The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken #Bookreview

Title: The Darkest Minds
Series: The Darkest Minds #1
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Published Date: December 18th, 2012
Genre: Dystopian, YA, Fantasy
Page Count:488
Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
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. 

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 My Review:

"The darkest minds tend to hide behind the mokst unlikely faces. He put on a good leader act.. He would never have jumped in front of another person.. He would never have taken a bullet."

So much hype surrounded this book that until I found out that it was going to be made into a movie I really didn't want to read it. I am so glad I finally read this one and I absolutely loved it! Zu and Ruby reminded me so much of Eleven from Stranger Things and once I made that connection I could not read the book fast enough.

At the age of ten, the children start dying and those that survive have these new abilities that range from helpful to rather dangerous as they don't know how to control them. This causes them to be sent away by there parents where they are said to be kept safe. But that's not the reality of it and instead, the camps they are placed in are like prisons and the children constantly live in fear of the people guarding them.

Ruby and another teenager end up getting taken out of the camp and then she escapes the people that helped her get out. Once escaped she joins up with a new group that consists of Liam, Chubs (Charles) and Zu. Their abilities are all different and how they were treated and how they are dealing with their new life is also different. One thing they do all have in common though is the protection they want to provide for each other even it means hurting themselves due to their abilities.

With the goal of getting in touch with their families and delivering a letter of a friend that has died to his parents. They need to find a way to find addresses and get in touch without getting caught by the authorities. This sounds easy, but with everything being monitored so much and the government and economy have mostly fallen apart America is not a friendly place for anyone especially not those under the age of 20. With their goals, they need to find something called the 'slip kid' who is said to be able to help kids get in contact with their families.

I loved Ruby and Zu friendship so much, and how we really see Zu start to come out of her shell and start realizing that she is worthy of things and that she deserves so much more than what she has gotten up to this point in time. The banter between Liam and Chubs was also really nice and funny most of the time. Ruby, Liam, Chubs and Zu all had a place in this dysfunctional family and they were all fiercely protective of one another even though they occasionally disagreed on things.

Once they start finding what they want, things aren't what they thought they would be and things start going wrong.
I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone.
All I will say is I wasn't expecting that evening, but Ruby is so much stronger than anyone gives her credit for.

"Don't be scared. Don't let them see"