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.
Title: The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds #1)
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Amount of Pages: 488
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Date Read: 21-06-2018
Favorite Quote: "The darkest minds tent to hide behind the most unlikely faces."
Review:
I really wanted to like this book because they synopsis and the first few chapters sounded really interesting. I however didn't like it. I found the timeline confusing sometimes. I'm not sure it it was intentional or not but it would have helped if the authors put a headliner or something in the begining of the chapter, to give the reader an idea at what period in time were talking. For example we started with a (what I'm guessing) present day chapter. Then we head back in time, wich is oke. Then for a few chapters its bounces back and forth between certain times, then out of the blue we continue where the present day (1 chapter) started. It took me a second to realize what was going on.
I also felt like the setting wasn't that clear, as if the authors wasn't sure herself. I thought we were talking about a dystopian kind of land. Everything went to shit anyway. But then the characters were driving through, what seemed, like a normal suburban area ( without children ofcourse) and then stopped at a waffle house (or other kind of restaurant) bought some food (with money I have no clue how they got because they've been stealing food before). So did everything go to shit or not? There is no money so how can there be a waffle house/restaurant. It's one of the things that stood out to me.
Another thing that bugged me is that the parents never, ever questioned what happend to their children. No one followed up or tried to visit that we know of. They send their kids of and called it good. I know some parents are scared of their kids, or hated them, but that can't be that case of all of the parents can it. You never heard about them again.
It could have been just me, but the writing style didn't suit me much.
What is this book about:
This book is about Ruby. She was 10 when she got send to a camp. Children all over the country are dying of a disease and those that don't develop certain kinds of powers. To "protect"those children they are send to camps and the parents where told that they would get help etc. This is the opposite, the children are being worked to near death. Or they are being tortured. And some are being turned into weapons the government can use. Ruby spend 5/6 years in that camp before she got broken out. She realizes quite quickly that the person that "helped" her had an agenda of their own so she ran away from them. There she met a few other kids, Zu, Chubs and Liam. Together they try to survive and to find a person called the slip kid to help them find their parents/family or just a save place. Will the save camp the slip kid set up be all what they are told it will be or will there be more than meets the eye?
What did I like about this book
I liked the idea of this book. I liked the first few chapters and I did like some of the characters. Liam and Chubs were solid characters. You got to know them a little bit but not enough for me to form a connection.
Ruby was all over the place. What bugged me is that she went from a scared wounded kid (wich i got) whom was scared of her own shadow and definitely her own powers to I am to only one that can protect them, they need me. To being back to scared to I need to train, and back to i can do nothing, well you get the idea. I couldn't get a grip on her as a person.
There are a few other things I mentioned not liking above. Certain things didn't fit, it didn't work. The phase and the flow of the story were off.
I was curious to see if the books were getting better without diving in immediately so I looked up some summaries and what it seems is that the next two are quite similar to this one. There doesn't seem to be much change, and more of a continuation of what I've read so far. So after reading those summary's I decided not to read on in the series. I know how it ends now and got the gist of what happens, and that's good enough for me.
I really hoped to like this book but it just wasn't for me. That ofcourse doesn't mean it's not for anyone. There are tons of people that like this book. So I suggest to read it for yourself if you are interested and form your own thoughts on it
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