The Darkest Minds
written by Alexandra Bracken
If young adult dystopians are your jam, you're going to like this one.
A disease known as IAAN sweeps the globe and kills over 90% of all children. The ones who survive are irrevocably changed; they are the ones the adults fear. They have special abilities, one of five distinct powers that are denoted using color: green, blue, yellow, orange, and red. All surviving children are put into internment camps for "rehabilitation", but Ruby, now sixteen years old and six years into living at camp Thurmond, knows that there's no fixing what they are, no matter how much she wishes they could.
Ruby is an orange which means she can manipulate thoughts and memories of others, and since yellows, oranges, and reds are the most dangerous ones, she keeps it hidden and masquerades as a green. But, it doesn't last. When threatened with exposure and extermination, she has no choice but to escape Thurmond, barley making it out alive, and that's where she meets Liam (a blue, 17), Chubs (a second blue, 17), and Suzume (a yellow, 11). They all think she's a green, the least dangerous, and she is determined to keep up the ruse because she knows that in the case of oranges, the adults are right, they are monsters. Her lack of control over her abilities and a traumatic past keep her from getting close to others and revealing her secret, but when Liam starts falling for her, Ruby's caught between wanting to protect him and wanting to be with him, which are two very different things.
For a story like this one there is a certain way it must be read. Rule no. 1 don't question the premise. I broke this rule when reading and still break it today because I just don't buy this disease because what kind of illness gives you super powers if you survive? Surviving a disease with a 90% mortality rate is enough of a super power in my opinion. Also, giving five different powers at random? My scientific side is more than dubious, but my superhero loving side is here for it. Rule no. 2 the very best part of this book is the moments between the four runaways, Ruby, Liam, Chubs, and Suzume (Zu). Their interactions, growth, relationships, and quite moments of compassion give this book life and love that will make you want to stay with them in their vehicle traveling across the country. Rule no. 3 you will get heartbroken. I like to stay far away from spoilers and spoiler-adjacents, but I need people to know going in that the happiness found in this book will come and go and to enjoy those moments for what they are *cough the sock scene. My emotions were so busted up by the end that I don't want to read the second book (yup, it's a YA series to boot!).
All in all, I enjoyed reading this book, but if like I referenced earlier, if you don't enjoy YA, dystopians, powers, or tasteful sadness this book is most likely not for you. Though if you have already read it and loved it, join the bandwagon and take the below quiz to find out what your power would be. I'm an orange, but what else would a girl named Amber be?
