Title: The Darkest MindsAuthor: Alexandra Bracken
Genre: YA Dystopia
Publisher: Quercus Children's Books
Published: November 17th 2016
Page Number: 528
Rating: 3/5
Summary:
When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something frightening enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that had killed most of America’s children, but she and the others emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they could not control.
Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones. When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. She is on the run, desperate to find the only safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who have escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents. When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at having a life worth living.
REVIEW
With the movie having come out yesterday in the UK I knew I had to read the book first. Back in 2013 I read 50 pages of the book and put it aside, until now. Despite the book being pretty chunky I actually flew through it and I have quite a lot of thoughts. Both positive and negative.
The book actually started out well. We were seeing Ruby working away at the weeds in the garden and then being knocked to the floor from the sound of high pitches and waking up in a ward with a female doctor telling her she's going to be killed. Just the thought of that alone sucked me right into the story, but it went all downhill as soon as Ruby left Thurmond. Ruby ends up running away from those helping her escape and meets 3 other children, who end up becoming her friends and together they all set out to find the Slip Kid who they hope can help them all go home to their families. Their adventure was filled with some intense moments, which really gave a great atmosphere from the writing. It was quick paced and seeing these powers be put into use gave us so much more depth into our characters.
But one thing kept nagging in my mind. My dislike for Ruby. She was naïve and acted on things without thinking anything through, creating destruction along her journey. Not only that but she ended up falling in love with one of the first boy she's seen in 6 years and I couldn't help but eye roll the entire time something romantic was happening between them both. Has The Darkest Minds been told from Chubbs' or Zu's perspective then I probably would have enjoyed the story a lot more as those two were the only characters I even cared about.
So with that, I won't be continuing on with the series. But I will be watching the movie and since the book was mediocre the movie cannot be any worse.
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