Book Review #7

Book: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Age-range: 8 and up
Rating: 4 out of 10

This book was a huge disappointment.  The premise is amazing, but the execution was not great.  For younger readers who don't expect the nuances that an older audience does, this might be a good read.  It's also the first in a series of 4 books, so it would be something a younger child could read for a while.

If you're an adult, skip it.  Instead, try my friend Maria V. Snyder's book coming out in April, Inside Out.  Here is the premise for that:

INSIDE OUT.  
Keep Your Head Down. Don't Get Noticed. Or Else.
 
I'm Trella. I'm a scrub. One of thousands who work in the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. The Trava family who rules our world from their spacious Upper levels wants us to be docile and obedient, like sheep. To insure we behave, they send the Pop Cops to police us.

So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? Not like it's all that dangerous--the only neck at risk is my own.

Until a lower level prophet claims a Gateway to Outside exists. And guess who he wants to steal into the Upper levels to get the proof? You’re right. Me. I alone know every single duct, pipe, corridor, shortcut, hole and ladder of Inside. It’s suicide plain and simple. But guess who can’t let a challenge like that go unanswered? Right again. Me.

I should have just said no...