The Diamond of Darkhold

The Diamond of Darkhold (The Ember Series, #4) by Jeanne DuPrau


My rating: 3 of 5 stars




The Diamond of Darkhold is the fourth book in the Ember Series. The book wraps up the series quite nicely, and ties it all up with a pretty bow.

It is slated for kids in grades 4th and up. I would not have a problem with my 5th grader reading it. It has great plot development(for kids) and opens up opportunities for excellent dialogue. There is one scene where a family butchers a sheep for food, but in all fairness the sheep was already dead (and people need to eat...).

Doon and Lina set off on an expedition back to Ember to solve the mystery of the mysterious book "For Ember" that they buy from roamer. They discover that their city has been taken over by a group of people, scavenging for food and other things. It surprises the kids at how much this really bothers them.

They are trying to find "something to help the people of Ember and Sparks" because finding food after the "end of the world" is quite difficult. What they find is a fantastic find and enables them to trade with other colonies for supplies. The "founders" were quite clever making this avaliable to The People of Ember, but my question is why did they think it would be a good idea to send them on a wild goose hunt? Couldn't they have come up with a better system so that the "knowledge" of the outside world wasn't lost?

The subject matter is handled tastefully and is not portrayed in a scary way at all.

I liked this book alright. My children really liked it. It's not as good as the City of Ember, but it works for kids and finishes up the series nicely.