When I first saw the preview for The City of Ember I was intrigued.  During High School I worked in a mall and while working there I actually thought about what it would be like if the mall corredors were the only “outside” people actually knew.  Yes, I have an odd imagination, but someone took a similar idea and is now rather wealthy because of it – so there.

Anyway, this movie intrigued me because I saw that it deal with the idea of how easy it might be to alter or erase a culture’s memory – given the right circumstances.  Given that I pastor a Church, and small churches are notorious for simultaniously forgetting and hanging on to their past, this is an idea I’m interested in.

Then, however, I saw the “based on the book by” line in a TV-spot, which meant that the movie could wait – there were books to read.  The first two books of The City of Ember series were interesting.  Ember was a reasonably thought-out realm, and the way that the cultural memory of the Emberites was “erased” was nicely thought-out (I mean, how on Earth could people forget even the idea of the Sun?).  Both of the first two books dealt with the joys of contemplation, forgiveness, hope, and people “just being people” (which Christians would call “sin”).  They are literature for 3 – 6 graders so they are by no means great literature, but they were engaging enough to capture my interest.

The third book, however, took a different path.  I guess it was to beexpected because The Prophet of Yonwood is a prequel (thank you so much George Lucas, for making this story-telling device popular again….grrrr).  It takes place before the troubles that sent the Emberites down to their hidden city – in an era of increased paranoia and fear.  These are never things which bring out the best in people.

The Prophet of Yonwood has many obvious parallels with the current political climate of the day – harsh political rhetoric, hightened fear of the “other,” and a lavish application of religious rhetoric prostituted out for personal gain.  In fact, these parallels create the world in which Yonwood takes place.  At it’s core, the third book of Ember is an appeal to people to reject the fear and hatred of the “other,” which is a nobel desire.  Unfortunately, Yonwood accomplishes this by creating a new “other” to be rejected – and is so doing undermines it’s own goal.

Who is this new “other?”  It’s overly religious people.  Religious people in Yonwood, are universally depicted as certain, afraid, and ethically lacking.  They are willing to mandate their religious convictions on others, do away with civil protections in the name of the “greater good,” and be manipulated by a person who wants power in a belief that they will be “safe” if they do.  Religion is the  power of enemy, unbounded wonder at creation is the side of the hero.

Now, you might expect me to go off on a rant about “anti-christian literature” at this point.  I’m not, because in the world of Yonwood regligous people are fearful lemmings being manipulated to create a situation in which world will come to an end – and the only people who see differently are people who find joy in examining the world and discovering it’s secrets.  That, however, is the problem – and that’s where Yonwood undermines it’s own goal.  Whereas in the first two books of the series there were likeable people on both the side of fear and discovery – Yonwood has a severe lack of these types of characters.  As I read I found no one who was both likeable and depicted as overtly religious.  The likeable characters are all ambivilant or decidely against religion – and this creates a resonance which screams, “Religious people are them.”  I found that sad, because the point of the book is that the world is too wonderful to destroy just because we don’t like them – and it gets blurred by the bad charicatures present in the book.

Here’s the thing, as a Christian who embraces the Apostolic Tradition, I agree with Yonwood that the type of religion imposed on the unwitting characters is dangerous and destructive.  I will also lend my voice to those who condemn the points in history where the Christian Faith has been applied to peoples and regions in the ways depicted in Yonwood (and there have been too many of these).  Yet, in reading Yonwood I didn’t get the impression that someone like me had a place in the world-view of the author – I’m a “them,” but I really don’t need to be.