The Darkest Minds

Rating:

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.

I feel like for the longest time now, The Darkest Minds trilogy has been sitting on my shelf. All brand new, shiny, and unread. Well, I am glad to be here today to be able to say that I have read the trilogy and loved it. (Shoutout to Xan and Anneqah for giving me that push to read the trilogy. Also for being my shoulders to cry on.) I loved this trilogy so much and I would write reviews for each book but haha, I am way too lazy for that so I am just going to write on review for the whole entire trilogy. Definitely pick up the first book though because once you read the first book you can't not continue.

One of my favorite things about this series is the different characters Ruby encounters and the friends she makes, this first book especially. I love the characters of this series and not only because they are all such fabulous people, but because that there are a few diverse ones. Race doesn't play a large role in the series but I love the fact that Bracken didn't overlook the fact that the world is not filled with white people, which is how the world was portrayed in most books published around (and before) the time The Darkest Minds.

Some of the characters also go through such extensive and significant character growth, the main character especially. I'm not gonna gloss over the fact we don't see all the characters from book one in book three but the characters that do stay alive (stay aliiiiiive) until the end have all changed, which isn't surprising considering all the shit they go through. In some ways, they've experience trauma but they've also grown from it which I love. Each character brings something different to the story and although they aren't entirely relatable, I found myself caring about each character, even the ones that I was a little *ugh* about in the beginning.

Another aspect of this trilogy that I really enjoyed was the dystopian world. The scary thing about this dystopian world is that it seems like something that could happen in the next 5-10 years but I loved the aspects of this world that makes it Alexandra's. The concept of a sickness infecting kids, killing them off or giving them powers was really interesting. What the government does to these kids is super shitty and I hope the world will never have to come to something as intense as what happens in The Darkest Minds but I think the world that Bracken has created is different enough from what the world looks like now but also is something that I could easily imagine happening within the next decade. She came up with a really cool concept for a dystopian world and I really enjoyed reading from it.

The thing that kept me so into the books of this trilogy was the plot and flow of each book. I have to admit, these books weren't the kind of books that had tons of action in every other chapter but I liked how Bracken didn't have to rely on action to keep readers into her books. Just the situation of secrets and new information being revealed kept me so into the story. Also, the characters really kept this story because they are just, so fabulous. So. Fabulous.

ALSO, one tiny thing before I shut up, the romance in this trilogy is soooo cuuuute. I'm not gonna say between who (hahahaha we all know who it's between) but I'm just gonna say it's so cute and I absolutely loved reading about it because Bracken did a really great job portraying realistic and flawed relationships. The cute couples in this trilogy were probably the reason why it took me so damn long to get over The Darkest Minds. The emotional hangover was rEAL.

Yeah so, as you can tell, I really freaking love this trilogy. There isn't a book that I was particularly *ugh* about, which is good! You know a trilogy is that good if you don't have an order in which you prefer the books. If you're looking for a great dystopian trilogy, I would definitely recommend The Darkest Minds. Read it, please. Just do it.