BOOK REVIEW: THE DARKEST MINDS by ALEXANDRA BRACKEN

OVERALL RATING: 7 /10

            STORY: 6/10

            CHARACTERS: 8/10

            THE FEELS: 8/ 10

            ENTERTAINMENT: 5/ 10

PLOT: 6/ 10

SYNOPSIS: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

After reading the last page of this book, all I said was, THE DARKEST MINDS by ALEXANDRA BRACKEN IS OVERRATED. I don't get it. I cannot fathom why a lot of people love this book, I mean its not bad but the hype theyre puttting to this one was too much that it will definitely piss a kind of reader like me. 

The BAD Side

• The story started interestingly dark and gripping but then like a roller coaster ride that continues to drop and deliver the cart  to the ground,  this story will do the same.  The story is so slow that the main characters journey or shall we say almost 200 pages of the book were spent telling what they were doing inside a van at the middle of nowhere. 
• Predictable. VERY predictable.
• The middle of the book was really off that you could possibly drop it and stop reading .
• The author obviously tried to focus a little bit on the romance thingy between the characters which destroyed the novel whole appeal for me. I dont know why she did that, but I guess part of marketing the novel maybe?
• All the good stuffs were at the end for only about 100 pages I think, while the book actually composes  488 pages. Which means, 488 pages minus 100 pages is equals to 389 pages --wasted telling about Betty, the map, White noise and dragging journey to paradise. 
• A lot of questions were left hanging. Like why shes really mute? Is it really because of the camp or what? There were a lot of vague ideas about the whole concept of the story.
• I have read a lot of novels which has similar plot to this. Kids with powers like X-men and etc. Just like Black Out by Dan Wells and this one fell into mainstream and seriously, the plot has a potential to widen its scope and well give a chance for the author to apply some originality but then well, like I said she focused more on the love thingy which sucks for me.
• Don't forget about the songs she mentioned all throughout the novel, like I think she maybe mentioned almost thousand songs at the end I thought she was paid by the producers to promote them.                                                             

The GOOD Side

• The characters where molded better than what I expected. I love Suzume or Zu. Her image with oversize boots, hood and yellow gloves stuck inside my head until now.
• The ending was the only reason why I don't hate the book worse than how I hate it now, I could scream and scold those who overrated it. Maybe because it satisfied me or it just delivered the things I have been waiting or expecting after reading 300 pages and more of shits and boredom. But hey the ending was not that unique and good to hyped the novel this much that it even reached a rating average of 4.33 in Goodreads, take note of Ms. Marie Lu's piece in her epic Legend trilogy; especially to how she ended the second book Prodigy. The ending of Prodigy is much similar to the ending of this one. Well if youve read the trilogy then you could probably say which I would really do, that, the ending of the Darkest Minds was nothing compared to the ending of Prodigy. 

Overall the book is a good read but not that mind blowing, epic or whatsoever compliment. This is definitely an overrated book and I hate it because my expectation was not met. I just expected too much sorry.