I have never thought that I would love a dystopian, young adult, fantasy book more. Darkest Minds series is so amazing but with a few hiccups. So, let’s see what all the fuzz is about.
I literally just completed reading the book…
The book is about kids with strange abilities. Yes, it sounds like X-men but trust me it is so much better than X-men. So, a strange virus spreads across America and it only affects kids from the age of eight to fourteen. All the kids in that age group were affected. The disease slowly started with couple of kids and it has spread like wild-fire. The story is not about the kids who got the disease but it is about who didn’t. The kids who were immune to the virus were able to do things that our minds can’t quite understand. They had abilities like, mind controlling, ability to move objects and so on and so forth. It freaked the hell out of adults and the rest of the America. Government thought it would be wise to set up camps and rehabilitation centres for these kids and so it built Psi camps. The parents were made to believe that their kids were going to be better by admitting them but only the Psi officials knew that nothing they did could change the fate of the admitted kids.
The story really starts when Ruby breaks out of the camp and starts to explore the options she has. The following chapters are kind of boring for many reasons but you need those chapters for the chapters following them, which are interesting to the bone. I suggest you stay with the book and complete it. It was a great read for me and if you have the patience to read a slow-paced sci-fi young adult fiction, go for it!

Discussion: Mild spoilers ahead!

The first few chapters are kind of difficult to get by. After the first five or six chapters, you get the whole idea of what exactly is going on in the book. It was very difficult for me to understand what was really going on in the early chapters of the book but after I understood what is happening the pages just flew by. This was a great read and a fantastic dystopian book. Many people compare this book with X-men and Hunger Games, however I haven’t found any similarities between this book and X-men or Hunger Games. Though the initial premise might sound like X-men, the story is entirely different and awesome in whole new level. I would recommend this book to any Young Adult Dystopian lover. Even if you are not into Dystopian fiction, you should definitely check this one out!
I really liked the way the first book had ended. It has opened up a myriad of possibilities for the second book in the series.
The plot of the book is intriguing and there was also suspense and thriller aspect to the story that will make you hooked until the very last page. I have to tell you that the book was awfully long for the story. It could have been shorter and little less descriptive about the dreams and the past. I also noticed that the same feelings and dreams were explained in detail at various times in the same book. Sometimes it was annoying but most of the times it was bearable. By this I don’t mean the writing is horrible. I really liked the author’s writing. It is just that sometimes, things got little repeated. It slowed down the pace of the book drastically.
I expected a lot to happen in the pages of the book, but the story didn’t go any further than it should. I mean this in a good way, because there was lot of action, and the whole experience with the book was fantastic, however, I thought there would be little more story happening in the first book. That is okay, because this will leave the readers excited for the second book.
I know that first book in most of the series try to set the characters, plots and feelings. That is what this book has exactly done. Setting the stage for the things to come in the future.
The story was so beautifully written and there is no doubt about it. I could see what the characters are doing very clearly. The style of the writing was very cinematic and I can’t explain more about the writing because I don’t know how to. All I can say is that it was fantastic and I really, really liked it. I can feel everything the character is feeling and see everything the character is seeing. For me, the style of the writing is a big plus point in the story. Everything was written with perfection.
I liked all the characters in the book and none of them were frustrating to the point where I had to put down the book. That is a good thing, because without the characters there is nothing that I can grab the reader’s attention. I can’t tell enough good things about all the main characters.
The thing I liked about the plot of the first book is how Ruby ended up at the same point she thought she started a new life. In her perspective after a month or so of wandering on the roads led back to the same moment she dreaded. However, the Ruby who was scared and selfish is gone and a new one has emerged instead of the old one. This character development was amazing and I really liked how ruby’s character had turned out.
The first few chapters and for the most of the book I might say, Ruby was scared and not brave. However, the end decision she made requires courage and bravery beyond bounds. To lose everything she started to care for is painful and she didn’t take the cowards path and totally accepted her fate and sacrificed herself.
Now, this character development was really interesting and I thank the author for ending the story the way she did. It was comforting yet unsettling to learn what happens at the end. I can’t go forward and reveal all the details for the sake of those who didn’t read the book.
Chubs was a fun addition to the story. He is kind of the person controlling the group from doing something that will get them caught. He was resisting the idea of Ruby joining them in the beginning but later got on board with that idea. There were many instances where Chubs and Ruby were alone and just seeing how similar they were gave me hope that one day they will best friends.
The one thing I missed so badly is little romance between Liam and Ruby. Both of them like each other and it was not shown properly. Only in the later stages of the book, by that I mean the last fifty pages, we were able to see how much Liam likes Ruby and even though we knew that before we never saw them together after they went to the other camp. It was disappointing but the ending made up for whatever I thought could be better in the story.