The City of Ember

""In Ember, the sky was always dark.""

- Opening lines of the first book.



The City of Ember is the first in a four-book series about the adventures of Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, who live in the city of Ember, which relies on lightbulbs to keep the town lighted and running. However, the lightbulbs are beginning to dull and food/rations are running out in the city; it won't be long until the entire city is cloaked in eternal darkness and becomes poverty-stricken. One day, Lina finds a letter (which is unrecognizable at first because her little sister Poppy chewed on it), which may possibly lead the citizens out of Ember. However, Lina and Doon have to confront a conspiracy that wishes to keep the truth under wraps...

Books in the Series

 * The City of Ember
 * The People of Sparks
 * The Prophet of Yonwood
 * The Diamond of Darkhold

This series provides examples of:
"Hoyt: I am not particularly neat or clean; I am certainly not what anyone would call normal. But I am as good as anyone else."
 * Adults Are Useless
 * Aesop: The second book's underlying theme is basically learning to accept people who are different from you.
 * America Saves the Day: Very subtle, but think about it. Americans built Ember, Americans populated it, and Americans provided the revolutionary  that pave the way to the future. Perhaps one of the few non-war examples. Also ironic in that America helped cause the Disaster.
 * Apocalyptic Log: The journal Doon and Lina find.
 * Apocalypse How: On the surface world, it's about a class 1, with a dash of class 2 in some places. Ember is basically untouched by the Disaster though.
 * Asshole Victim: in the film the mayor gets eaten by a giant mole after he gets into what he thinks is a safe room
 * and really who actually felt sorry for the Jerkass
 * Beneath the Earth: the city of Ember, obviously.
 * Big Creepy Crawlies: The film has some oversized insects, probably to illustrate the effects of radiation on the wildlife.
 * Black Market Produce: Ember is out of a lot of food products and the black market ones are mostly fruit. Pineapples get a special mention.
 * A Boy a Girl And A Baby Family: Not a family exactly, but Lina, Doon, and Lina's little sister Poppy have this same dynamic.
 * Bratty Half Pint: Torren.
 * Chekhov's Gun: That guy in the 3rd book running those weird experiments
 * City in A Bottle: Ember.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Lizzie, and, to a certain extent, Lina.
 * Crapsack World: Played with. Ember was once a nice place to live in, and even on the surface world people seem to generally get along with one another. (with the exception of the 2nd book, but that was partially because the Emberites didn't know how to do anything.) By the end,.
 * Crying Wolf:.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything: In-universe, at the end of 4th book where Doon has to once again has to put together some letters with Lina that have been broken apart by deciphering the phrases.
 * Dumb Blonde: Subverted with Grover, who is very knowledgeable about snakes.
 * Fiery Redhead: Lizzie, although she is a secondary character.
 * : The ending of the film and book one.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Hoyt McCoy.


 * Grandparental Obliviousness: Lina's grandmother has dementia, leaving Lina with little supervision when she goes off to save the city of Ember.
 * Government Conspiracy:.
 * Arguably, the plans set by the Builders themselves could also qualify. Going through all the trouble of . Or seeing to it that no one knew the history of the world leading up to the disaster in an attempt to start from a clean slate.
 * Karmic Death: In the film,  In the books, it's revealed that  . Still counts, though.
 * Maybe Ever After - A single line at the end of the 4th book hints that Doon and Lina might be falling in love with each other. There's no further mention of them after that.
 * It mentions that
 * Meaningful Name: The troublemaking Emberite kid featured in Sparks is named Tick Hassler.
 * The terrorist nation in the 3rd book is called the Phalanx Nations.
 * In a way, Ember itself. Its supply of stored food is finite, as is the stock of light bulbs (and thus the operability of the greenhouse). To make matters worse,.
 * Missing Mom: Doon's mom is never mentioned in the series, not even once; some fans assume that she died when Doon was a baby/young.
 * Oddly Named Sequels: The People of Sparks, The Diamond of Darkhold.
 * Plucky Girl: Lina and Nickie.
 * Promotion to Parent: Lina to her little sister Poppy, as her parents are dead and her grandmother has dementia.
 * Prophecies Are Always Right
 * Ragnarok Proofing: The  still works after all these years.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Mrs. Beeson indirectly cites this trope when Nickie tells her that Grover owns snakes in his shed.
 * Scavenger World: The surface world has this as its main economy. Ember began to turn into this by the end as well.
 * Shrinking Violet / Fragile Flower: Amanda (Prophet of Yonwood).
 * Pre-Teen Genius: Doon.
 * Terminally Dependent Society: The Emberites rely severely on the generator, which is the only thing keeping the titular city from plunging into permanent darkness.
 * Utopia: Ember. Or at least it was.
 * The Film of the Book:
 * Sir Not Appearing in This Trailer: Oscar winners Tim Robbins & Martin Landau.
 * Stop Worshipping Me:
 * Well Intentioned Extremist: Mrs. Beeson in The Prophet of Yonwood.
 * Waif Prophet: Althea Tower, whose 'vision' makes her extremely ill.