What do you think?
Rate this book
Angels of Ember #1
"Lightning Strikes"
"I was sixteen years old when the world came to an end.
Instead of a breathtaking display of explosions and clouds shaped like grey mushrooms, it came in the form of a virus, something vulgar and vile, something one human being should never do to another. The virus was deadly. It leached into the skin, invisible and probing, and it took people down very quickly. They’d start with a sniffle and end with a gasp, and then pretty soon there’d be one less of us left on the planet."
Ember Pain is fearful of leaving the sanctity of her home after a horrific virus has wiped the world nearly clean of people. She has her mother’s vegetable garden to tend to and her younger sister, Elizabeth, to keep her company and that is enough. But when the bad men, who are responsible for the virus, appear in her yard and steal Elizabeth away, she must do the one thing that scares her most.
Ember’s journey to find her young sister brings her into the desolate town of Purlow, where abandoned buildings sometimes hold gruesome secrets and unseen dangers. Grudgingly accompanied by her best friend’s little brother and the ghost of her mother’s small dog, Ember follows the clues that Elizabeth has left behind, including the hair ribbon on the sidewalk and the trail of charred buildings left in her wake.
There has always been something different about Elizabeth. By the time she turned ten, she’d already been struck by lightning twice. Since the virus, which has changed many of the survivors, it becomes evident to Ember that her sister has been more than just a victim. If Elizabeth has garnered the ability to create the strikes, then she has become more dangerous than anyone imagined. Ember and her young friend race to find her before the bad men learn her true secret.
Instead of a breathtaking display of explosions and clouds shaped like grey mushrooms, it came in the form of a virus, something vulgar and vile, something one human being should never do to another. The virus was deadly. It leached into the skin, invisible and probing, and it took people down very quickly. They’d start with a sniffle and end with a gasp, and then pretty soon there’d be one less of us left on the planet."
Ember Pain is fearful of leaving the sanctity of her home after a horrific virus has wiped the world nearly clean of people. She has her mother’s vegetable garden to tend to and her younger sister, Elizabeth, to keep her company and that is enough. But when the bad men, who are responsible for the virus, appear in her yard and steal Elizabeth away, she must do the one thing that scares her most.
Ember’s journey to find her young sister brings her into the desolate town of Purlow, where abandoned buildings sometimes hold gruesome secrets and unseen dangers. Grudgingly accompanied by her best friend’s little brother and the ghost of her mother’s small dog, Ember follows the clues that Elizabeth has left behind, including the hair ribbon on the sidewalk and the trail of charred buildings left in her wake.
There has always been something different about Elizabeth. By the time she turned ten, she’d already been struck by lightning twice. Since the virus, which has changed many of the survivors, it becomes evident to Ember that her sister has been more than just a victim. If Elizabeth has garnered the ability to create the strikes, then she has become more dangerous than anyone imagined. Ember and her young friend race to find her before the bad men learn her true secret.
295 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 23, 2012
6 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 12, 2014
The dystopian field is packed and something really special is needed to forge to the front. A tough ask. For me this is an 'also ran'.
'Lightning Strikes' is generally sound of wind and limb; there are a few flaws such as: “didn't smashed it”; questions “spurn” questions rather than spawn them; and the common, “rise to a crescendo”; but in general the mechanics are good.
The daily drama and events, as Ember struggles on, are itemized in detail and do seem somewhat repetitive in style and could be edited more closely but what brings the tale down mostly is the whole background world and setting.
A worldwide virus is a common wipe-out plot technique but the detail needs to be solid. (It rarely is in novels like this). No one would believe any government would be so helpless when the speed of disease dispersion isn't virtually instantaneous. In the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are at the cutting edge of tracking and fighting such threats and the 'bad men' of this first book in the Ember series would never have had it so easy. A solid basis IS important for overall suspension of disbelief.
I have only visited ten states in the US but never seemed to be more than an a drive away from a hypermarket, supermarket, store or outlet of some kind. Even a verging-on-seventeen year-old in a hick town would have the sense to stock up on necessities in a shop rather than thinly scavenge among dead bodies in private houses. (She is able to drive a car and ride a motorbike.) Not that Ember actually has the tone of voice of a seventeen year-old, she is years older much of the time.
I have read much, much worse than Joni Mayhan's first third of Ember, but I won't be reading books two and three.
'Lightning Strikes' is generally sound of wind and limb; there are a few flaws such as: “didn't smashed it”; questions “spurn” questions rather than spawn them; and the common, “rise to a crescendo”; but in general the mechanics are good.
The daily drama and events, as Ember struggles on, are itemized in detail and do seem somewhat repetitive in style and could be edited more closely but what brings the tale down mostly is the whole background world and setting.
A worldwide virus is a common wipe-out plot technique but the detail needs to be solid. (It rarely is in novels like this). No one would believe any government would be so helpless when the speed of disease dispersion isn't virtually instantaneous. In the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are at the cutting edge of tracking and fighting such threats and the 'bad men' of this first book in the Ember series would never have had it so easy. A solid basis IS important for overall suspension of disbelief.
I have only visited ten states in the US but never seemed to be more than an a drive away from a hypermarket, supermarket, store or outlet of some kind. Even a verging-on-seventeen year-old in a hick town would have the sense to stock up on necessities in a shop rather than thinly scavenge among dead bodies in private houses. (She is able to drive a car and ride a motorbike.) Not that Ember actually has the tone of voice of a seventeen year-old, she is years older much of the time.
I have read much, much worse than Joni Mayhan's first third of Ember, but I won't be reading books two and three.
October 1, 2012
I really wish that Goodreads had a did-not-finish shelf in addition to read and to-read. I got 80% of the way through this book and gave up. This is too much like the Perils of Pauline and I realized that I would have to move on to the next book to see some resolution (possibly). I think that some editing to tighten up the story is in order. The idea is good, but the execution needs work.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews