The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken Spoiler Review

I loved this book. First I thought I should discuss the awesome cover. It has a lot of meaning for the book. Not only does it have the Psi symbol, but the colors are very important. Orange for Ruby, of course, since the book is about her coping with these abilities and learning how to use them. And then black or black is the color with I loved the idea of.
     First, let's start with how absolutely traumatizing it would be to have all of the things that happened to Ruby happened to you if you were a ten year old. I would have just cried in a corner for the rest of my life if all of those things happened to me. I mean, everyone in my class got the flu when I was in fourth grade, but no one FREAKING DIED! I also don't understand how all of those PSFs and skip tracers could just treat all of those kids so badly without hesitation. I understand that they were scared of the abilities, but they had gone all of their lives up to that point thinking that kids are cute and adorable, but then they go and mentally and physically abuse children without hesitation.
     Now, we must discuss this whole Children's League. I never fell for the whole scheme. They only wanted the powerful kids so that they could go terrorize the government. If they had really wanted to save the kids, they would have liberated the camps. I do hope that we learn more about Cate's past in the third book. (the whole burning room memory would be interesting to hear about).
     Liam is my #1 book boyfriend forever and always. I loved his personality. I do think he acted sort of calmly to what Clancy did to Ruby. I would have imagined he would would have marched straight up to Clancy's office and killed him before he knew what hit him. I hate that Ruby erased herself from his memory, although I understand why she did; he wouldn't have left otherwise. Liam said that there would be nothing worse than them being apart. I'm sure if they had gone with the Children's League to California, they would have escaped, found Zu and Chubs and everything would have been just peachy.
     Chubs, though, was just the best. He was hilarious and so sarcastic, I could barely handle it. Every time he had some sort of dialogue, I just smiled and everyone thought I was going crazy. I thought the dream he was having about food and talking in his sleep was so funny. Chubs is also very smart, so he must have been reading some books up in that cabin in Pennsylvania. I love how Chubs was the one to safe Ruby from Clancy in the store room because he really does care about her and thinks she is part of the family and wants to keep her safe.
     Suzume was so adorable. I don't think that it makes sense, though that she was eleven. It does say somewhere when they were in East River that Ruby was helping her tie her shoes before Zu went off to Cubbies. I think it would make a whole lot more sense if she were seven or eight years old. I loved her whole relationship with the gang, especially Ruby and Liam. I hope we find out the real reason why Zu doesn't talk because Hina knew she didn't talk before they went into camp and they weren't in the same room. I hated that Zu left with Hina, but if she hadn't, Zu would have been taken by the League with Ruby and Liam.
     Clancy was a FREAKING PSYCHO! Clancy is responsible for the abuse and murder of millions of kids because he used his abilities to convince officials and scientists that the rehabilitation camps worked. He had the Reds brainwashed into his own personal army and most of the Oranges and some Yellows killed because he wanted to have all the power. I do think that Clancy really did love Ruby, but went about the wrong way of trying to get her affection. I also think that Clancy absolutely despises Liam, Chubs, and Zu because they are the people who could take Ruby away from him. Clancy showed how much of a monster he was during the scene when the gang was trying to escape East River. He got all of the kids in East River killed or taken to a camp because he wanted "his Reds" to show up so that he can march them up to New York and kill his dad (which I do think is reasonable goal because he realizes that what his father is doing is wrong). I didn't like Clancy from the moment he showed up and I absolutely hate him.
     I thought Ruby was a great and strong heroine. I did not agree with some of the choice she made, but I understood why she made them. I liked her evolution from being afraid of what she was to being able to control her abilities. I understand why she pretended to be a Green and I can see how it would be easy to pretend around the PSFs, but not around her actual Green peers. I loved Ruby's relationship with the whole gang and I thought she was a great protagonist.
     The plot was different then what I expected from the description which was a pleasant surprise. I love how as soon as we met the main cast, we are thrown right into an epic car chase. I loved the road trip and the Walmart scenes were my favorite. The first few chapters were a little slow and confusing which the switching from sixteen years old to ten years old without any transition.
     If I could pick a color to be, I would choose Blue because telekinesis is awesome and the ultimate super power in my opinion. Comment what color you would choose and why. Let me know that you share my feels and any opinions you have on The Darkest Minds.

"The darkest minds tend to hide behind the most unlikely faces." (pg. 456)