The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

After reading it's prequel, The City of Ember, I was excited to see what this book would hold. The City of Ember ended on such a note of possibility and it had such good characterizations that I hoped this book would be great. Overall, there were many things I liked about this book, although I felt that some of the original charm of Ember was missing. The characterizations were still great, and I enjoyed seeing the main characters, Doon and Lina, as well as a few new faces who came into prominence here. 

World-Building: Decent 

Characterizations: Great 

Plot: Slower pace, but still Decent - Great 

One of the main differences between The People of Sparks and it's prequel The City of Ember, is that while the first book had many themes about human nature it was mainly a book of discovery; the characters discovered a way to solve the problem of their city's dying generator and we discovered the Ember along the way. There is much less discovery in this sequel; The People of Sparks is really a book about conflict, about war and peace and fear and hatred and love and compassion. The author was trying to say deep things here, and it was clear, not in a preachy way clear, but just clear because as I read I kept seeing and thinking of the parallels between this and real world events. In the same way that I found Ember's foreshadowing not dark enough I found that Sparks tried to handle all these tough topics without showing enough of the complications involved in real life conflicts. I don't think I can say more without spoiling the book, so I'll stop here and just say that it was a good book, but not as fast-paced and charming as Ember. 

SPOILER WARNING, PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK

When Lina and Doon came out of their underground city their first encounter with this world showed the beauty of nature, it showed the sunrise and the fact that even though there had been a war or disaster of some sort there was always hope. However, throughout this book everyone just takes it for granted that beyond sparks is an uninhabitable wasteland... I have issues with this. It's jut not plausible that somehow, magically, Sparks was built over the only good farming land left, which is what was suggested throughout the book. Yes, it wouldn't have been easy to build a whole new city, but it shouldn't have been taken for granted as being impossible. 

I found DuPrau's descriptions of the ruined cities and villages, as well as her descriptions of Sparks and the Pioneer Hotel very good, but she didn't do justice to the in-between, the so-called "empty lands" all around. 

Speaking of Justice, that was another thing missing from the story. While the conflict was going on not once did anyone really sit down and think about what was just and how to do justice to solve the situation. Sparks didn't even have any kind of organized justice system to handle the acts of vandalism that were going on, let alone handling the issue of the Emberites with any sense of justice. This was, I felt, one of the books weakest points, because you can't solve conflicts and create peace without having justice. It's not just about everyone making compromises, and deciding to help each other instead of fight each other, which are all very well, it's also about human rights and justice, neither of which were really handled or even really mentioned in this book. 

The second of the book's weakest points was that the Emberites were portrayed as having nothing to contribute. No one ever has nothing to contribute. Each person always has some unique knowledge and skill that goes with their unique and individual differences. And I'm talking about individual people here. Imagine an entire City. It's quite ridiculous to think that the people of Ember with their many jobs and occupations, with their experience with technology and their knowledge of some more modern medicines that had been lost to the outside world, wouldn't have anything to contribute to make Sparks even better. 

I mean, there must at least have been someone who knew how to build and repair homes... where were these people when the Emberites had to live in the run-down hotel? There must have been someone intelligent enough to realize that Ember's generator created electricity from the power of the flowing River - why didn't anyone try to investigate using the river near Sparks to do something similar? Weren't there doctors in Ember? Why wasn't the greenhouse worker, Clary, talking to the local farmers and comparing their knowledge? What about the people from the Pipeworks? They had no running water in Sparks, shouldn't someone get onto that? 

Seriously. 

Finally, at the end of the book the leaders of Sparks said that the Emberites would not longer be separated and called "The People of Ember" - everyone would be "the people of Sparks" together. That's nice and everything, but the ridiculous idea that they had to shed the name, that they had to shed the idea of being different, is not only ridiculous it's insulting. They went through a lot because they were different from the people of Sparks, they also, as I mentioned before, have a lot of unique and useful knowledge that comes from their time in Ember - the idea that by shedding the name Ember, by calling themselves people of Sparks instead, they would suddenly become exactly the same, is silly. Also, the idea that they should become the same and set aside the things that make them unique is also, in my opinion, nonsense. What they should strive for is to become equal in terms of the work and good things they contribute to the city, and the rights that they are entitled to, which, as I said, was not something at all alluded to in the book. 

However, there were things I did like about the book. I liked the idea of and description of Roamers. I liked the characterizations of not only Lina and Doon but also Torren, Mrs Murdo, the Doctor, and various other characters. I liked the uncovering and restoration of the Library.