Jeremy
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This is the sequel to the more widely-known children's science fiction novel The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau. Although it may not be as popular, original and interesting as its predecessor, it is nonetheless a far greater novel than The City of Ember because it deals with a very profound issue, humans' penchant for aggression and war. The City of Ember tells the story of a group of people who have survived in an underground city after a great disaster had wiped out almost the entire human species from the face of the earth. In The People of Sparks, the Emberites emerged from their underground dwellings, helpless and hungry, and encountered another group of survivors living above the ground who kindly offered the Emberites shelter and food, but unfortunately their resources and generosities are limited. Soon the darker side of human nature began to assert itself, the animosity the two peoples felt toward each other grew, and eventually a confrontation broke out that threatened to cause heavy casualties on both sides, all of this playing against the backdrop of constant reminders of a devastating world war long ago. This novel has great relevance to the world we live in today, especially as it portrays a charasmatic leader who uses deception to incite popular hatred against an enemy in order to consolidate his own leadership status. The author undoubtedly wrote this book with the intention of teaching his young readers a moral lesson, but to do so the author needed to paint an accurate protrait of the human failings that she decried, and I think she succeeded admirably.
