As much as I yearned to love these books and add them to my bookshelves at home, I just couldn’t. While the storyline was intriguing enough and the characters likeable (especially Lina), what bothered me the most was the lack of a climax in all three of the stories. And when the story line began driving toward a climax, the author chose instead to veer away from it and let our imaginations do the work (which I normally wouldn't be opposed to, but there were a number of chances to make the plot exciting which the author skipped over).

All in all, I wanted this story to have more punch than it ever did. I found myself skimming through The Prophet of Yonwood pages at a time in the hope that I’d come across a more interesting passage. And although I agree with the author when it comes to the dangers of religious intolerance and fanaticism, I felt dragged down by the constant harping on how these two things make the world bad. The not-so-underlying message throughout The Prophet of Yonwood that the Disaster that led to Ember being built underground was caused by religious wars was its own character and I wish she hadn’t been so heavy-handed with it.

Okay, what did I like?
The storyline (Honestly! Aside from my aforementioned disappointments with it, the story arc was fantastic)….I love dystopic literature and this one sucked me in: underground city, adventure, demolished cities above ground, people living off the land and creating civilization again, etc.

The characters…Lina, a strong female who really carried the story, is 12 years old, a newly christened Messenger in Ember, and incredibly devoted to her baby sister, Poppy. Doon, a 12 year old radical who stands up to authority and joins with Lina to save his city, is incredibly inspiring, even as he struggles with what is right and what is wrong. ( )

Read the first one, City of Ember years ago, but recently decided I should go buy it to reread it. This is when I realized that there were more. I read them all and was captured by their story. City of Ember: this hidden world made me feel as if I was reading Giver again, but I didn't mind. I loved the world that was set up, one when they didn't know any different. People of Spark: Didn't enjoy this as much but I do understand it. This area was depended on their livelihood but a group of 300 some people show up, demanding food and shelter. Who wouldn't be worried? Prophet of Yonwood: The beginning was difficult for me to get into. I could not understand what this story had to do with the rest. But as the girl got older I started to understand how important she was to the whole series and began to enjoy it much like the others. ( )

Overall
The first 3 volumes of the Ember series collected into one volume. An imaginative take on the post-disaster, post-apocalyptic future theme, elaborately and convincingly fleshed out. Deals with serious and timely themes, including disaster, terrorism, religion, fear and intolerance. Reviews for the individual volumes below.

The City of Ember
Ember is an underground city, set at some unspecified point in a post-apocalyptic future, as their carefully-constructed world starts to crumble. Teens Lina and Doon search for a way to save their city, and all its inhabitants from its seemingly inevitable decline.

This is an imaginative premise, and a story well-told. The world is vividly constructed and elaborately developed. The author avoids several of the common pitfalls to YA writing: there is no superfluous romance, for one. Characters may not have rich development, but they are likable enough, and not stereotyped. All in all, an enjoyable, imaginative escape book. (4 stars)

The People of Sparks
(Contains spoilers for City of Ember, above)
Once the Emberites escape their underground city, they settle in the established town of Sparks, a classical post-apocalyptic, pre-industrial society. Tensions arise as the two groups vie for space and resources.

This follow-up is not as grandly imagined, and there are a few disappointing deus ex machinas that allow the story to progress more neatly than may be warranted. However, if you were left hanging (as I was) at the end of the first book, there's plenty here of interest, which is one sign of a successful book of this type: I care. (3.5 stars)

The Prophet of Yonwood
(Spoilers for Ember and Sparks, above)
Prequel to The City of Ember, this installment takes place pre-apocalypse in our time. Nickie goes with her aunt to sell her grandfather's house in North Carolina and encounters The Prophet, who has seen visions of the apocalypse. As the Prophet's interpreters become increasingly intolerant, Nickie tries to make sense of their changing world and her place in it.

The main characters in this followup are better fleshed-out, but the story reads less as an adventure and more as an allegory for what religious intolerance can do. The few links to the Ember world are interesting, even if not surprising, given what we learn in the other two. (3 stars) ( )