~o~Goodreads Synopsis~o~

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.

~o~Review~o~

I read this a few months ago and I am still obsessing over it. The Darkest Minds was absolutely amazing! I loved the story, the world building and the character development. This is a difficult book for me to review because it was the writing that caught my attention so much more than the story. Alexandra Bracken is a wonderful and truly gifted writer. I liked how she didn’t give us all the details at once but rather left clues for us to piece together. The plot twists were very well done and enough of a surprise to wow the readers.

I loved reading this book from Ruby’s perspective because I feel like she is a very strong character. At-first she is unsure of herself, she is still coping with accidentally causing the memory loss of her parents and her friend Sam. It takes her quite a while to become comfortable with the others (Liam, Chubs and Zu) but she does.

Liam is now definitely in my top 5 favorite YA male characters list. He is so sweet! I think him and Ruby make a very good team.

And I was a bit wary of Chubs at-first, but he turned out to be completely and utterly AWESOME! He is probably my favorite character. I loved his sense of humor and how he slowly became accustomed to Ruby. He turned out to be a very good friend.

So many things happened in this book but still I thought it was way too short. This isn’t a very thorough review but if you haven’t read it yet, go read it right now!

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~

The ending scene made me so mad! Ruby just had to go and be all noble! It was very unexpected; I was shocked. Thankfully, I was able to start on Never Fade (the sequel to The Darkest Minds) right away.