Darkest Minds, The-A Darkest Minds Novel, Book 1 (The Darkest Minds, #1)

by Alexandra Bracken

[ladygrey]

2nd Reading********
I decided to reread The Darkest Minds for a couple of reasons. First, to finish the series since the 4th book is finally out. Second, because the movie came out this summer and so it seemed like a good time to refresh my memory.

Color me unimpressed. I think in part because I knew what was going to happen and since I wasn't rushing headlong into the story to find out what happens next I noticed things I didn't the first time around.

The writing wasn't great. It wasn't awful. There were a few attempts at some nice description here and there. But the settings were overly descriptive which bored me. And there were paragraphs of introspection in between lines of dialog which fractured the whole conversation and made me reread pages a couple of times. It's hard to get into a story when you have to keep going back to figure out what the author is saying. Also, it's hard to get into a story when the action doesn't make any sense. Like someone puts on a baseball cap then leans their head against a car window - except the bill would get in the way so how is that supposed to happen. Or it'll say something doesn't do something but then the next paragraph is what they're doing with them. There were at least a dozen places where I had to reread the action because it didn't make sense and finally I'd give up and move on.

The references to Watership Down were too much - like get your own theme. And the constant name dropping of songs and bands felt like it was trying too hard to be cool. To be fair, I’m tired and my patience is shot.

And the references to Watership Down made it feel unoriginal - like get your own theme. And the constant name dropping of songs and bands felt like it was trying to hard to be cool. To be fair, I’m tired and completely out of patience.

I feel like the whole story could have been more concise - which perhaps is about the editor more than the author.

The biggest disappoint, though, is what is becoming more and more of a common problem - I don't particularly like the heroine. I don't dislike Ruby, but I'm severely unimpressed with her. And as is also common, the supporting characters are what make the book interesting. Liam, Chubs, even Clancy is a compelling 'character' that I'd like to see more of in future books.

But as much as I criticize, I didn't despise this book. There were a few scenes I liked - Liam and Ruby in the van that night when he said he wasn't mad - in the forest when he gets her memory - the whole thing about no lies in the space between them.
And I'm curious to see what happens next - if Bracken will pay off Ruby's 'plan' at the end because I'm not sure she's as smart or intentional as she tries to come across in the last few pages. We'll see. Because, of course, impressed or not I'm going to read the rest of the series.

1st Reading********
This is actually a remarkably good book. And I only seem surprised because I didn't think so at first.

In some ways the story doesn't really get going until a hundred pages in or more. All the early stuff is important world and character building but its kind of slow. The interment camp is well portrayed and dark and there's no humanity in it; which is not generally the sort of thing I enjoy. Then it's all confusion and action for a bit. And then it gets interesting.

The primary characters are well developed and interesting. The plotting and pacing is fantastic. Even though it took me days to read I never got bored or was waiting for something to happen. The story turned unexpectedly and changed and gave the characters room to grow.

Ruby, especially, progresses so much through the course of the novel. But almost imperceptibly so you don't even realize until the end how very different she is from the beginning. And Liam. Such a good guy and a good, realistic, flawed hero. And Chubs was awesome too. The ending was just so good and gave meaning to different things in the story which is what a good climax is supposed to do. Oh, the ending! So astute and so perfect and I didn't see it coming. It was kind of awful.

And I really liked the friendships, especially that the romance grew believably out of a good friendship. I liked how real they were - that they fought with each other and protected each other. Good friendships are hard to find in YA.

It's interesting because I didn't think I was loving the characters or the plot until I finished it and recognized that its such a well constructed story. I'm just left impressed with how well told it was and how much I did enjoy the characters without even realizing it.