The Prophet of Yonwood - Jeanne DuPrau

A prequel to the modern-day classic The City of Ember. This highly acclaimed adventure series has captivated kids and teachers alike for almost fifteen years and has sold over 3.5 MILLION copies!Nickie will grow up to be one of the first citizens of the city of Ember. But for now, she's an eleven-year-old girl whose father was sent away on some mysterious government project.So when the opportunity to move presents itself, Nickie seizes it. But her new town of Yonwood, North Carolina, isn't what she'd anticipated. It's a place full of suspicion and mistrust, where one person's visions of fire and destruction have turned the town's citizens against each other. Nickie explores the oddities around her--her great-grandfather's peculiar journals, a reclusive neighbor who studies the heavens, a strange boy who is fascinated with snakes--all while keeping an eye out for ways to help the world. Or is it already too late to avoid a devastating war?Praise for the City of Ember books:Nominated to 28 State Award Lists!An American Library Association Notable Children's BookA New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing SelectionA Kirkus Reviews Editors' ChoiceA Child Magazine Best Children's BookA Mark Twain Award WinnerA William Allen White Children's Book Award Winner"A realistic post-apocalyptic world. DuPrau's book leaves Doon and Lina on the verge of undiscovered country and readers wanting more." --USA Today"An electric debut." --Publishers Weekly, Starred"While Ember is colorless and dark, the book itself is rich with description." --VOYA, Starred"A harrowing journey into the unknown, and cryptic messages for readers to decipher." --Kirkus Reviews, Starred

Published: (Yearling Books)

ISBN: 9780440421245

Language: English

Format: Paperback, 289 pages

Goodreads' rating: -

Genres

Dystopia Science Fiction Fiction Young Adult Fantasy

Reviews

Edee rated it

Do not read this book as a prequel to the Ember series. Four paragraphs do not a prequel make. There are two more installments that should be added between this one and The City of Ember: Nickie's dad's story (same 50 year time frame as The Prophet of Yonwood) and an actual prequel beginning where The Prophet of Yonwood ends.Read this as a stand-alone story. It will be more enjoyable if you aren't constantly looking for how it ties into the first two books. Also be prepared for tangents that go nowhere, things that are interesting but are never followed up on. Specifics withheld but you'll know what I mean when you've finished and they never really meant anything and you wonder why the author even mentioned them. Maybe just trying to create atmosphere?Complaints aside, I liked this book, maybe because of my experiences with certain interpreters of righteousness (Yonwood is ruled/terrorized by one of these so I was eagerly hoping for her comeuppance.) Your mileage may vary but take this one out for a spin.

Temp rated it

I feel dangerously close to being cheated. This book was not what I was anticipating. The whole book read as a warning of what was to come, since this was a prequel and we know what the world is like in The City of Ember and The People of Sparks. But it was a whole lot of...nothing. Absolutely nothing. The book creates such tension and nervous excitement and that is what keeps you glued to it, just waiting for everything to blow to hell, literally, but nothing happens. In a super anti-climatic way, things get normal and life goes on until the last two pages when the connection to the sequels is made.Whaaaaaat.The talk of the existence of multiverses and the impending war that would supposedly destroy most of humanity comes to nothing. I was so sure this would be important but nah. The warring sides just happen to listen to a guy ramble about universes and knowledge and they just, stop the war because of that?Whaaaaaat.Maybe this was a sort of a heads up for the final book? I don't know. It better be or this would be the most pathetic plot device ever.The suspense and anxiety that drives the book definitely wins and because of that I was able to enjoy the otherwise mundane plot.

Guillemette rated it

I quit reading a third of the way through. I haven't liked it so far, and scanning through the rest, here seems to be nothing worthwhile about the book; no reason to keep going. I was expecting it to tell about how the City of Ember came to be, but it is only very distantly connected to that story, so my curiousity was disappointed.This series is creative and entertaining despite the predictable heavy-handed anti-war moral, but I am getting quite tired of how it continually puts down religion and faith and prayer. In the first book, it could be overlooked, but in this one the foolishness of religion, the quackery of "prophets," and the blindness of believers is the entire point. Most of the adults in the book are portrayed as gullible, silly, and hysterical. That seems an awfully manipulative, even underhanded, message to put so strongly in books written for tweens. Although I liked the City of Ember a lot, my copy of this prequel is going in the trash.