Thursday, December 11, 2008

Review: The Diamond of Darkhold: The Fourth Book of Ember by Jeanne Duprau

genre: young adult/apocalyptic
rating: 3.5/5

When I saw this one in the library, I knew I wanted to know more about the former residents of the City of Ember. I really enjoyed City of Ember and City of Sparks - Prophet of Yonwood was okay - but I liked this fourth installment, the Diamond of Darkhold better.

We are once again with Lina and Doon in the city of Sparks, as winter is closing in and life is getting very difficult. There is no medicine, food is limited, and the darkness makes life not only more challenging, but more depressing, too. When Lina and Doon have the thought to return to their dark city to look for anything that can help, they get far more adventure than they bargained for.

The writing in this book isn't breathtaking, the characters are a bit dry and the coincidences are, at times, nearly astounding, but the IDEA of this book is so interesting to me. I not only have a penchant for apocalyptic literature of all kinds, but I think DuPrau has put an interesting twist on the usual plot. I like her imaginings of how the remnants of us would survive an apocalyptic episode that didn't actually destroy all of our "things" - just our ability to use and understand those things.

If you liked the first two books in the series, I'd suggest picking this one up. It gives some nice resolution with the characters and is different enough to keep things interesting.

5 comments:

Tricia said...

I haven't read this series yet, but I've got the first book on my bookshelf ready to go!

Anonymous said...

have not read this series Yet!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

I've heard some good things about this book. I don't know if just the idea of it is good enough to keep my interest--too bad the characters are dry.

Cami said...

I'm glad you liked this one. I'll have to try it out. I got a little bummed after Prophet, but I'll be happy to get back to our old friends!

Anonymous said...

I just watched the movie-version of City of Ember. It was really good. I didn't find the characters dry at all!(Although it might be a little different in the book).

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