A review by dragoneyes451
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
5.0
2020 Reread: F*CK. The ending HURTS. I had a few different perspectives this time around, but overall I thought it was still just as good 4.5 years later.
Original Review:
Confession: I've had The Darkest Minds on my shelves since early 2014 when I first heard about the series. Then, I went to an author event the week of BEA 2015, and Alex was one of the authors there. Listening to her describe her inspiration for the series made me immediately buy the other two books of the series, and I promptly fangirled over her as she signed them. I hadn't even read any of her stuff, and I was already fangirling.
You see, Alex is only a year older than I am. So, as she began talking about her inspiration, I related so wholeheartedly that I knew I'd love these books. Her inspiration came about from September 11th, and the aftermath that changed the world. She talked about how, being a freshman in high school, she was just old enough to truly grasp what was going on around her (having been in 8th grade, I have to say the same thing about myself. Any younger and I may not have totally got it). She watched as one singular event changed not just our country and the way we function, but the world as a whole. She admired how our country came together to show our patriotism, and it was when she learned about the Homeland Security Advisory System, or as it's now called, the National Terrorism Advisory System. The HSAS (for short), was a system that ranked what our current terrorism risk was, using colors, and it triggered specific actions for governments at various levels and public services (airlines, etc) to follow. This system is where she got the idea of the various colors for the psionic powers. I just related to her so much with experiencing those world changes, that I knew I'd love her work.
So, a bit of a warning I guess, I already knew I was going to love this book before I picked it up.
The Darkest Minds is true sci-fi dystopian. It's a combination of apocalyptic world and aftermath, with "powers" that are suddenly developed by pubescent children. Bracken doesn't shy away from showing how quickly our world can tumble into chaos, and she's brutal with her story when it's required. My favorite part about this first book is that it doesn't follow the typical dystopian trilogy timeline - usually, the first book is set in one location, with the second book being what happens after the "breakout". Instead, Bracken does both of these things in The Darkest Minds. We spend a good amount of time in the camps, showing what is happening to the children who've developed these patterns, but then we leave the camps and are shown the outside world where the "free" children are trying to stay alive.
I loved the idea of the colors and various psi powers. It was a little confusing at first to figure out what each color was capable of, but I googled it and found some great little graphics that helped me out. After that, it made it much easier to remember what everyone was capable of. Bracken also throws in little hints to help you remember some of the characters, if you're looking, like Zu's yellow gloves.
The characters, oh how I loved them. Bracken does a great job of developing the characters, keeping them mysterious at first, and then as Ruby gets to know them, revealing more about them. I loved Ruby's ragtag group of friends, Liam, Chubs and Zu. I thought the love interest was built well, and was OH SO HAPPY it wasn't an instalove kind of thing. I despise Clancy. He is the one of the grimiest, scum-between-my-toes characters I've read about in quite a while, and he truly made my skin crawl.
Apparently, Bracken does this thing where she loves to hit you right in the gut about 10-20 pages before the end of her books. That's exactly what happened in The Darkest Minds. We're just chugging along, and you think you're in the quote-unquote "conclusion" of the book, and BAM! She shocks the hell out of you. I was devastated by that ending, it killed me. I seriously considered throwing my book in anguish (and then reminded myself that it's a signed hardcopy and gently put the book back down).
It's been several weeks since I finished The Darkest Minds, but the book is still with me. I'm not ready to pick up Never Fade yet, I think I still need to stew on the story and the real-world applications of this book first. All this to say, if you're looking for a fresh dystopian with good characters, surprising plot twists, and startlingly scary applications to current events, this is the book for you.
This review was originally posted on Books Are My Thing
Original Review:
Confession: I've had The Darkest Minds on my shelves since early 2014 when I first heard about the series. Then, I went to an author event the week of BEA 2015, and Alex was one of the authors there. Listening to her describe her inspiration for the series made me immediately buy the other two books of the series, and I promptly fangirled over her as she signed them. I hadn't even read any of her stuff, and I was already fangirling.
You see, Alex is only a year older than I am. So, as she began talking about her inspiration, I related so wholeheartedly that I knew I'd love these books. Her inspiration came about from September 11th, and the aftermath that changed the world. She talked about how, being a freshman in high school, she was just old enough to truly grasp what was going on around her (having been in 8th grade, I have to say the same thing about myself. Any younger and I may not have totally got it). She watched as one singular event changed not just our country and the way we function, but the world as a whole. She admired how our country came together to show our patriotism, and it was when she learned about the Homeland Security Advisory System, or as it's now called, the National Terrorism Advisory System. The HSAS (for short), was a system that ranked what our current terrorism risk was, using colors, and it triggered specific actions for governments at various levels and public services (airlines, etc) to follow. This system is where she got the idea of the various colors for the psionic powers. I just related to her so much with experiencing those world changes, that I knew I'd love her work.
So, a bit of a warning I guess, I already knew I was going to love this book before I picked it up.
The Darkest Minds is true sci-fi dystopian. It's a combination of apocalyptic world and aftermath, with "powers" that are suddenly developed by pubescent children. Bracken doesn't shy away from showing how quickly our world can tumble into chaos, and she's brutal with her story when it's required. My favorite part about this first book is that it doesn't follow the typical dystopian trilogy timeline - usually, the first book is set in one location, with the second book being what happens after the "breakout". Instead, Bracken does both of these things in The Darkest Minds. We spend a good amount of time in the camps, showing what is happening to the children who've developed these patterns, but then we leave the camps and are shown the outside world where the "free" children are trying to stay alive.
I loved the idea of the colors and various psi powers. It was a little confusing at first to figure out what each color was capable of, but I googled it and found some great little graphics that helped me out. After that, it made it much easier to remember what everyone was capable of. Bracken also throws in little hints to help you remember some of the characters, if you're looking, like Zu's yellow gloves.
The characters, oh how I loved them. Bracken does a great job of developing the characters, keeping them mysterious at first, and then as Ruby gets to know them, revealing more about them. I loved Ruby's ragtag group of friends, Liam, Chubs and Zu. I thought the love interest was built well, and was OH SO HAPPY it wasn't an instalove kind of thing. I despise Clancy. He is the one of the grimiest, scum-between-my-toes characters I've read about in quite a while, and he truly made my skin crawl.
Apparently, Bracken does this thing where she loves to hit you right in the gut about 10-20 pages before the end of her books. That's exactly what happened in The Darkest Minds. We're just chugging along, and you think you're in the quote-unquote "conclusion" of the book, and BAM! She shocks the hell out of you. I was devastated by that ending, it killed me. I seriously considered throwing my book in anguish (and then reminded myself that it's a signed hardcopy and gently put the book back down).
It's been several weeks since I finished The Darkest Minds, but the book is still with me. I'm not ready to pick up Never Fade yet, I think I still need to stew on the story and the real-world applications of this book first. All this to say, if you're looking for a fresh dystopian with good characters, surprising plot twists, and startlingly scary applications to current events, this is the book for you.
This review was originally posted on Books Are My Thing