Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. 10-14)Ĭhainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.Įvery four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school.

This will disappoint Ember’s fans, but those who read this offering with no series expectations will find it a provocative read with an appealingly conflicted protagonist. Thinnest of all is the connection to Ember, which is encapsulated entirely in an afterward. Less successful are subplots involving Nickie’s explorations of her great-grandfather’s effects and the weird research of a curmudgeonly astronomer. DuPrau effectively depicts a community in the grip of a millennial fever, the residents eager to appease an angry God in increasingly twisted ways. Nickie wants to comply with the Prophet’s apparent directives, but she struggles to understand how her friendships with Grover, a local boy, and Otis, a lovable mutt, fit (or don’t fit) into the Prophet’s plans. Yonwood, however, is governed by a cabal who interpret for the Prophet, a local woman who has been struck insensible by a fiery vision of doom. teetering on the brink of war and her father off on a secret government job, 11-year-old Nickie’s trip with her aunt to the small town where her great-grandfather lived and died is a welcome break from reality.

The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau