Darkest Minds
Genre: Sci-Fi
Published: December 2012
Book description (from Good Reads): 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.
Thoughts:
The story is very easy to read and fast to get into but there is really not too much development, it is mainly a character-driven story.
I like the characters, Liam, Chubs, and Zu are very close friends and when they meet Ruby the experiences of running away does incline them to a very close friendship yet they all have their ultimate goals that diverge them from one another.
Chubs is very understandable wary of anyone who is not part of their group and his dislike for Ruby when she first meets up with them is very realistic and just lovely how he ends up warming up to her.
Bad points, the romance did not make much sense to me but oh well. It seemes a little forced that everyone they met was interested in the same girl, even if more of them were around. The "romance" or the fighting over the girl's attention was one of m least favorite parts of the plot.
The development of powers is interesting and the variations that are only present in oranges peculiar. The other colors were not overly explored maybe because Ruby is the main character and only her power seems to be explored here mainly due to the fear she has of it.
The reaction Zu and Ruby have, that aversion to themselves due to what they can do is very well done, they need to learn to accept themselves and only then can they begin to learn to control and harness their abilities without harming themselves or others. That part I really like.
Rereading this book, I find that I did enjoy it but not as much as I had the first time reading it, could be either because I had been more into fantasy than dystopian lately or because I simply did not connect with the characters as much as the first time, which is the main focus of the book.
Comments
Post a Comment