their reliance on and independence from each other and the way the author shows that heroes come in all sorts of personality types. I also enjoy the supporting cast.

I gave a copy of Ember to our school library last year and noticed that both books made the recommended summer reading list this year.

An unexpected pleasure about these books is that three generations of our family have read and enjoyed them. Whether you read them to your younger children or read them with your older children, you will find them fun, fast-moving, thought provoking and inspiring.

I found out about this book after I'd used the previous book for a book report. I liked that book so much that I gave this one try. The People of Sparks picked up right where the last book left off. It also introduced many new, colourful characters. This book was as intresting and entertaining as the last book, but also was very tricky. The author left clues everywhere, but you wouldn't expect a thing until a plan unfolded. The People Of Sparks is fantasy, mystery, adventure, and much more, wrapped up in one. This is a total page turner! And it all started with a book report. =)

The People of Sparks is the worthy sequel to the The City of Ember. Although the two books have very different themes and plots, the People of Sparks has a very clear theme. This awesome book starts with the people of the underground city, Ember, starting a new life in the land above, with the People of Sparks.

But, aboveground, much had happened. Wars and sicknesses had destroyed almost all humans off the face of Earth. The People of Sparks were the few towns that were prospering after the Great Diaster. But, because of the trouble of training the people of Ember to learn how to survive and with the food draining, the tension between the people of Ember and the people of Sparks grow and grow until war explodes between the two groups.

DuPrau has outdone herself in The People of Sparks. It expresses the horror that can happen to us, humans, if we do not work together in harmony and survive together. I loved the ending of this book as the people of Ember and Sparks come together to erase their mistakes and to teach each other their talents. Also in the end, hope sparks up again as one of our main character bring electricity aboveground again.

I think that the City of Ember and the People of Sparks are rare books with interesting plots that drives readers on. I love DuPrau's imagination for our future and her warning for readers. Read this book!

I loved City of Ember, so approached this sequel warily. Obviously, the mystery of the first book has been solved, so where does the author go from there? Well, in this case, she wrote a book about the complicated choices that come "after" Happily Ever After. I loved the richness of this landscape and characters. Nothing is simple in this book, just like nothing is simple in life. The result was a reading experience that left me completely satisfied, and more than a little in awe of the author.