This book has 4.25 stars 
on Goodreads, and I’m honestly just baffled. The Darkest Minds was released at the height of the dystopian phase in YA, so I can understand why it received a lot of hype. It piggybacks off the success of Hunger Games and Divergent, yet it’s strikingly inferior to both.
The plotline is nonexistent, and the pacing is all over the place. We spend two-thirds of the book driving around in a van aimlessly. While we are teased with snippets of action, none of it actually moves the plot along.
When Ruby was ten, a new infectious disease called IAAN spread across all of America, killing most other children. Those who survived, like herself, were left with super powers. However, the United States government decided that these children were too dangerous for the rest of humanity and sent them to live in rehabilitation camps. Six years later, Ruby manages to escape. She joins a group of kids who have escaped their own camp, and now, they’re on the run together.
I give this book 2/5 stars. ⭐⭐ There were just so many plot holes layered upon childish writing that I just couldn’t stand it. There’s marginal character development for Ruby, our protagonist, and the other characters are extremely one-dimensional. Even the bad guys (adults) were as emotionally simple as refined cane sugar. The “plot twist” wasn’t surprising at all–I could see it coming from a mile away. I think the raw storyline of the book had a lot of potential, but I just wasn’t a fan of the execution.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
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First off, how is it even possible that a deadly disease like IAAN can be so selective and only affect children between the ages of 8 to 14? Sure. You can argue that children under 14 have less developed immune systems, but how could those younger than 8 manage to survive? While it doesn’t make sense, I’ll accept it and just move on, but I just needed to point this out. 
From an economic and logical standpoint, the US government is just dumb. (Yes, I am also throwing shade at the government shutdown.) Why would any government lock up the few surviving children? Why would they continue to be dumb AF and prevent the births of further children? There are snippets of radio announcements through the book, broadcasting how the economy and stock market are at an all time low. OBVIOUSLY IF THERE’S NO ONE WORKING. My goodness, I’m just rooting for the downfall of the government at this point.
Also, I’m just not a fan of writing bad guys to be incredibly sadistic for no reason other than to score sympathy points for the victims. It just never works for me.
The Characters
Ruby has no spine. She’s so overwhelmingly afraid of her powers that she refuses to see any good it could potentially bring. I can understand where the fear stems from but it gets to a point where she lets other people suffer on her behalf. Take for example Sam (her friend at camp). Sam takes a beating for Ruby. Literally. Your friend takes a beating for you because you couldn’t stand up for yourself, and now you’re sad because her memory’s gone. 
Liam is so perfect it’s boring. How is it possible that I’ve read 488 pages but did not get any complex understanding of his character? He’s loved by everyone and he seems to always know what to do. It’s unreal.
Chubs is hands down my favorite. He’s the only character with any semblance of common sense and realism.
The “Romance”
Their romance literally went from 0 to 100. Ruby is so hesitant towards opening up to him. Then 50 pages later they’re full on making out. I swear it’s only because they’ve been segregated from the other sex for six years, and their hormones are on a rampage. Plus, YA novels practically demand romance, so theirs is just shoved into this book. 
Another thing–it’s mentioned that Ruby is only at a fourth-grade education level. This makes everything even more disturbing because she’s very obviously not emotionally mature enough.
In Conclusion
If I read this book in 6th grade or when it was first released, I’d probably be a big fan. However, since I’ve read other dystopian novels that are much better, my expectations are higher. This book just simply didn’t meet these expectations. I felt emotionally detached while reading ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Truthfully, the emotion I felt was frustration.
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Read By Tiffany 
I couldn’t get past the first page. I kind of regret buying it now…. I notice that books published 5-6 years ago don’t resonate with me the same way if I read them now.
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I definitely agree! If I reread books I loved in middle school, I wouldn’t like it at all. I think it’s one of those things where our expectations of a good book has risen dramatically.
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Oh no! I’ve had this on my to-read list for a while because I loved Bracken’s Passenger series.
I didn’t read all of this since I didn’t want spoilers, but it’s really sad to hear that it’s not so great. 😕
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It might be personal preference? but these were my thoughts on the book 😦
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The only thing I like about these novels is the way the titles form a sentence 🤣
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I actually never noticed that!
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Wooo I’ll just sit here and throw a party for myself as I loved this book and series haha. But I totally understand where you’re coming from, I think it’s down to personal preference as books published 5-6 years ago all sort of followed a similar pattern and style. But Ruby goes through a total change in book 2 and if I remember we see that Liam isn’t perfect. I think the first book was perhaps the worst one in the series. Book 2 and 3 in my opinion do get better.
However I did enjoy them being in the van haha, but again I could get back into that frame of mind to enjoy the book.
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That’s true. I think if I read it 5-6 years ago, I’d definitely have more positive feelings towards it. Maybe I’ll give the 2nd book a try?
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*coughs* I actually DID read this book ages ago, although I’m not sure if that was in 6th grade. xD So I did love it back then, but I can totally see your point. I’d totally want to throw the romance off a cliff if I tried to read this one again. T_T
– Aimee @ Aimee, Always
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Ahh sorry Aimee 🙈 I definitely think it’s a personal preference type of thing 😛
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I only read the first half of your review, since I did not want to be spoiled about it, but I’m so sorry this book was so disappointing for you
I have heard both great and bad things about The Darkest Minds so far… hm, I don’t think I will get around to reading it anytime soon anyway, it seemed like it had potential, but I need my characters to be GREAT haha 🙂
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I really wanted to like the book because I’ve also heard such good things, but this one just didn’t do it for me 😦 You should still check it out for yourself though! Thanks for stopping by Marie ❤
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That’s too bad you didn’t like it! I haven’t read it, but I don’t think I ever even planned to – anything that ‘piggybacks’ on certain premises of things that came before is often.. disappointing 😀
About the US government though. I mean, currently? Does the situation look smart? xD I’m just saying… LOL 😀
From your overall thoughts though, this sounds like a really bad book 😀 but I definitely enjoyed your review 🙂 perfect use of GIFs! 😀
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Thanks for checking it out Evelina!! I felt bad for not liking this book because I know people did enjoy it, but I personally couldn’t bring myself to be excited while reading 😦
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ahh I felt the same way about this book- I had no idea why it was so popular tbh!! The plot is all over the place and it was so childishly written. Nothing in the world building made sense (or at least hadn’t been explained) I had no idea why they were locking up all the children either- seems so illogical!! And yeah the romance felt so much like instalove. Honestly, this book was such a disappointment to me, so I really agree with you here. Great review!
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Thanks for checking it out!! Thank goodness I’m not the only one who feels this way. I was feeling like such an anomaly bc everyone seemed to be loving it??
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You’re welcome! Ah yes me too!! I definitely was so confused by why it was so popular!
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