When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.
Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.
When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who 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 a life worth living.
***
The Darkest Minds sets in a world where children who have evolved strange abilities is cast away and under constant and harsh control. This actually sounds like Shatter Me meets Article 5, with all the strange abilities and the whole imprisonment thing. It's a fairly good background for the story, if not a little typical.
But the development of the story is kind of rocky. I have no idea what I have read in the first few chapters. I'm just so utterly confused and I don't like this kind of feeling. It starts getting better when Ruby is finally on the run. But I can barely make through the first part of Ruby in the Children's League because that bores me to tears. It gradually gets much better and more interesting when a new character shows up and brings along a series of twists. I'm glad that at least I'm not bored enough to not being able to enjoy those parts.
I have a huge problem with Ruby's character. She's a good-hearted girl. I get that part. But apart from that, I can't see any of her special personalities shining through. It's like she's a shadow, not really attaching to anything special. Liam is slightly better but he's too flat and too good to be a character in a dystopian novel. The character part of the story is... I hate to say it, but it's kinda a fail.
The best part of the story is probably the sort-of cliffhanger ending. Not enough to make me bite my nails out and twitch my toes like some sort of lunatic, but enough to make me want the next book. I'm pretty curious to read about the "dangerous mission" that has Ruby running across the country.
Rating: 6.5/10
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