Monday, 25 January 2016

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken Review

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken


 “But inside or out, I was alone, and I was beginning to wonder if I always had been, if I always would be.” 

Ruby wakes up on her 10th birthday and something has changed within her, something so big that her parents don’t recognise who she is and enough to get her thrown out and into a camp for kids just like her. After living as a Green for 6 years – she’s been saved after being identified as an Orange one of the only kind left. However after finding some of the intentions of those who broke her out – the Children’s League – Ruby decides it’s better to leave and finds herself with a trio of misfit kids trying to find a safe haven.

The first half of the book was the best half - Although it was slow paced it was full of a lot of action and events. The plot was very typical of a dystopian novel with the MC being special and hiding who she is however the other aspects of the book made it worthwhile to read. I loved the plot and how it felt dystopian adventure road trip style book as it showed their journey and built up towards them finding the safe haven. The information surrounding the context and history of the characters were scattered throughout the novel so it wasn’t just an overload of information. The characters were individually really unique and their different personalities when together were good and added to their close bond. The relationships between Ruby and the other characters were all different which was nice so the reader knew more about the minor characters.

I haven’t read a dystopian novel like this in ages as they were all the hype 3 years ago and whilst reading this I wondered why I had stopped and then came the second half and I remembered just why. The book changed settings towards the safe haven and the plot was so stereotypical with her growing close with the main leader and it all ending badly. Ruby losing touch with the other characters and having a fall out with them, dealing with her powers and knowing she’s extra special and betrayal occurring. The entire set up was repetitive of other books and it just didn’t suit the first half. Also the second half was way too fast compared to the other half; the emphasis on the panic button thingy throughout the novel made it so obvious what was going to occur and the world building needed to be built up better as it was confusing sometimes how America had changed outside of what happened to the kids.

I knew that Ruby would do something for Liam but I didn’t expect what she did to him.


★★★☆☆

No comments:

Post a Comment