The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau is an exciting action adventure story that I may not have started reading, had I not been looking for a piece of tape on a Thursday afternoon. Before I began reading this, I was already familiar with DuPrau’s City of Ember, the first book in this four part series. However, I never got around to reading the second book, The People of Sparks, until I saw it lying around, coincidentally, next to a roll of tape.
Now for a quick summary (if you plan on reading either of the books mentioned, do not read this summary as it will take away from the experience)! Obviously, The People of Sparks is set after the events that took place in City of Ember. Surprisingly, you don’t really have to read City of Ember in order to enjoy this book, although I would recommend you do to understand it better. For those who haven’t read City of Ember, the main gist of it is that there is an underground city called Ember. This city functions like most other cities, but there is no sunlight. Instead, there are lights that turn on and off, signalling night and day. However, the city is dying and the people of Ember have to find a way out or else they will be trapped in darkness. Now, there are many details I didn’t mention, but onto the quick summary of The People of Sparks.
Led by the young teenagers Doon and Lina, the book starts out with the 400 citizens of Ember walking for several days after climbing out from the cave where Ember was. Tired and hungry, they come across an agricultural village called Sparks, which agrees to take in the Emberites and give them with food. As the Emberites have never been above ground, there are many new things to see and learn about the normal world. In this world the creation and use of things like cars, electricity, internet, etc. have simply become myths and stories. After a series of plagues and wars, those who could create and repair technology slowly passed away. Although this story is set in the future, it feels as if the world has been transported back to Medieval times.
Anyways, over time, the Emberites settle into the village, but the people of Sparks begin to resent the presence of the people of Ember as they feel that they are becoming ungrateful whilst taking their food. Tensions between Emberites and the people of Sparks build and eventually Doon and Lina have to lead their people once again, this time, to save them from tearing each other apart.
As a whole, I really enjoyed The People of Sparks. I think the best thing about this book is watching and being a part of the characters experience, learning and exploring a completely new world. While the people of Ember are unfamiliar and have to learn about simple things like the Sun, as the reader, you get this weird feeling as you read about how the characters talk about electricity, cars, and even bikes like an ancient tale. Another thing I liked about the book was how genuine the reactions of both societies were about meeting, and eventually living together. DuPrau could have just made it so that each society lived with each other peacefully, but instead she set up realistic social situations that made for an interesting plot.
The only real problem I have with this book is the fact that the writing style is somewhat simple. I’ve read some reviews and found that some like DuPrau’s simple writing style, as it allows them to think more about the events happening in the book. However, I personally think that it doesn’t allow the reader to see the full extent of each character’s thoughts and what leads up to their actions. Besides this, I think The People of Sparks is worth reading, especially for those who like adventure and even dystopian novels and so I would give it 8.5 bologna slices out of 13.
Now for a quick summary (if you plan on reading either of the books mentioned, do not read this summary as it will take away from the experience)! Obviously, The People of Sparks is set after the events that took place in City of Ember. Surprisingly, you don’t really have to read City of Ember in order to enjoy this book, although I would recommend you do to understand it better. For those who haven’t read City of Ember, the main gist of it is that there is an underground city called Ember. This city functions like most other cities, but there is no sunlight. Instead, there are lights that turn on and off, signalling night and day. However, the city is dying and the people of Ember have to find a way out or else they will be trapped in darkness. Now, there are many details I didn’t mention, but onto the quick summary of The People of Sparks.
Led by the young teenagers Doon and Lina, the book starts out with the 400 citizens of Ember walking for several days after climbing out from the cave where Ember was. Tired and hungry, they come across an agricultural village called Sparks, which agrees to take in the Emberites and give them with food. As the Emberites have never been above ground, there are many new things to see and learn about the normal world. In this world the creation and use of things like cars, electricity, internet, etc. have simply become myths and stories. After a series of plagues and wars, those who could create and repair technology slowly passed away. Although this story is set in the future, it feels as if the world has been transported back to Medieval times.Anyways, over time, the Emberites settle into the village, but the people of Sparks begin to resent the presence of the people of Ember as they feel that they are becoming ungrateful whilst taking their food. Tensions between Emberites and the people of Sparks build and eventually Doon and Lina have to lead their people once again, this time, to save them from tearing each other apart.
As a whole, I really enjoyed The People of Sparks. I think the best thing about this book is watching and being a part of the characters experience, learning and exploring a completely new world. While the people of Ember are unfamiliar and have to learn about simple things like the Sun, as the reader, you get this weird feeling as you read about how the characters talk about electricity, cars, and even bikes like an ancient tale. Another thing I liked about the book was how genuine the reactions of both societies were about meeting, and eventually living together. DuPrau could have just made it so that each society lived with each other peacefully, but instead she set up realistic social situations that made for an interesting plot.
The only real problem I have with this book is the fact that the writing style is somewhat simple. I’ve read some reviews and found that some like DuPrau’s simple writing style, as it allows them to think more about the events happening in the book. However, I personally think that it doesn’t allow the reader to see the full extent of each character’s thoughts and what leads up to their actions. Besides this, I think The People of Sparks is worth reading, especially for those who like adventure and even dystopian novels and so I would give it 8.5 bologna slices out of 13.
Awesome review! I really appreciated your spoiler warning to not read your summary if I plan on reading the books, but I still read it anyway since your story about the roll of tape did such a great job of drawing me in that I could not stop reading your review. I liked how you talked about the weird affect that reading about modern technologies as myths and this premise sounds like the opposite of many books set in the future (which I find to be refreshing). I will definitely make sure to read this series!
ReplyDeleteYour review does a good job explaining the book. I liked the addition of the spoiler warning. Even though I have not read this book, I still read the summary, and it was well detailed and interesting. I liked the inclusion of your anecdote about how you decided to choose the book. I also like the fact that you added what you did not like about the story. Good review!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very well written review! The plot summary is informative and gave me a solid idea about the plot, but also did not include too much information that would make me not want to read the book. The little introduction at the beginning made the post feel more personal and I also liked how you mentioned that it is helpful to read the previous book in the series, but not necessary. When you gave your short critique at the end I liked how you took the whole book into account when you made your comments and decided that you felt the whole book was simple instead of saying that you didn't like certain parts, which can be hard to understand when you haven't read the book.
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I read City of Ember several years ago, and had kind of forgotten about it till I read this blog post. Based on what I remember, though, I agree with you that author's simple writing style sometimes made the story feel a little bit rushed and glossed over the characters' motivations somewhat. However, you also bring up a good point that the book makes up for this by placing the characters in a relatable and, in some ways, realistic situation, which can help us understand their feelings and motivations, even if we don't necessarily get a lot of insight into them from the book itself.
ReplyDeleteGood summary, but I wish you had told us more about the story behind the tape, and perhaps why you didn’t initially plan to read this book. The note on the authors writing style was helpful because I actually prefer simpler writing that doesn’t get in the way of the plot (especially because I am easily distracted). This book reminds me of Gregor The Overlander which I really enjoyed, although it also had a very simplistic style. The way you combined the overall plot with more specific details and your opinions made this review informative and easy to follow.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have not read The People of Sparks, or any other novels in the series for that matter, your summary was well-written and informative, and has inspired me to look for the novel myself (on the way to the tape dispenser of course). Your comparison between both the negative and positive aspects of this novel were well-written. Even your inclusion of the perfect audience for The People of Sparks was helpful, as it allowed me to further grasp the novel as a whole. Overall, great review!
ReplyDeleteGood review! I liked the nice detailed summary you gave us and how you chose this book. Your review was well written and easy to read. The post was well structured and made each topic flow into the next. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI read this book a while back, but didn’t remember much of it. Your summary gave me a helpful refresher, covering the main plot points of the story in detail. It was also interesting to read what your high and low opinions of the book were. On a whole, your review was well formatted and informative. Nice job!
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