The People of Sparks

This was better than anticipated, I think this is a great middle-grade series. The characters are good enough to warrant a connection and the plot is engaging. What more do you need? I also love the message about having to be the better person sometimes. Hate breeds hate even if it's warranted. This novel classifies it too simply, but I don't fault that because of the target audience. What I mean is that sometimes violence is justified and even though the people of Ember were being tricked in much the same way that the people of Sparks were being fooled if you think about it at what point is enough, enough? If you are being starved, shunned, and sent to what would most likely be your death what would you do? What about oppression when you don't have good-hearted people just being confused but instead delighting in human suffering and their belief in their supremacy? Not such easy questions to answer.

Tick reminds me of Snowball from "Animal Farm" to a lesser extent. People with charisma and bad intentions are some of the scariest.