The Prophet of Yonwood (The Books of Ember #3) by Jeanne DuPrau

★★★

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers!! ***

Coming third in the Ember series, this book surprised me by being a prequel rather than a sequel. Admittedly, I was disappointed once I realized that I would not be reading about Lina and Doon.

The Prophet of Yonwood takes place before the apocalyptic event that necessitated the building of Ember. By the end, I was again disappointed to realize that despite being a prequel, this book was only tangentially related to Ember, and the Builders of Ember were only lightly touched upon. In fact, this book takes place a good 50 years before "the Disaster".

As it turns out, this book is basically the story of a young girl named Nickie who tries to figure out the world around her. It just so happens that the world is under threat of annihilation, but for the most part, life goes on as usual even while people fear imminent war. The reason I'm giving this book 3 stars - which may seem a little high - is because I think the philosophical questions about "good" versus "bad" make good food for thought for young readers. The book does discuss God, but not any particular religion. There is something of a warning against those who claim to know exactly what God wants, and a push to encourage readers to think for themselves. On page 185 of my edition, Grover says to Nickie, "You should think about what's the right thing to do. Not just take someone's word for it." For those who fear that the book may be anti-religious, it may help to know that Nickie doesn't come to any final conclusions about God, but she does come to terms with Him by giving an offering to "her" God, who is "the god who loves everyone and who makes everything marvelous." (Page 256)

Strangely, this book had all sorts of random references - to dust mites, snakes, Siamese twins, etc. It was so bizarre, but I was pleasantly surprised when all the random pieces turned out to be relevant in some way. Except for the doings of Hoyt McCoy, and a small bit of a journal left by Nickie's great-grandfather... There are hints of some kind of supernatural, parallel universe stuff going on, and that it somehow played a part in delaying world war, but it's not at all fleshed out, and really only adds confusion.