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

by Alexandra Bracken

[pamela]

The Darkest Minds was a well written YA novel that collapsed under the weight of its own premise. Alexandra Bracken is a good writer, but there was something about The Darkest Minds that simply didn't ring true.

In a not too distant future, children between the ages of 10 and 18 are afflicted by a new disease that either kills them or leaves the survivors with strange powers. Children who begin to exhibit these new abilities are rounded up into 'rehabilitation' camps, and this is where The Darkest Minds really shines. The camp felt grim and claustrophobic. The sense of fear that these kids must have felt was palpable, and the desperation practically clawed itself from the page. Imagine my disappointment when the rest of the book ended up being nothing more than a road trip in which Ruby, our protagonist, gets a crush. There were a few villains thrown in, but I didn't really get any sense of danger from them, and they were mostly discarded, plot-wise, as soon as they graced the page.

The biggest issue, however, is that the basic premise of the plot is so unutterably flawed! There is no explanation given to the affliction that somehow leaves children with psychic abilities. How on earth does that work? We are also meant to blindly accept that the adults of The Darkest Minds were willing to kill and separate all their future generations? In a world that already has issues with an aging population, this is such a poorly thought out plot device that it just left me stunned. Within two generations the entire human race, or at least the USA would be completely wiped out. Either humanity dies, or the USA stops being a superpower within two decades. This is hardly a viable strategy to future-proof against children with powers. Not to mention the fact that there is so much good that could have been done in the world by these children. There are children who can control technology, essentially alleviating the need for fossil fuels, and children who can mind control, the kind of power a military would be desperate to get their hands on. But, for some reason, this book tries to convince us that killing or imprisoning these children is the only viable solution? Sorry, The Darkest Minds, I'm just not buying what you're selling. It was hard to really get invested in the story if the basic premise was so unbelievable.

The characters were very hit and miss. The secondary characters were the ones with the most life and personality. Chubs and Zu were absolutely delightful and were far and away my favourites to read about. Ruby herself felt like a sketch, without any real life, or depth. She spent a lot of time simply whinging about being a monster and showed very little personal development or growth as she discovered more about her own powers. Some of her decisions were even downright ethically questionable, especially for someone who is more than aware of what it feels like to have choice and agency stolen from them. Liam, Ruby's love interest was so poorly developed that I actually nearly forgot his name while sitting down to write this review. He serves no purpose other than to act as an ersatz father figure and someone who Ruby can crush on. There was absolutely no chemistry between them, and their romance felt forced and contrived. Ruby had much more connection with the book's ultimate antagonist (who will not be named due to spoilers), and I found myself more invested in their potential damaging relationship than how Ruby ever felt about Liam.

Pacing in The Darkest Minds is practically non-existent. It's brilliant for about the first 20%, but the second Ruby escapes from Thurmond it becomes slow and plodding. Alexandra Bracken even makes the cardinal mistake of having one of the most potentially exciting action sequences happen off the page. Instead of experiencing the excitement, we get to sit and do nothing with our protagonist as the other characters experience it elsewhere. By the time the book slowly comes to an end, the reader is left confused by the introduction of so many antagonists over the course of the plot, none of which have been developed to really feel like any real threat, that it simply feels like the entire novel was a meandering road trip, ultimately leading nowhere. Also, I'm pretty sure Ruby actually gets raped just before the end of the book, and no one really does anything or talks about it, and Ruby certainly doesn't have any of the expected emotional response to it. She sort of brushes it off within a few pages.

The Darkest Minds just needed more. It needed more world-building, more plot development, and more characterisation. It simply didn't deliver on its potential, which was such a waste for me. Alexandra Bracken, based on this novel, is a really good writer. Her style of prose and the way she writes is wonderful, but the overall execution just ended up feeling lacking.