wait this book was legit so bad?? absolutely zero plot and no relevance to the city of ember until i kid you not the actual last page and even then its so minor?? like what was the point omg 1/10

Ebook
So many times, I nearly DNF'd this one. I don't know why I didn't

started with some interesting vibes, was not prepared for the back in time vibe but was cool to see the pieces fall into place

When I read Prophet on Yonwood a few years ago, it occurred to me that this book may have initially been written as a standalone book, but then a few sentences were added so that it could be marketed as a prequel to The City of Ember.

So here's the premise of the book: A woman trips in her yard and starts mumbling incoherently. Her neighbor finds her on the ground and is convinced that she is a prophet. She is placed in a bed and people gather around and try to decipher her unintelligible mumbling. She says phrases such as "no lights" or "no music" so they decide that these must be divine orders and instruct that no one in the town can use electric lights or listen to music. Some defy these rules, so they are punished by having to wear devices on their wrists that beep and no one is allowed to talk to them.

And guess what: She wasn't telling orders.

You're probably wondering what the heck does this have to do with Ember. Here's the answer: It doesn't.

It's occasionally mentioned that some of the people in the town have left to work for this mysterious government project, but that hardly has to to do with the plot. We also learn at the end of the book that the main character becomes one of the first citizens of Ember and is also the person who owned the journal that Lina and Doon found when they reached the surface, but I hardly consider that to be insight. If the last two pages were rewritten, then this would be a standalone (sure, they mentioned the mysterious government project, but that was so vague that it wouldn't matter).

Even if you accepted this to be a standalone, I still don't recommend it because I find the plot far-fetched. I don't get why practically the entire town was so convinced that this woman was a prophet just because she tripped in her yard and started mumbling incoherently in a daze. No one even saw her fall! I would have assumed that she had hit her head and needed medical attention but the only attention she received was people trying to interpret her delusional mumblings.

The Prophet of Yonwood is a prequel of sorts to the City of Ember though it comes as book three in the Book of Ember series. I didn't expect Yonwood to tie-in all that much with Ember, so when it didn't, I wasn't disappointed or surprised. There are a few links - we hear a little about the Builders, and of course we see the start of war and destruction - but the story itself focuses on a small town and good verses evil.

Nickie is visiting Yonwood with her aunt as they tend to Nickie's great-grandfather's estate upon his passing. While in Yonwood, Nickie finds herself caught up in the political climate of townsfolk. There's a prophet who has seen a vision of doom, but if the people can do what she says is God's will, Yonwood will be safe. Of course, not is all as it seems, and trying to determine what is good and what is not good is not always black and white. Nickie learns this lesson as she also learns that in her own way, she can make a difference.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. There was enough mystery that kept me reading to find out what would happen next. DuPrau tends to be a little heavy-handed in her messages, but a loss of civil rights is a staple in dystopian lit. Compared to other stories in the genre, DuPrau handles this well, showing how simple it is at times for people to give up their rights in the name of safety.

On to book four - The Diamond of Darkhold!

Disappointing 3rd book in an otherwise decent series I read with Daniel. Meandered and unfocused, this completely veered from the path of the other books. It was a frustrating read and a hollow ending.

In this prequel to "The Story of Ember", Jeanne Du Prau paints the picture of a world like our own sliding toward the point of no return.

When 11 year old Nicki and her mother travel to a small town in North Carolina to settle her great grandfathers estate, they are at first welcomed to the small town. The town is in an uproar however, a woman has collapsed after having an apocalyptic vision. Given the greater world is engulfed in a very perilous, very real political crisis, the townspeople take this incident very seriously. Things begin to get hairy when a didactic, overbearing woman persuades the community they must behave in ways she has decided are "righteous" to avoid destruction convincing local politicians and law enforcement to enforce rules beyond the normal scope of the law.

Nicki is torn between wanting to conform and get along and the evidence of her own heart and mind. As the world crisis diffuses so does the power of enforced behavior in Yonwood.

Nicki remembers and reflects on this summer throughout her adulthood. When the world is again headed toward Armageddon 50 years later, she makes a decision which will influence the future people of "The City of Sparks".

Again, the story is as much about the individual and the crowd, superstition versus logic and the depths to which frightened, desperate people will descend in order to make sense of the world.

The town of Yonwood was home to a woman named Althea Tower who was suddenly struck with a vision she claims came from God himself. In her vision she saw flashes of lights so bright that she collapsed in her backyard as she was feeding the birds. Her friend Mrs. Brenda Beeson came by her house and found her in such a shocking state and Althea told her what she had seen. Within a couple of weeks Althea was know as the prophet of Yonwood. Whatever she said Mrs. Beeson would make it known to the people of Yonwood this included things like no lights, no sinners and no dogs. Nickie Randolph was an eleven year old who lived in the city of Philadelphia with her mother and father. She hated the city and her mom worked alot of the time leading her to have alot of free time. Her father was away at work on a “secret” project and news came of her great grandfather passing. Crystal, her aunt, was heading down their to sell his old proptery and Nickie tagged alot with her. Nickie was determined to make Greenhaven her new home and to convience Crystal not to sell the property so they could move there. Upon arriving at the town they were stopped by a police officer who was asking about their motives for coming into town. When Crystal told him he replied with having heard rumors of terriost and wants to upkeep the safety of the town. They arrived at Greenhaven and after looking around Nickie found a girl and a dog in the upstairs room. Her named was Amanda and she said that she had previouly taken care of her great grandfather before he passed and was inbetween jobs with no where to go. Nickie promised to keep her hidden until she got another job. Later that week Mrs. Beeson came over unannounced Nickie and Amanda were in the kitchen getting something to eat. They were startled and Mrs. Beeson was concerened about Amanda not having anywhere to go when she thought about “the prophet” needed a caretaker and she was hired. Amanda had to leave the dog, Otis, at the house as dogs weren’t allowed. Nickie had made three goals for herself while she was down there #1 to keep the house #2 to fall in love #3 to do something helpful for the world. Over the next weeks her mother would call Crystal and inform her of postcards that she was receiving from her father. At the time they were strange and didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Nickie however, thought that they could be a secret message that he was trying to tell her she just needed to uncode it. A window was broken intown at the cafe and rumors of the terriost were at a all time high. Mrs. Beeson was called to the seen and she tried to make a statement from what she saw but nothing much came from it. Grover who was a boy heading to school saw all this unfold and told everyone at school about what he wittnessed. After school he needed to make a shortcut home and had to pass behind Hoyt McCoy’s house. In doing so he dropped his blue notebook that held alot of his entries for sweepstakes. He had to later go back and retreive it when he saw “the sky opening up” above his house and alot of strange lights. Nickie did a little bit of roaming around town when she came upon a shed in the back of a house and saw a boy walk into it. She decided to take a peek inside and saw him playing with snakes. She then accidently bumped against the window where Grover heard that someone was outside. Nickie ran off before Grover could see who it was. Later that day at home she noticed that the basement door was open so she went and investigated. She heard a voice and out came Grover with a small mouse. He told her that he was going to feed it to his snake and that his dad was fixing the plumbing. Nickie showed intrest in seeing him feed the mouse to his snake and so she came over and witness it. Nickie was confused with what was consider good and evil so she went to talk to Mrs. Beeson about it. Mrs. Beeson told her that inorder to prevent war and all the bad stuff happening outside they had to following the directions of God and the prophet. Nickie wanted to do good so she would make it her goal to help lookout for sinners. One day she was taking a stroll throughout town and noticed people arguing from houses and made her way to Hoyt McCoy’s house remmebering what Mrs. Beeson told her. Upon walking up his driveway she heard a voice yell “Get off my property trespasser” when she looked up she saw what looked to her a barrel of a gun pointed at her. She screamed and ran all the way to Mrs. Beeson’s house and told her everything. Mrs. Beeson sent the police out there and come to find out it was a telescope. The following day blue letters are send out to everyone that Nickie told Mrs. Beeson about including Grover with his snakes. Nickie found out that if people didn’t change they would be given bracelets that would make a sound letting people know that they are sinners. Grover told Nickie everything and she confessed to being the one who told Mrs. Beeson. Grover was given a bracelet and he ran away into the woods which is where he encountered a albino bear. It walked with a limp and he realized that this must be the terriost that everyone must be seeing. Mrs. Beeson comes out with a new order from the phropet and it was “no dogs”. Two days from now a bus would come collet the dogs and take them into the woods where they would be set free. The reason was that dogs take up love that should go to God. Nickie was glad that no one knew about Otis except for Amanda but when she returned home she saw Amanda with Otis. Amanda ran and gave Otis to the people on the bus and he was gone. Nickie was so upset but she found Crystal and made her follow the buesses up the hill insearch for Otis. However, it was snowing hard and they left without Otis. Crystal was planning on closing on the house so Nickie got on with her life. Amanda came days later and said she was sorry for what she did with Otis. She thought she was doing right by listening but she couldn’t stop thinking about him and was leaving town. Nickie went to see the prophet but was taken aback by her condition. It was like she was in a trance and wouldn’t speak until Nickie screamed at her why she told them to get rid of the dogs. She finally came to it and was confused with all the information that Nickie was telling her. She went and talked to Mrs. Beeson and cleared the air about what she was meaning to say. All the dogs came back into town including Otis and Nickie kept him. On the way back to Philadelphia she sold an old photo that her great grandfather had and sent the money to Grover so he would go on an expidetion. Grover ended up being a world famous scientist in snakes and made medicine from the venoum which changed the world. She got married and had a couple of kids and moved from the city. Years later there was talk about war again except this time it was far worse than before. Since her father worked on the special project she was given a chance to live in the underground city that was build. She thought that this was a once in a lifetime thing and hoped that she would be changing the world in the process. She kept a jounal that she would write in until it was time to go into the lake. She was nervous that someone would see her journal so she hid it hoping that it would give some insight for the future. { book was very slow pace and had a ton of detail. I was suprised that she didn’t fall in love with Grover but it was kind of nice. It gave alot of like “preachy” vibe as the author refered to God alot in this book. I am curious as to why she did. Also I have no idea what was wrong with the prophet. It seemed like she was brainwashed? Confused as to why she never saw a doctor or anything. No idea what was with the “albino” bear? But it wasn’t a polar bear? Also what was the point of this all when war would come years later.}

Had next to nothing to do with the first, second, and fourth books in the series. It should've been a prequel novella if it was written at all.

Over the summer I read the book The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau. When I read the previous books in this fictional series I had really enjoyed them and was expecting to see how ember started since The Prophet of Yonwood had taken place 50 years before ember. This wasn't the case. I was really disappointed because you never find out about the war and how it happened. But what I liked about this book was it shows how Nickie has to decide between good and evil and had to decide what a true friend was. The Prophet of Yonwood tells a story about a 11 year old girl named Nickie who travels with her aunt Crystal to Yonwood North Carolina from Philadelphia. They are traveling to North Carolina because her great grandfather had passed away and they inherited his house, and are planning to sell it. When Nickie and her aunt arrive they get their first sight at this small town and don't know what to think of Yonwood. Nickie soon meets a friend named Grover and they become really close. A women named Althea has had a vision of fire and destruction but is in a state of shock and can only be understood by a woman named Mrs. Beeson. Althea is getting told by God of how to save the world from this terror. Mrs. Beeson becomes the prophet and translates everything Althea says, she is now looked up to and everyone counts on her. Nickie has a chance to help and save the world from the destruction from happening. This book did not meet my expectations towards the ember series but it was a good book individually. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action and adventure and is looking for a thrill. (less)

My kid and I enjoyed this one, and appreciated the prequel, but I think we enjoyed the others in the series more.

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.

Each book of Ember has a very specific role in the series. The first one, The City of Ember, was an adventure, suspense novel with the threat of the dying generator looming over Lina and Doone at every turn. The second one, The People of Sparks, was a look at conflict, war, and the slippery slope of giving "an eye for an eye." Both yielded even more on rereading than they did the first time, so I had high hopes when I started reading what was, for me, a boring and pointless addition to the series the first time around.

Unfortunately, my opinion hasn't risen too much the second time through. It's true that I see now the purpose of putting this book in the series: it shows the beginning of Ember, life on Earth during the conflicts that would ultimately tear apart all of human civilization. It explains in a way that the Emberites, clueless to their past, never could, what life was like in the lead-up to the events that destroyed almost all of humanity.

At least, I think that's what she was going for. In reality, it wanders all over the place and never really delivers on any of its promise. Parts of it remind me a little bit about Leaving Fishers by Margaret Peterson Haddix, because of the cult-like behavior of the superstitious village-members. Then there's Nickie's plans for the summer (she wants to fall in love, move to Yonwood for good, and help make the world a better place), which you'd think would help give the story a bit of backbone as she works toward those goals. Nope. For me, what kills any enjoyment I might have had is the fact that not only does DuPrau wander all over the place with her plot (religious fanaticism! Impeding war! Nickie wants a dog!), but she takes the time to set up for a great story . . . and then lets the reader down in practically every respect. Nothing happens the way you would expect it to, and I don't mean that in a good way. I mean it in a "wow, what a letdown" kind of way.

Nickie just never really clicked with me as a character, partly because she wasn't very bright (she spends half of the book spying on people to find sinners because she believes this is how she can help the world) and partly because she wasn't very, well, original. She just kind of was, and there was nothing special or unique about her. Grover had a lot of potential, and I was actually more excited about him than I was about Nickie. But while he wasn't as great a letdown as Nickie was, I still felt like DuPrau missed the mark so many ways with what could have been a great character.

All in all, this was a book with a great set-up and a very poor execution. Because it's a prequel, I would almost advise skipping over it as you read through the Ember books, unless you want to see if you can get more out of it than I can. I most definitely do not advise starting with this book before reading the rest of the series because a) it's really not necessary and b) it might turn you off from trying the rest of the wonderful series.

Have you read this book in the Ember series? Do you agree with me about The Prophet of Yonwood?