The Diamond of Darkhold

The Diamond of Darkhold

First edition cover
Author	Jeanne DuPrau
Language	English
Series	The Book of Ember series
Genre	Young adult, Science fiction, Fantasy novel
Publisher	Random House/Yearling
Publication date	August 25, 2008
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages	285 (hard cover)
ISBN	ISBN 0-375-85571-8 (hardcover first edition)
OCLC	191023753
Preceded by	The Prophet of Yonwood

The Diamond of Darkhold is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel written by Jeanne Duprau that was published in 2008. The novel is the fourth and final "Book of Ember" and was released on August 26, 2008.^[1] The fourth book picks up where The People of Sparks left off, during the Emberites' first winter above ground.^[2] Lina and Doon find a mysterious book that alludes to a mysterious device that was left outside Ember.^[3] An advance copy was given out to attendees of the San Diego Comic-Con 2008 who visited the Random House booth.

Plot

The story begins with the Builders discussing what the Emberites should do when they are released from the city. It is decided that a recent invention (which is later shown to be a diamond-like gadget) will be stored along with a guide providing information. Plans are made to store these things were the Emberites will find them, but they are not found because the vault door is covered by trees, and as such, the technology is left hidden.They will also fight the sparks in order to find out who's right and who's wrong by proving who has the best men in the village or community

9 months after Sparks and Embers have reached the truce, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow are curious when a roamer comes into town with a mysterious book. They trade the roamer a match for the book and discover it only contains eight pages. On the front of the book the words "For the People of Ember" are printed in gold letters. Since they can't make sense of the book, they decide to go back to Ember. When they return, a family of squatters has taken over the darkened city. The Troggs (Washton, Kanza, Minny, Yorick and an adopted boy called Scawgo, who are named after various American cities—Washington D.C., Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York City, and Chicago respectively) believe they own Ember, and rename it Darkhold.

They capture Doon while Lina goes back to Sparks for help. Meanwhile, Lizzie Bisco (from Ember), Torren Crane, and Kenny Parton (both from Sparks) realize that the two are gone, and decide to go and try to find them. They don't succeed and a search party goes to look for them. While Doon is with the family they show him a diamond they found just outside Ember. Doon steals the diamond and escapes from Ember with help from Scawgo. While escaping, he also breaks the pipe connecting the generator to a waterwheel that created power for Ember, therefore shutting down Ember's lights for good. He finds Lina, who is being attacked by a pack of wolves. Doon throws the diamond at the wolves to frighten them away but shatters it in the process. Doon twists his ankle also in the process. Lina treats his wound and takes Doon up to where the book with eight pages and the original diamond were discovered.

They find a switch that uncovers shelves filled with hundreds upon hundreds of diamonds. Lina and Doon figure out that the diamonds are solar-powered sources of electricity. A lot of people decide to help them gather the diamonds and go back to Ember and look for other things to help in the winter. Doon thinks about going back to his old home to recover his book of bugs, but changes his mind, stating he can create a new one filled with the unique bugs in Sparks. Lina, however, looks for her drawings of her dream city that she created at her old home but they aren't there. She then goes to City Hall and stands on top of the mayor's building and says "Goodbye Ember, forever." They bring back thousands of new inventions, which earn the town money and food to last the winter.

Meanwhile, a weary group of roamers, who are actually the Troggs, come into town one day, and the diamond is returned to them. But soon the Troggs learn the truth. There are a 1000 of them and they can power all sorts of electronic devices as well as start fires. They also learned that Doon and many others lived in Ember before them, and that they left and evacuated because Ember was dying. So the Troggs come to live in Sparks as well.

In the end, it is revealed that in the future, cities are rebuilt with the power of the diamonds and Lina, Doon, and Poppy all live together in a house in Sparks. Lina gets a horse named Fleet and becomes a messenger between towns and Doon goes on to study the diamonds. Doon and Lina get married and eventually have children of their own. One of Lina's descendents often liked to look at the pictures of the city Lina drew in Ember; she marveled over how Lina had perfectly captured the spirit of the city that Lina herself didn't live long enough to see.

References

External links

• Jeanne DuPrau's official website