People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau (unabridged audiobook read by Wendy Dillon; 8 hrs on 7 discs): We begin not too long after City of Ember ended, with the Emberites having emerged from their underground home for the first time in many generations, and descending upon the first settlement they encounter: the village of Sparks. This tiny village cannot support these hundreds of refugees who have nothing to trade and no skills to take care of themselves, and tensions between the two groups steadily build. To be perfectly honest, I spent a good part of this book being angry at everybody. I know it’s supposed to be an allegory, but not a single person in Sparks showed any interest whatsoever in learning about Ember or its inhabitants. These people have been cut off from the rest of civilization for so long that they have never seen an animal and don’t even know what the moon is. I’d never stop asking them questions and answering theirs. Luckily, everything does eventually get resolved and I finished the story feeling more or less satisfied. I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series, however. From what I understand, the latter two books focus more on some mysterious prophecy (which is kind of annoying since part of the attraction of these books, for me, is their plausibility) and hardly feature Lina and Doon at all. This one ends in a good place, though, so I am happy to continue the story only in my imagination.

A note on the audio: Dillon was excellent once again. The sound effects in the background were much less intrusive this time around, and in fact added some ambiance to the fire scene.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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