Author: Alexandra Bracken
Release Date: December 18th, 2012
Rating: 3/5
Alright everybody,
Time to get down to business. There is now a massive pile of reviews I must plow through. The next one I have for you is The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. I'll start off by saying this: I have no idea. Honestly, this book took me a couple of weeks to get through. And considering my track record of reading books, that's a lifetime. I just could not get sucked into this book. All around the internet all I've heard are great things about it, but I just didn't see them.
Warning: There are spoilers down below. Scroll to the last paragraph to hear my final (non-spoiler) thoughts.
First of all, we start out with quite an interesting back story. The protagonist, Ruby, lives in a society where all the children around her age develop powers that the older generation think are too dangerous. They get locked up in these camps to either live out the rest of their days or die depending on what level of power they have. Ruby is one of the highest levels but tricks the employees of the camp into thinking she isn't so that she can live. That's the interesting part of the story.
Next, Ruby gets chosen by a group called the Children's League and is shimmied out of the camp to join their forces. Only Ruby decides to spit in the faces of the League and runs away and finds a group of kids in a minivan. Zu, Chubs, and Liam. They have all been in camps similar, but not as severe as the one Ruby was in, but they organized a breakout led by the fearless and brave Liam. You can guess which one Ruby falls for.
Eventually they make it to a society of teens just like them. Escaped the system, strengthening powers, hidden away, desire to survive. They call it East River. Which turns out to be led by none other than the renowned and "cured" son of the president, Clancy, who also has powers. Of course a little romance appears between Ruby and Clancy. That is, until Clancy betrays Ruby and all of the other teenagers.
On the run once again, an injury occurs and in a moment of complete stupidity, Ruby calls the League to come pick them up. They give her an ultimatum; Work for us, or the boyfriend dies. Which do you think she chooses? However, the only way for Liam to truly be free is if she erases herself from his memory. And that, my children, is how this story ends.
Overall, this book honestly wasn't that bad. The back story was very well-planned and I did enjoy the powers and problems Ruby faced over the course of the novel. I guess I was just a little disappointed. I was expecting a great book because of all the fantastic reviews I found, only to find and eh that was alright kind of book. I guess my expectations were just too high. However, if you like books like Flecks of Gold by Alicia Buck, but not quite as exciting, then this book is for you. I would recommend giving it a try. Your opinion on it might be totally different from mine. I do not regret reading this book at all, I regret looking at the reviews on it first. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.
Until next time, Keep Reading!
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