The Prophet of Yonwood

You'd have to keep in mind, this is a prequel. So none of the characters in previous books will be featured in the book. It took me a bit to get used to this, but the main storyline was interesting. I liked Nickie, but there were times when I didn't. Although it wasn't entirely her fault (due to the brainwashing), you'd think at her age (11) she might be able to tell what's right or wrong. So I thought she acted way younger than she is, and was just a little too naive.

There were also times where I couldn't help but feel angry. I couldn't stand Brenda. I wanted to choke her out of the book. It's these kinds of people that blow everything out of proportion and made the situation more dangerous and harmful than it really is. When the incident with the dogs happened this was where I just about had it with her and wanted a bomb to drop on her house.

Despite my intense dislike for this character, I liked how the book shows the reader how this sort of situation can show the worst (and the best) characteristics in individuals. I bothers me a little, that this really has nothing to do with Ember (until you find out much later, near the end of the book) and it may annoy readers as it's oddly placed in the middle of the series, and some might argue that it's not a prequel at all.

The plot was good, although it was slow moving. You're more than halfway through the book and the plot is still crawling. My suggestion, is to skip this book and read the fourth one, then read this one. You won't be missing much anyway. It's not the best I've read from the author but it's readable if one wants to complete the series.

The first two books were really good this one left me frustrated. Although I understand this was a prequel it really had NOTHING to do with Ember, the building of the city, or even the idea of Ember. The book ties into the series only in the last few pages. I didn't feel interested in the characters and found the very religious theme aggravating. Although the first two books are really questioning human nature and are based on a struggle between right and wrong (like most kids books) this book blindsides you with "God this, God that, serve God to save the world..." Just a warning. I would have a hard time recommending this book with the word "God" splattered on every page... However, I may be wrong but I think Jeanne Duprau is making fun of religion a little. Either way I'm sure this so called "Book of Ember" could have and should have been skipped and I'm looking forward to joining Lina and Doon again in the fourth book.

I haven't quite finished this book yet, so I thought I'd review the whole series. When I read the first book, I thought, 'Yeah, okay. Cool book. Nice descriptions. Not the best.' As I continued reading the series, I discovered a wonderful theme which is quite ingenious. It takes place in the future in a city underground, although we don't know that at the beginning. The city is dying, and two kids must find the way out. In the next book and this book, The Prophet of Yonwood, we discover that this city was built to save the human race! After reading almost the whole series, I have changed my mind on it. Love it, Jeanne DuPrau!

The Prophet of Yonwood
Jeanne DuPrau
Yearling. 2006. 9-12. 287 pages.

When living in a world endlessly fearing terrorism, confusing faiths, and filled with the constant drone of Presidential addresses, the line between good and wrong is not one but several sketchy marks. Dark people emerge from even darker corners and with them frightening threats so that places of light declare their own call to arms. The United States of America butt horns with the Phalanx Nations, and their people cower or else shake their fists.
Crystal Randolph travels to the North Carolinian town of Yonwood, and with her is her niece, an eleven-year-old with a weighty mission set upon her. Nickie, in the coming week, cannot escape her fate. She must, on pain of many deaths...
...fall madly, passionately in love.
Hm?
Of course I'm pulling your string! That's only Goal #2.

After persuading her much too hard-working mother to miss school for a week or two, Nickie is glad to be out of Philadelphia. There is the seven-hour drive, accredited to the Crisis and its adverse effect on the Streakline's schedule; the sting of detours, roadblocks, and waiting lines to be faced, too. But she doesn't mind.
Nickie's great-grandfather has died and has left to his granddaughters'?that is, Crystal's and her sister Rachel's?care their ancestral home Greenhaven. 150 years generations of her family had lived there: Nickie wanted only to continue the tradition. That is, before someone rightfully bought the place after she and Aunt Crystal clean it up.

The Prophet of Yonwood is set in a small but petrified town, focusing on a very tense seven days in which Phalanx Nation missiles worldwide are being told be withdrawn... "or else." With this kind of backdrop, one wouldn't, couldn't expect to be reading about hiking in the woods with your adopted puppy or entering sweepstakes for a chance at a summer herpetologists' programme or escaping a screwy neighbour and their rifle (trained?). But this is what DuPrau decides to write, and there is nothing quite wrong at all!

There is another dimension to this story. Yes, the dark-versus-light dimnesion; yes, the (sometimes) romantic musings of an overimaginative prepubescent; and, yes, lots of propaganda. Chapter after chapter, layer upon layer of character, scenery, and moral depth is built. The story does not climb up its climax and hit its denouement as much as it runs its course; the house is sold, snow falls again in the late winter, and Nickie learns a thing or two about herself. DuPrau takes things steady, but never writing a "filler" chapter with slow dialogue or pointless description (heck, they even throw in pictures! ...caption-less, unfortunately). There seems not to be a great rush to save the world or explore uncharted land, though parallels can be drawn with Prophet and City, both Books of Ember.
Instead, a tinge of plain wonder lurks underneath Prophet's structuring: What does it mean for us to be on this Earth? What do we do while here, why, and is it us ourselves that decide it is right? (Is there a world outside our own??)
These and more provide the floor to the pool, where DuPrau's simple and streamlined storytelling is the water and you are the swimmer. As one whose diving-board are the predecessors to this prequel (oh, no, you read right), City of Ember (aforementioned) and People of Sparks, I wondered if Ms. Jeanne was going to turn preachy on us or trace another Great Adventure in Prophet of Yonwood. In reading Prophet, I find that there is no radical change in this book (puzzles and codes pop in to say hello), but a change in...tone, maybe? What can I say, I don't read novels nor their intellectual reviews frequently or avidly. Anyway.
Thinking about Yonwood now might just bring nostalgia; I felt as I were there in Yonwood and simply documentary-ing Nickie's eventful stay. I might even declare this as DuPrau's most enjoyable work since City, which I read at the pretty age of twelve. But I wouldn't want to pull more strings again: I really don't know. Maybe if I re-read...?

Overall?
A charging read!
Many-layered but simple in its message.
Surprised to find myself moved at the near end.
A great experience for an Ember fan but an even better one for a newcomer (with reservations).
Love the cover, man!

6 / 7


Signe Clemente, 13 May 2007.