The Prophet of Yonwood

The Third Book of Ember

By: Jeanne DuPrau

Narrated by: Becky Ann Baker

Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

It's 50 years before the settlement of the city of Ember, and the world is in crisis. War looms on the horizon as 11-year-old Nickie and her aunt travel to the small town of Yonwood, North Carolina. There, one of the town's respected citizens has had a terrible vision of fire and destruction. Her garbled words are taken as prophetic instruction on how to avoid the coming disaster. If only they can be interpreted correctly.

As the people of Yonwood scramble to make sense of the woman's mysterious utterances, Nickie explores the oddities she finds around town - her great-grandfather's peculiar journals and papers, a reclusive neighbor who studies the heavens, a strange boy who is fascinated with snakes - all while keeping an eye out for ways to help the world. Is this vision her chance? Or is it already too late to avoid a devastating war?

In this prequel to the acclaimed The City of Ember and The People of Sparks, Jeanne DuPrau investigates how, in a world that seems out of control, hope and comfort can be found in the strangest of places.

Don't miss Lina and Doon's other adventures in The City of Ember.

©2006 Jeanne DuPrau (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

Perfect

This is an amazing book! It teaches beautiful lessons and taught my daughter to love the world. She has a hard time reading and this is perfect for her! This book has astonishing surprises around every corner and a good lesson.

Good Storytelling

I mean, what can I say, it’s good storytelling. Apparently there’s a word limit, oh well.

Good Prequel to the City of Ember.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I thought the whole package was great. I have read all the books in the series, and decided to listen to the books this time. I really enjoy the stories.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Nicki is my favorite character. She is the main character in the story. She is a curious and thoughtful girl.

What does Becky Ann Baker bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She is very good at coming up with different voices for the various characters. I also like th e background sounds, unlike some people who listened to the story. I think they do add to the experience.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Is Armageddon near?

Any additional comments?

I listened to this story first. It is a prequel to the other City of Ember stories.

yonwood review

What did you love best about The Prophet of Yonwood?

it was interesting to see the aurthors idea of what brought on the necessity to build an underground world. interesting how she tied in the people in the later books.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I did find the book a little anticlimatic, after listening to the other books in the series.

Have you listened to any of Becky Ann Baker’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

If she read the other stories in this series yes.

A small story and a Prequel

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

In this series I like book 1 best, book 2 second, then this book third. I have not yet read book 4. I preferred book 2 for the simple reason that it was closer to the story that so captivated me in the first book. Book 4 will go back not only to Lina and Doon but to Ember itself. So I am glad to have read this if for no other reason than to be ready to finish out the story.
I liked the book well enough. Though, I was misunderstanding the scope of this work. I have in my head at the beginning of a book an idea of what the story will encompass. I was wrong here. The scope is smaller than I envisioned. Less happens overall and what happens is less relevant overall to the whole. Some people have complained that the connection was too tenuous to the series and only became clear towards the very end, or that it wasn't strong enough to warrant inclusion. I can understand those complaints, and even having read those complaints I still expected a more concrete connection to Lina and Doon and Ember. However, I was satisfied with the connection when it did come, and was actually proud of myself for figuring out ahead of being told exactly what the connection was.
Reviews I read basically said a limited number of things. Most negative reviews were just annoyed it didn't continue the adventures of Lina and Doon. I am not sure why nobody seems to have known this beforehand? Of course we get back to them in book 4 so I don't think that's such a big deal. Some people object to prequels coming in the middle of a series and others (with whom I DO agree) complain there was a more interesting prequel that could have been written but that didn't make me hate this book. I sort of wonder why DuPrau did portray religious fervor so negatively - she had to know that makes people mad especially in a kids book, and I didn't get the vibe that she was really a religion hater.
As often occurs in kids books the adults tend to be useless - which enables kids to drive the action. Particularly the adults of Nickie's family seem to be failing. I felt rather sorry for her. A little girl who needed more attention, in a confusing time and place.
All in all I am satisfied with the book despite some flaws.

A great prequel, this is a great series. I love it

The performance with accents made it very enjoyable. The author does a great job making the books tie together.

awesome prequel, tells more to the story

loved it. one of the best books I've read. give it 5 stars. best book

Its not as good as the other three books

I found the book hard to get into at first. I listened to the other three books before this one and was somewhat disappointed it strayed away from the original characters. The one thing that was interesting was at the end it kind of connected this book to the other three.
#tagsgiving
#sweepstakes

Not as good as the others

I thought "The City of Sparks" and "The People of Ember" were excellent (five stars), but this book was a big disappointment. It is just typical young adult fiction without the complexity and depth of its two predecessors. I recommend moving onto a different series instead, such as His Dark Materials.

I read bad reviews.

I give you that it wasn't identical to the city of ember. <3 it a good way to talk about what happened prior