This was a very entertaining story with an interesting premise! This review does have allusive spoilers, so don't read it unless 1) you don't care about spoiling the surprise or 2) you already know. :)

This is the first post apocalyptic-style story I've read that isn't just gritty and hopeless. The people of ember lead normal lives in their strange, broken-down city, and I thought the way everything was approached was very well done! Only the bare minimum of the circumstances are explained, which was kind of annoying to me, and the backstory of the city isn't even touched on until the end of the book. Lina and Doon were alright as characters, but the city itself and it's reason for existing we're far more interesting to me.

One problem I had with the story is that none of the problems are resolved at the end. All that happens is that basically the city is reaching its inevitable collapse, and Lina and Doon escape. That's it. I would have loved to see more about the kids' reactions to the outside world, and even see how the rest of the city reacted to the true situation of Ember, but there's really not much of that.

I don't know if there is a sequel (or prequel) or anything like that, but I'd really love to learn more about the world these characters live in more than I really care about the characters themselves!