Let’s Carpe the Hell out of this Diem: My Thoughts on The Darkest Minds

Synopsis: 

A brutal disease kills most of the children in the United States. The remaining children gain extraordinary abilities and are thrown into concentration camps. Ruby is one of these children. She is one of the dangerous ones. After six years in a concentration camp, Ruby barely escapes with her life. She joins up with a group of kids from a different concentration camp and soon falls for their leader, Liam. The harder she falls for him, the more she resists. She cannot risk becoming close to him. Not after what happened to her parents.

Review:

Maybe I read the wrong book. Maybe my standards are too high because I’ve read too many dystopian young novels. I don’t know, but I didn’t drink the kool aid on this one.

I typically don’t have a problem suspending belief (I’m the girl with the Marvel backpack and the Star Wars computer case) but even I had trouble swallowing this one. Extremely unrealistic—even within the realm of fiction—with a rather miserable main character. I kept asking the question, “WHERE ARE THE PARENTS??” Seriously, where are they? No where to be found.

I didn’t sympathize with any of the main characters. Wait. Modified statement: I kind of liked Zu, but she didn’t really talk or do much.

I didn’t understand the love angle. After confinement in a concentration camp without contact with the opposite sex, I think it would take more than a week or two to hop into a relationship with someone. Maybe that’s just me.

Also, the plot line was extremely predictable once Bracken settled into a rather monotonous pattern. So long my lover, so long my friends. The sad thing is I really wanted to like this book, but it was so boring.

Oh! And there’s a random rape scene…or at least I think it was a rape scene?! And no one really says or does anything about it. Disturbing to say the least. 

I’m most likely not going to finish the series. Too many other young adult dystopian, science fiction, and fantasy novels (better ones) to read. 

Overall, I give it 2/5 stars. 

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.