Rebecca Allen

First off: The Seventh Blog Carnival of Feminist Fantasy and Science Fiction Fans is up. Lots of cool stuff there.

Okay. So I’ve complained about gender roles and stereotypes in books, so it only seems fair that, when I find a book that doesn’t leave me irritated, I should share it. So here’s the first of what will, hopefully, be many book reviews to come.

The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

These books could practically have been created with me in mind. My favorite type of science fiction — one of my favorite genres, period — is the dystopia. A friend who worked at a book store spotted these and realized they’d be right up my alley. And oh boy, were they ever.

The main characters populate a small city called Ember. We don’t know much about it at the beginning, except that it was built for them by some people in the distant past, and that the Builders left instructions for the citizens of Ember to leave after two hundred years. But the instructions were lost, and no one seems to remember that they ever existed to begin with.

As the story unfolds, we learn more about the city. Specifically, the readers learn that it’s underground and powered by a generator that runs off a massive river beneath the city, but that the citizens of Ember don’t know how it works — nor do they even know that they’re underground. They all believe that their city is the only light in a dark world…But the generator is beginning to break down, and no one knows how to fix it, bringing more and more blackouts into the city. And supplies are running out, too. The Builders gave them great storehouses with everything they could ever need, designed to last two centuries. More time has passed than intended, and now everything from canned veggies to lightbulbs are running out. The city is dying, and its citizens are trapped.

Our main characters are Lina and Doon, a pair of twelve year olds who have finished their schooling and are entering the city’s workforce for the first time. Lina is a messenger — the city doesn’t have phones, so messengers take a small payment to literally run across the city carrying messages between people. Doon is assigned to the pipeworks, and his goal is to learn how the generator works so he can fix it for the city. Instead, all he gets to do is fix leaky pipes.

Lina discovers two important things: one of her friends works in the store rooms, and there are a few cans of very rare, thought to be used up, supplies left, which a small group of people have been sneaking out and eating. She also finds what looks like a very old, important set of instructions, but she can’t figure out what they mean: her baby sister got to them first, and tore and chewed them up. Worried about the people who are hoarding supplies, especially as blackouts become more frequent, she realizes the instructions have something to do with leaving or fixing the city. But no one will take her seriously except Doon. Together, the two of them try to stop the hoarding and figure out how to save the city.

Aside from presenting a fun adventure, the book tackles a couple of questions that parallel our own world. First, the hoarding of scarce resources. At first, Lina wonders if it’s okay — if there’s only one can of pineapple left, who should get it? How can anyone decide that? And if no one can decide fairly, does that make finders-keepers fair? But she realizes quickly that hoarding is not okay at all…and when she tries to get the problems fixed, she realized that it isn’t just one or two people. Even the mayor, the city’s highest authority, is in on the corruption. Lina knows that the Builders intended the city’s supplies to belong to all of its citizens, which means the mayor is stealing from people who elected him. Who can you turn to to get rid of corruption, when the people who have the authority are the ones who are corrupt?

The second major issues is environmentalism. Everything in Ember’s environment is constructed, but their situation is eerily reminiscent of the current world’s. Ember has a finite amount of resources, which are running out; and their environment is breaking down, in the form of their generator breaking down. At first, everyone can pretend it won’t be a problem, and hope for a miracle solution. When there’s no miracle, they wait for the government to solve the problem…but the government is corrupt and hoarding goods rather than fixing the problem. So when most citizens choose to ignore the obvious problems, it’s also the young, motivated citizens who have to take matters into their own hands, and find their own solutions.

Needless to say, it’s very easy to look at the situation of Ember, and see a simpler version of today’s society. The corrupt administration is buffoon-like and easily defeated, but still reminiscent of the Bush administration: it lies and is misuses resources. Ember’s dying resources parallel global warming and oil shortages. And while their solutions aren’t applicable to the real world, they do make a very strong point: denying a problem makes it worse, and merely acknowledging a problem without actively seeking a solution still doesn’t help. It’s also optimistic: the characters are regular kids. They’re smart and motivated, but they don’t have any special skills. All they have is the urge to help their city, and by getting involved and doing what they can, they find they have the ability to save the day when other people refuse to.

And that doesn’t even get into the sequel, which tackles war: what makes a war just? What is worth fighting for? And when everyone around you is set to fight, how can both individual people and leaders find solutions? Needless to say, it’s another intense, interesting read.

Finally, the series gets even more credit with me. It avoids the female character pitfalls I’ve written about before. To begin with, Lina and Doon, in slight ways, invert gender stereotypes: Lina is active, outspoken, and physical, where Doon is quiet, emotional, and thoughtful. But almost more importantly, the story shares the spotlight between a male and female protagonist (putting Lina slightly in the forefront — they share time, but ultimately it seems that the series is about her, with Doon as her best friend), and notably, they aren’t romantic with one another. I can’t think of any other series where there are no romances whatsoever, let alone another series where the female and male protagonists don’t fall for one another. They’re best friends, they care deeply about one another, and they consider each other family. But they never get romantically involved.

Overall, I give the series an A+. It presents a fascinating, eerie world (but manages to keep its dystopia from being too depressing to enjoy) that deals with hard problems. It doesn’t present solutions to our society’s problems, but does give the message that only if we readers get passionate and get involved can they be fixed. The characters are interesting and fun. The story is exciting and well constructed. I’ve read both books twice through now, and am keeping them for future readings. I can not possibly recommend them enough.