"The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken (P1)

Loved it~ 

The Darkest Minds

By Alexandra Bracken

The Darkest Minds Series, Book 1

# Pgs: 528

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Overview:



When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government "rehabilitation camp." She might have survived the mysterious disease that's killed most of America's children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she's on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her-East River. She joins a group of kids who 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 a life worth living.

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Review:

It just so happened today as I was looking through my archive of blog posts that I created a book review for book two of The Darkest Minds series (Under 2013: October- "Oh My God"), but skipped a review for book one. So I thought that since I'm already a pretty backwards person, then there's no reason for me to not write a backwards blog. Honesty is my best policy, so I'm going to be honest.

I bought this book a year or so ago for my nook, not quite knowing what it was about. It was one of those things where I needed something to read, and it was there so I read it. And then I read it again. And then again. It's a year later, and I'm still rereading it now and again. As an avid bookworm, I'm not supposed to pick favorites. But I do, and The Darkest Minds is one of them. I'm in love with this series.

Now that you know that I already own the book for my nook, you should know that I had to buy the book an actual time as an actual book rather than a nook book. I'm so in love with this book that I thought if my nook ever crashed (it's come close), then I'll be prepared with one of my favorites. Plus, I figured it would be a lot easier to convince my mother and brother to read the book if I shoved it in their face.

The cover is interesting, simple, and to the point. Looking at it, you might not understand exactly what that symbol's about. You have to read the book for that. But the rest of it is fairly explanatory.

The setting takes place in the typical, nearly apocalyptic time period that I've been so into reading lately. Now, generally speaking, there are so many different ways that an author can write about a dystopian society. Fahrenheit 451, The Hunger Games, and Divergent are perfect examples of this. And while you might not think it at first, The Darkest Minds fits right into that category. Sure, in this there are telekinetic and other sorts of abstract mind powers, but each of these books has a scientific explanation to it. It's all about government and power, and each of these author's wrote their books with a well-developed history.

Alexandra Bracken fed me exactly what I wanted from reading this book. If I wanted action, she gave it to me. If I wanted to know more about how the world within the pages came to be, she told me. If I wanted the romance between Ruby and Liam to actually be a romance and not a typical "love at first sight" type of book, she knew exactly what I meant. Everything that I wanted from a dystopian book was here.

Bracken wrote this book cleanly, and it flowed smoothly. She drew me within the pages almost instantly, and as it seems to happen with authors of her caliber I couldn't put this book down. Her character, Ruby, struggled. The character wasn't just given everything, nothing was made easy. She had to fight for what she had, or to fight for what she didn't have, and sometimes she failed. The brilliant thing about that? Most authors forget it, but to err is human. Even though this book includes crazy mind-powers as the product of a deadly disease, it made everything believable. Too often I read a book where the main character is just handed everything and plays at being a hero. This book was the real deal.

This book, and even her second book, was written perfectly. It literally just makes me flabbergasted how anyone could be so creative about this. I'm slightly jealous.

There's greater beauty in the way Bracken developed her characters, each of them with their own kinds of personality. Ruby isn't a whiny, over-dramatic, 'pity me' kind of brat. She's careful, a little naive, but tough. To protect herself from others, and to protect others from herself, she keeps how powerful she really could be a secret from the rest of the world, and she doesn't dare to try to developed those powers herself.

And Liam is a knight in shining armor. The leader of a small rag-tag team of throw together, upon discovering a hideaway, he embraces the opportunity to protect a perfect stranger. He trusts others easily, is kind and sweet, and unconditionally loving. He's so open to the world, even with a huge number over his head, that we as the reader can't help but love him ourselves. Ruby's reluctant, but Liam is the kind of boy you can't refuse. Chubs is the exact opposite of Liam, and Zu's just adorable.

Having read this book numerous times, I feel like I know these characters as if they were sitting here next to me as I typed this.

Of course Liam and Ruby slowly, but surely, fall for each other. It's not as obvious at the beginning, which is what makes it beautiful as their love starts out simply as friendship and grows. Unlike Twilight, and some of the other books out there, this book doesn't revolve singularly around two characters and their undying love for each other. Sure, there's love there, and it influences their decisions, but it is not the soul that holds this book together.

 This author knew exactly how to write this book to make me smile, laugh, bite my lip, and cry. It was wonderfully written, and doesn't have the typical happy ending. It had a believable ending. I didn't know what I was going to read when I read this book, but once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down. And once I had no choice but to put the book down, I immediately looked up the next book. As it wasn't out at the time, I went into a slump. Then I reread The Darkest Minds and everything was alright for a while. Now that I've read the second book, I can honestly say that Bracken keeps surprising me with her talent. She knows how to write plot twists and use them to her advantage. I don't know how I can wait for the third book in the series. In fact, I don't think I can wait. I'm going to go insane with impatience, which if you know me is a tough thing to do.

This book wasn't pathetic, as I was expecting. It was an adventure-romance joyride. I keep thinking that I'm going to crash, but with every twist and turn within the pages I find I'm holding on tighter and tighter to its words. I am in love with this book, and maybe I didn't do a good job of convincing you to read this, but you should. You should read this book. Definitely read this book, because if you don't you won't know what you're missing. The pacing is perfect, the dialogue is perfect, the characters are perfect, the history behind it all is perfect, the plot line is perfect, the complications are perfect, and the plot twists are perfect... I can't think of one thing about this book that I don't like-

Well, maybe one thing...

You'll have to read the book to find out what it is.

If I had to rate this book... I can't. It's just too beautiful to give a number to. This is one of the best books that I've ever read. I'm honestly in love with this. This is something I'm going to hand onto for years without regret, and it's one of the books that months, years later, I haven't forgotten. It could be different for you, but you have to read it to find out for yourself.

You'll probably love it too.

Thanks for reading.