In the Afterlight (The Darkest Minds, #3)

by Alexandra Bracken

This was a beautiful ending to The Darkest Minds trilogy. I know that there is a fourth book, but I do not consider it part of the original trilogy since it is set five years into the future, handling another problem.

The beginning of the book is slow, too slow. I was so invested with all the characters, yet I couldn't bring myself to care throughout half of the book. Nothing happened. They were just running around in their HQ, having average problems, and didn't communicate enough to solve them. However, after finishing 50% of the book, it got so much better. Finally, there were real problems. I thought it was really interesting to see how the dynamics in the group changed and that there became two camps, only because Cole just elected himself and Ruby as leaders without any discussion or explanation. It was realistic. The problems in Ruby's and Liam's romance also felt appropriate, they were holding things from each other and their romance would suffer from it. It should suffer from Ruby taking his memories. It should suffer because they did not communicate enough about the important things going on around them. Often in YA, romance is portrayed as a fairytale, as if can solve and overcome everything. Here, it suffered and we never saw it become as it was before. They tried, yet things are standing between them and it needs time. Alexandra Bracken portrayed this very well in her story and I liked how she didn't automatically go back to the 'everything is okay' stadium. People were grieving, grieving Jude, grieving Cate, grieving alone. People made mistakes and they were addressed. We, as readers, had time to mourn the characters as well. They weren't just gone, they were loved.

I have some remarks about the ending. I could totally believe that Clancy was manipulation Ruby again. I do believe that Ruby was too convinced about the capabilities of her own power, that she underestimated Clancy's power. He had been training it for multiple years, while she just started training her power when she met him. I appreciated that this story wasn't about a girl who was better in everything even without the proper training. Clancy trained longer, so he was stronger, which is realistic.
However, there are a few things I have some problems with. First of all, I understand how Ruby got into Thurmond, but the whole rescue mission wasn't portrayed at all. No explanation, no casualties, how did they handle the Reds? Wouldn't their presence at the camps give more problems as anticipated before? I have questions. I wished that it was explained to us afterward.
The other thing bugging me is that society suddenly solved itself. There wasn't enough electricity, the economy collapsed, and suddenly everyone had houses again and enough gas to drive around and go anywhere, just because two camps have been abandoned? I highly doubt it goes this fast, only three days had passed!