History Literature / TheBooksOfEmber

The book was released in 2003 and became surprisingly popular. A sequel titled ''The People of Sparks'' was released the following year and picks up right where ''Ember'' leaves off. A prequel to the series called ''The Prophet of Yonwood'' was released in 2006 and focuses on a different set of characters. 2008 saw the release of a film adaptation of the first book, starring Creator/SaoirseRonan and Creator/BillMurray, as well as the last book in the series, ''The Diamond of Darkhold'', which takes place after ''Sparks''.

* DawsonCasting: Looper is only a few years older than Lina and Doon, but is played by the then ''37'' year old Mackenzie Crook.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Mrs. Beeson in ''The Prophet of Yonwood'', who strictly enforces her interpretations of Althea's delusional mutterings because she believes that they are instructions from God, telling the world what they must do to be free of sin.

* WaifProphet: Althea Tower from ''The Prophet of Yonwood'', whose 'vision' makes her extremely ill.

** The Trogg family renamed themselves after some of the biggest, grandest Pre-Disaster cities due to their pretentiousness and inflated egos, but mangle the names: patriarch "Washton" (Washington, D.C.), wife "Minny" (Minneapolis), son "Yorick" (New York), daughter "Kanza" (Kansas City), and forcibly-adopted ward "Scawgo" (Chicago).

** In ''People of Sparks'', she gets over Looper once she falls for Tick Hassler, a warmonger who turns out to be responsible for many of the incidents that worsened the conflict between Ember and Sparks.

** In ''The City of Ember'' most people treat the mayor as a pretty infallible and sensible authority figure, which he abused to his gain. Though their city was breaking down and the power plant to their TerminallyDependentSociety was nearing failure he managed to keep almost everyone content. The protagonists were some of the few to see the problem and fought to find a way out.

* BenevolentBoss: Don and Lina's supervisors, Captain Fleery and Lister Munk, although both are minor characters, with Lister being a bit more distant, and Fleery a bit more naive, than most examples of this trope.

* ApocalypticLog: In ''The City of Ember'', a journal from one of the first residents of Ember, is found as Lina and Doon find their way out of the city. [[spoiler:In the prequel, ''The Prophet of Yonwood'', this log is shown to be the work of an elderly Nickie, the book's protagonist.]]

* ApocalypticLog: In ''The City of Ember'', a journal from one of the first residents of Ember is found as Lina and Doon find their way out of the city. [[spoiler:In the prequel, ''The Prophet of Yonwood'', this log is shown to be the work of an elderly Nickie, the book's protagonist.]]

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Barton Snode, the chief guard, seems dim but dutiful, and appears to be willing to arrest the mayor after discovering his stealing, doesn't accost Lina, and and seems excited at the responsibility. The mayor is not arrested though, and given that other guards are corrupt its unclear if Snode simply failed in his duties and fell victim to YouKnowTooMuch (either fatally or by being locked up), or if he was EvilAllAlong or had a FaceHeelTurn and his excitement came from the chance to do the mayor such a service or blackmail him. Since he becomes a WhatHappenedToTheMouse, we never find out either way (although the film portrays him as more of a crony to the mayor who ''does'' attack Lina).

%%** In ''The Diamond Of Darkhold'', [[spoiler:Doon throws the diamond of Darkhold at a pack of wolves to save Lina. The diamond hits the rock that Lina is standing on and shatters into hundreds of pieces. Luckily, the diamond is only a sample. There are exactly one thousand diamonds in a hidden room in the cave. The diamonds are ancient technology that turns solar power into electricity]].

* AfterTheEnd: The first book of the series implies that this is the setting, though exactly what type of disaster occurred remained (intentionally) ambiguous. ''The People of Sparks'' reveals that [[spoiler:most of humanity died as a result of four wars and three plagues, leading to a severe breakdown of human society.]] By the end of the series, [[spoiler:people start rebuilding on the surface and things are looking up]].
* AlienSky: In ''The City of Ember'', the sky is the same empty blackness as everything outside the City. This trope is later inverted when the people of Ember are surprised to discover that [[spoiler:the real sky is blue]].

* AmericaSavesTheDay: Very subtle, but [[FridgeBrilliance think about it]]. Americans built Ember, Americans populated it, and Americans provided the revolutionary [[spoiler: solar-power diamonds]] that pave the way to the future. Perhaps one of the few non-war examples. Also [[{{Irony}} ironic]] in that America helped cause the Disaster.
* ApocalypticLog: In ''The City of Ember'', a journal from one of the first residents of Ember is found [[spoiler:as Lina and Doon find their way out of the city. In the prequel, ''The Prophet of Yonwood'', this log is shown to be the work of an elderly Nickie, the protagonist of the prequel]].
* ApocalypseHow: In the ending of ''The City of Ember'', [[spoiler:it is revealed that the eponymous city is an underground enclave built to weather a series of nuclear wars and deadly plagues. The outside world has regressed to pre-industrial levels, making this apocalypse a societal collapse on a planetary scale.]]

* CityInABottle: ''The City of Ember''; a small town completely surrounded by darkness on all sides. The only light the residents have ever known is the harsh glow of the town's street lights. [[spoiler: Until the citizens find their way out and realize that the world has gone on without them]].
* CitywideEvacuation: The opening of the second book reveals that small CityInABottle Ember underwent one between books when the means of escaping the city became known. Due to the worsening blackouts and the mayor's absence, people panicked and stampeded toward the [[spoiler:river]]. [[spoiler:About 420 people got out but dozens or more were trampled, drowned, got knocked down the stairway in the rush, or chickened out and stayed in the dying city.]]

* CryingWolf: [[spoiler:Invoked; the mayor tried to claim to the city that this is what Doon and Lina were doing when they reported that he and Looper were stealing, stating that they were "spreading vicious rumors." However, they were telling the truth]].

* FirstTimeInTheSun: [[spoiler:At the end of ''The City of Ember'', the main characters find themselves on the surface at night, just in time to see the sun rise.]]
* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: The [[spoiler: solar-powered]] diamond [[spoiler: computers]] and the book which accompanies the first of them are meant to do this.

** The plans set by the Builders themselves could qualify. Going through all the trouble of [[spoiler:keeping the true contents of the box a secret]]. 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.

* KarmicDeath: It's revealed in ''The People of Sparks'' that [[spoiler: the mayor and his accomplices, including Looper, drowned in the river while trying to leave Ember ahead of everyone else]].

** Lina Mayfleet, a talented runner (which comes in handy when she becomes a messenger [[spoiler:and later a fugitive]]). Lampshaded in the film adaptation by a comment from the mayor when Lina visits his office: “May your feet be fleet.”

** The [[spoiler:system to get out of Ember]] still works after all these years.

* SmallSecludedWorld: ''The City of Ember'' [[spoiler:was built underground as a refuge from a nuclear apocalypse]], but the instructions for escape were lost long ago, and now the city's supplies are running out.

* AdaptationExpansion: A plot thread is added chronicling Lina's and Doon's fathers, Raine and Loris, attempting to escape the city together. [[spoiler: This ended in tragedy when the tunnel they were in hit the river and flooded, resulting in Raine's death.]]

** UpToEleven in ''The Prophet of Yonwood'', where the main theme of the book is the dangers of blind obedience. The citizens of Yonwood take the words of Althea Towers as absolute '''gospel''', going so far as to shun anyone who doesn't follow the least of her (rather strict) commandments. They believe that ridding the community of evil will protect them from the oncoming apocalypse, [[spoiler:but it turns out to all be in waste. Althea ''wasn't even trying to give moral commandments to the community'', and the war they were preparing for wouldn't happen for fifty more years.]]

* BrattyHalfPint: Torren is a hotheaded selfish child who shows no sympathy or concern for the refugees from Ember. He even goes so far as to blame an innocent Emberite (Doon) when Torren himself destroys two crates of tomatoes. Why does he hate the Emberites so much? Because a few are staying in his room and in his house, and one of them (Lina) stowed away with his roamer brother, with whom Torren himself wanted to travel. He mellows out a bit by ''The Diamond of Darkhold'', however, especially since Doon saves him from dying in a fire. He even joins Kenny and Lizzie in trying to stage a rescue for Lina and Doon when they go missing.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In-universe, at the end of ''The Diamond of Darkhold'', where Doon has to once again has to put together some letters with Lina that have been broken apart by deciphering the phrases. [[spoiler:It [[{{Pun}} sparks]] off their [[MaybeEverAfter probably-ever-after]].]]

* DecemberDecemberRomance: The DistantFinale reveals that Loris Harrow (Doon's father) and Evaleen Murdo (Lina's and Poppy's ParentalSubstitute) hook up when Lina, Doon, and Poppy are all adults (and the former two are already all-but-stated to be together themselves), meaning Loris and Mrs. Murdo are probably at least in their 50s at this point.

* SingleTargetSexuality: Heavily downplayed since there's very little romance in the series--mostly thanks to the two protagonists being 12 -> 13 years old until the DistantFinale--but it's clear throughout that Doon's and Lina's closest bonds with people their own age are with each other and they never show interest in anyone else (as Lizzie notes near the end of ''Darkhold'', "It was clear [Doon] liked Lina best"), and it's very heavily implied that they get together as adults.

* TheWallAroundTheWorld: There aren't any literal walls in ''The City of Ember'', but there might as well be -- the only light comes from the city, as does all of the food and other necessities, making it impossible to leave. Nobody in the city knows what might exist outside of it, if there's anything there at all. [[spoiler:It turns out that the entire city is actually underground. The original builders included instructions for leaving the city to be used after a certain amount of time had passed, but they were lost and forgotten before they could be used, leaving the citizens trapped in a city with dwindling food and power supplies, and no way of knowing that escape was necessary or possible]].

** When it seems that the citizens of Sparks will not be able to fight the raging fire engulfing their town hall and city, and Tick Hassler and his followers are ready to just let it burn, Lina [[FaceYourFears overcomes her fear of fire]] to do the right thing and help the fire brigade, prompting Doon and then most of the rest of the Emberites to do follow suit, saving the town.

* FalseFlagOperation: In ''The People of Sparks'', several acts of aggression towards the Emberites, which is assumed to have been done by someone from Sparks and further enflames the conflict between the two groups, are revealed at the end to have actually been done by Tick Hassler, an Emberite, who was purposely trying to incite a war because he craves conflict and power, and wanted to achieve both by leading Ember in a fight against Sparks.

** Mrs. Mayfleet, Lina's and Poppy's mom, suffered DeathByChildbirth when the latter was born a couple of years before the start of the first book.

* PassedInTheirSleep: In ''The City of Ember'', this is how Lina and Poppy's granny dies. After she starts succumbing to an unknown illness, she tells Lina to go to sleep, and the next morning, Lina finds her body still in bed.

** In ''City of Ember'', she gets a boyfriend, and it turns out to be Looper, one of the mayor's stooges who's helping him steal and hoard supplies from the rest of the city.

** In ''Diamond of Darkhold'', she finally seems to wise up from pursuing [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys bad boys]] and goes for someone [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan nicer]]. Too bad said "someone" is Doon Harrow himself, [[HopelessSuitor who clearly isn't interested]] in [[SingleTargetSexuality anybody besides Lina]]. To her credit, Lizzie realizes this by the end and decides to go for "Scawgo", the TokenGoodTeammate of the Trogg family.

* BrattyHalfPint: Torren is a hotheaded selfish child who shows no sympathy or concern for the refugees from Ember. He even goes so far as to blame an innocent Emberite (Doon) when Torren himself destroys two crates of tomatoes. Why does he hate the Emberites so much? Because a few are staying in his room and in his house, and one of them (Lina) stowed away with his roamer brother, with whom Torren himself wanted to travel. He mellows out a bit by ''The Diamond of Darkhold'', however, especially since Doon saves him from dying in a fire.

** When it seems that the citizens of Sparks will not be able to fight the raging fire engulfing their town hall and city, and Tick Hassler and his followers are ready to just let it burn, Lina [[FaceYourFears overcomes her fear of fire]] to help, prompting Doon and then most of the rest of the Emberites to do the same.

** Downplayed, but the people of Ember don't really have a leader after arriving to the surface, since the corrupt mayor and his followers died trying to escape the city. Since Lina and Doon (who are twelve-to-thirteen) were the first ones to find the way out and the only reason anyone else was able to leave at all, they're regarded as heroes and leader figures by the rest of the Emberites and act as spokespeople for them after arriving in Sparks. This is later reinforced by the two of them being the first two Emberites to break the CycleOfRevenge and help the Sparks people fight the fire that one of their own leader caused, inspiring most of the rest of the Emberites to break away from Tick's influence to do the same.
** In ''People of Sparks'', Tick Hassler, who's only a few years older, tries to lead the Emberites to rebel against Sparks. He gets a lot of followers for a while, until it comes out that [[FalseFlagOperation he was actually behind a several incidents that got blamed on the people of Sparks]].

** When it seems that the citizens of Sparks will not be able to fight the raging fire engulfing their town hall and city, and Tick Hassler and his followers are ready to just let it burn, Lina [[FaceYourFear overcomes her fear of fire]] to help, prompting Doon and then most of the rest of the Emberites to do the same.

* AnAesop: ''The People of Sparks ''' underlying theme is basically learning to accept people who are different from you.

* BigSisterInstinct: Lina to Poppy, very much. It's stated early on that, since their parents are dead and they only have each other and their granny, Lina absolutely adores her little sister. She becomes incredibly panicked and frantic when Poppy is lost during a blackout, and when Lina and Doon are preparing to leave Ember at the end, Lina insists on bringing Poppy with her, even though having a baby with them could certainly make their journey more difficult and dangerous, because she refuses to take the risk of Poppy being stuck in Ember forever and never escaping if they leave her behind.

* BrattyHalfPint: Torren is a hotheaded selfish child who shows no sympathy or concern for the refugees from Ember. He even goes so far as to blame an innocent Emberite when Torren himself destroys two crates of tomatoes. Why does he hate the Emberites so much? Because a few are staying in his room and in his house. He mellows out a bit by ''The Diamond of Darkhold'', however.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In-universe, at the end of ''The Diamond of Darkhold'', where Doon has to once again has to put together some letters with Lina that have been broken apart by deciphering the phrases. [[spoiler:It sparks off their MaybeEverAfter.]]

* MaybeEverAfter: A single line at the end of ''The Diamond of Darkhold'' hints that Doon and Lina might be falling in love with each other. It's never made explicit how their relationship turns out, but the narrative does mention that [[spoiler:they end up sharing a house, so it's safe to assume that they probably did end up together]].

* MondegreenGag: In ''Sparks'': "Remember the city, the city remember," which is actually, "Remember the city, the city ''of Ember''."

* DisappearedDad: Mr. Mayfleet, Lina's and Poppy's dad, is stated to have died a few years before the start of the story from "the coughing sickness" that occasionally plagues Ember. In the movie, this is changed to both of their parents having died while trying to find a way to escape the city.

** Mrs. Mayfleet, Lina's and Poppy's mom, suffered DeathByChildbirth when the latter was born a couple of years before the start of the first book. In the movie, this is changed to both of her parents having died while trying to find a way to escape Ember.

** Mrs. Mayfleet, Lina's and Poppy's mother, suffered DeathByChildbirth when the latter was born a couple of years before the start of the first book. In the movie, this is changed to both of her parents having died while trying to find a way to escape Ember.