Review: The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken.

Title – The Darkest Minds
Series – The Darkest Minds #1
Author – Alexandra Bracken
How I Got It – From the publishers
Pages – 576 pages
Publication Date – April 23rd 2018 by HarperCollins
ISBN – 9781460755594
My Rating – ★★★/5

On Ruby’s tenth birthday, she woke up changed. Something happened that made her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to a brutal government “rehabilitation camp” called Thurmond. Ruby may have survived this mysterious disease that killed most of America’s children but the survivors have abilities they can’t control.

Ruby is now sixteen and one of the dangerous ones. When the truth about Ruby’s abilities comes out, she barely gets out of Thurmond alive. While on the run, she joins some other kids – Zu, Chubs and Liam – as they travel to find the last safe haven for kids with abilities. They’ll need to outrun the people tracking them. But before Ruby has a chance to live a life she’s only dreamed of, she’ll be faced with a horrible choice.

I received a copy of The Darkest Minds from HarperCollins New Zealand to review. This is the third book I’ve read by Alexandra Bracken. 

I’ve seen The Darkest Minds trilogy a lot online and I’ve been meaning to read it for a while. And I really wanted to pick it up before the movie comes out.

I want to say that this book started out kind of slow for me. I did end up liking the story but it took me a while to get into. I’m hoping the next two books will have more action or hook me faster.

I thought the story was really interesting and I’m hoping that there will be an explanation about the abilities – like why most kids don’t live past their tenth birthday and where they even came from. I also have some questions about Chubbs but won’t put them here because spoilers. I have so many questions.

I really liked Ruby, Zu and Liam. Chubbs took a while for me to like but I did by the end of the book. He was kind of annoying in the beginning. I could not stand Clancy.

I thought it was obvious what was happening between Ruby and Clancy right from the start and the longer it dragged on with out Ruby figuring it out the more she frustrated me. I was so glad when it eventually came out.

What Ruby did at the end of the book was kind of unfair but I can see why she did it. I’m looking forward to reading the next book, Never Fade, soon. I really want to know what’s next for Ruby.

*Thank you HarperCollins New Zealand for sending me a copy to review*

– Aimee.

September Wrap Up & October TBR.

Okay, so my reading has slowed down again. I only read eight books in August. I think that’s the worst reading month I’ve had all year.

Winter by Marissa Meyer – ★★★★/5
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken – ★★★/5
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas – ★★★★/5
The Last Star by Rick Yancey – ★★★★/5
Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas – ★★★★/5
Breathing Under Water by Sophie Hardcastle – ★★★★/5
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer – ★★★★/5
United as One by Pittacus Lore – ★★★★/5

Even though I didn’t read much in August I still read some pretty good books. Two of them were re-reads though.

This month I’ve already read one book and I’m a little into the second, neither of them are on my TBR though.. I’ve read Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina and I’m currently reading Swarm by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti.

What’s on your October TBR?

Aimee.

WWW Wednesday [September 14th 2016] –

This meme is hosted by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. All you have to do is answer the following three questions in a post and then put a link to that post in the Comments over at Taking on a World of Words.

The questions are:
1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading –   
Yesterday I started The Last Star, the final book in The 5th Wave trilogy. I’m a little over 100 pages in at the moment and I’m enjoying it but I think I can see how this book may end. Well, maybe not the book but how the story will end for one character. The one character I actually like, which is just typical.

Anyway, I was sent a copy of The Last Star from Penguin Random House NZ to review. It’s taken me so long to get to it because I hadn’t read the first two books in the trilogy when I received a copy. But it made me finally get to them.

I have been reading really slow lately so I don’t think I’ll be finishing this today.

Recently Finished –  
I’ve finally re-read Crown of Midnight! I’ve wanted to re-read the first three books since Queen of Shadows came out last year and I never got around to them. Now, with Empire of Storms out I thought it was about time I caught up with this series.

I don’t think I’ll be reviewing this because it’s the second time I’ve read it. I remembered most of the big things that happened but I’m glad I decided to re-read it. I can’t remember much about Heir of Fire so it’ll be like reading it the first time. Again. I am so happy to be back in this world though. And I’m still waiting for my copy of Empire of Storms to arrive! Ugh.

The Darkest Minds was really slow for me and I’m not sure if it’s because of this mood I’m in or because the book is just a slow read. I’ve heard from people on Twitter that her books are slow. I think I had the same problem with Passenger when I read it earlier this year. I liked both books, The Darkest Minds more than Passenger, but they were just slow reads.

I’ll be reviewing this soon-ish. I’m not really in the mood to blog. Like I have no motivation at all to do blog posts but I make myself post something. I hope this weird mood I’m in will go away soon. I’m hoping to read Never Fade soon too.

Reading Next – 
I’ll be moving on to Heir of Fire next. I think having a break from review books might help my mood. Which is why I’ve been reading the Throne of Glass books in between my review books. Any advice with reading slumps or blog slumps or whatever this is would be great!

I read Heir of Fire when it was first released but I read it so fast that I didn’t take much in. I think that’s why I need to re-read it. Hopefully by the time I pick up Queen of Shadows I’ll have my copy of Empire of Storms.

What have you been reading lately?

– Aimee.

WWW Wednesday [September 7th 2016] –

This meme is hosted by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. All you have to do is answer the following three questions in a post and then put a link to that post in the Comments over at Taking on a World of Words.

The questions are:
1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading –  
I started a poll on Twitter last week for people to decide my next read because I’m sick of my TBR jar at the moment. I did use it to pick the two books in the poll. Anyway, The Darkest Minds was the winner so I started reading that.

I’m a little past halfway right now. It’s going really slow for me and I’m not sure why because I’m liking it. Maybe that slump is still here..

The Darkest Minds is about children with abilities that adults are either trying to control or are scared of. I’m not really sure yet but I think it could be a bit of both. I’m hoping to finish this in the next couple of days.

Recently Finished – 
I have finally finished Winter. Obviously. It took me so long to read and I don’t know if it was this weird slump or because it was an 800+ page book.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this even though I felt liked it was a little long. I mean, obviously Cinder and the others couldn’t just bring Levana down in a few pages and they would have to come up against some obstacles but at the same time 800 pages in sooo long. I still loved the book though and am looking forward to reading Stars Above soon.

I still need to get a copy of Cinder to complete my collection but there’s no real rush.

Reading Next – 
I am finally continuing my re-read of the Throne of Glass series. My next read will be Crown of Midnight.

I’m so happy that I have the US hardbacks now and won’t ruin the covers of the UK editions anymore. Now I just have to unhaul my other editions because I could seriously use the shelf space.

I’m excited t get back into this world. I have read Heir of Fire before too but can’t really remember what happened and when I eventually get to Queen of Shadows it will be the first time I’ve read it.

What have you been reading lately?

– Aimee.

August Wrap Up & September TBR.

I was meant to post this yesterday but I decided to watch Captain America: Civil War and Jason Bourne instead. I haven’t had a movie day in months and I was so excited to see these two. Anyway, onto my wrap up and TBR.

I managed to read 12 books in August which was a little better than July. I’m just going to get into my rating like usual.

Ruined by Amy Tintera – ★★★★
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne & John Tiffany –  ★★★★★
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo –  ★★★
The Crown by Kiera Cass – ★★★★
And I Darken by Kiersten White – ★★★★
On the Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher – ★★★
The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight – ★★★★
The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan – ★★★★
The Regulars by Georgia Clark – ★★★
Shield by Rachael Craw – ★★★★
The Memory Book by Lara Avery – ★★★★
The Raven Trilogy: The First Journey by Melka Stansah – ★★★

I don’t have a lot of books on my September TBR but I am hoping to get Heir of Fire (re-read), Queen of Shadows and Empire of Storms on it.

I made a small TBR for September because when I make big ones I don’t stick to them or I end up in a reading slump. So I’m keeping my expectations low.

I have finally finished Winter though and have started The Darkest Minds. Winter wasn’t in the TBR because I started it in August and I was almost finished it by the time I took the photo.

Crown of Midnight is a re-read. I started re-reading the Throne of Glass series a few months ago, well I read the first book, and am finally getting around to reading the rest. I’ve pre-ordered Empire of Storms so I won’t be getting it on the release day. But that give me a little longer to read the other three books.

What’s on your TBR for September?

Aimee.

WWW Wednesday [August 31st 2016] –

This meme is hosted by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. All you have to do is answer the following three questions in a post and then put a link to that post in the Comments over at Taking on a World of Words.

The questions are:
1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading –   
I’ve finally picked up Winter and I’m a little past halfway now. I had to re-read the first three books in the series before I got to Winter and I think I read Cress a few months ago. But other books have gotten in the way. 

For those that don’t know, Winter is the last book in The Lunar Chronicles. After that there’s Stars Above which is just a bind up of novellas but I am looking forward to reading that. Whenever I get around to it.

I cannot wait to see what Cinder and the others have in store for Levana. I didn’t want them to kill her because I thought that would be too easy an end for what she’s done but there are some things that have happened that have me thinking she’ll die. Putting one of Garan’s devices on her spine would be the best punishment for her in my opinion. 

Recently Finished –
The author of The Raven Trilogy: The First Journey, Melka Stansah, sent me a copy of her book in June I think and I’ve finally gotten around to reading it.

This book is about 130 pages (I think) and I read it in one sitting. I think this is Melka’s debut novel but I’m not 100% sure.

I don’t really want to go into this too much because I’ll be doing a full review of this soon and I’m still not sure how I felt about it. There were things that I liked but some things that put me off at the same time. But I’ll get into those when I write my review. 

Aww The Memory Book… I read this as part of the Read-Them-All-Thon for the ‘book that might make me cry’ and I was right. This was definitely a very sad read but I still really liked it.

This follows Sam after she was diagnosed with Neimann-Pick which will slowly take her memories and then her health. Sam decides to write a daily diary letting herself know what happened to her that day so she has a way to remember things.

I really enjoyed The Memory Book and even though it did make me cry I’d recommend it. I’m not sure who to though.

Reading Next –
Right now it’s a toss up between The Last Star  by Rick Yancey and The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. Anyone want to help me pick?

What are you reading right now?

– Aimee.

 

#ReadThemAllThon TBR

I’m going to be taking part in my first read-a-thon. I’m not a Pokemon fan so I won’t be doing the second part of it but I thought this sounded like an awesome way to get some books off my TBR shelf.

If you want to know more about this you can got to Aentee’s page (from Read at Midnight) and sign up here. All images are hers and I am just borrowing them because they are amazing.

Okay, onto the books.

 I got The Darkest Minds trilogy by Alexandra Bracken last month and have never read it do I’m going to read The Darkest Minds for this. I’ve only read Passenger by her so I hope I like this trilogy more than that.

I’m only guessing that this book might make me cry because it takes a lot for a book to have me in tears (thanks Me Before You). I’m picking The Memory Book by Lara Avery for this because it sounds really emotional.

Well I was going to read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for this but I just couldn’t wait six days to read it. So I’ll be reading The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye. I’ve been hearing really good things about this for months and I can’t wait to read it.

This is the one I have not found a book for yet. There are no books on my TBR shelf that fit this and the books that do I’ve already read this year. I don’t want to read them again so soon. Hopefully I’ll find one soon but any suggestions will be very helpful!

I don’t really do “epic romance” reads so I’m just going to read Winter by Marissa Meyer for this because I’m assuming some of the couples (if not all) will get a happy ending and I love Cinder and Kai.

I did have another book picked out for this but Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare needs to go back to the library soon so I think I’m going to read that. I’ve had this book for almost two months now and I really need to read it.

I decided to read The Regulars by Georgia Clark for this. I’m also reading it as part of ARC August so it can be part of both that and this read-a-thon.

I’ll be reading The Last Star by Rick Yancy for this one. I’ve loved the first two books in the trilogy so far and can’t wait to see how the story ends.

This read-a-thon will be three weeks, starting on the 14th August and finishing on 4th September. I can’t wait to get into these books!

Let me know if you’re going to take part in this read-a-thon too.

Aimee.

July Wrap Up & August TBR.

I read more than I thought I had in July. Towards the end of the month I had a horrible reading slump but I don’t think I did too badly. I managed to read nine books in July.

Tripping Back Blue by Kara Storti – ★★★/5
See How They Run by Ally Carter – ★★★★/5
Dark Tide by Jennifer Donnelly – ★★★★/5
The Girls by Emma Cline – ★★★/5
Awaken by G.R. Thomas – ★★★★/5
Foxlowe by Eleanor Wasserberg – ★★★/5
The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North – ★★★/5
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff – ★★★★★/5
The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey – ★★★★★/5

This month I haven’t really got my TBR together yet because I’m joining one read-a-thon and probably ARC August (again) so I have to figure those out first. But I do have some book at the top of my TBR that I shared the other day. Not pictured was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child because I didn’t have it at the time.

I’m currently reading And I Darken and I’m really enjoying it so far. I don’t know when I’ll get to the others but I want to read them sometime during August.

What’s at the top of your TBR in August?

Aimee.

July 2016 Book Haul.

I got 12 book in July. I bought one, won one in a giveaway and the rest were sent to me from publishers. So I’m just going to get into this because book hauls always take me so long to do. 

The first two book I got were sent from Hachette New Zealand for me to review. The Memory Book by Lara Avery sounds really good and very emotional. It’s about a teen girl who has been diagnosed with a rare disease (I think) that will eventually take her memories. So she’s creating a memory book so she’ll at least have some things to look back on.

Blind by Cath Weeks is about a women that gives birth to a baby that’s blind and follows her as she learns how to take care of her child. That’s as much as I can remember.

I took this quote from Goodreads “Blind is about how hard we battle for our children and how blind we can be to the secrets of those closest to us. It’s a story that delves into the very heart of our dangerous yearning for perfection.”

This is the only book I bought this month. I’ve wanted to read Legacy of Kings for so long now. When I saw it was in a clearance sale at a store over here I decided to just get it.

I’ve heard really good things about this and it sounds like the kind of book that I love to read. I have no idea when I’ll get around to reading it though.

Legacy of Kings is apparently like Game of Thrones with a twist of actual history woven though the story. I’m not going to go into it thinking it’s like Game of Thrones though because it’ll probably just ruin the book for me.

P.S. I am very sorry for the crap photo. The lighting has been really crap lately and I just couldn’t be bothered trying to figure something else out. 

Quarantine: The Loner was sent to me from Walker Books Australia to review. From what I can remember it follows kids in a high school after an explosion. When they discover that the kids can’t touch adults without killing them, they’re left at the school under quarantine. Now they’re all in little cliques, fighting to survive.

Or something like that anyway. I thought it sounded interesting when I read the synopsis so I’m looking forward to reading it. Hopefully I’ll get to read it soon.

I don’t know if the other books in the series are already out but I did see them on the Walker Books Australia website.

HarperCollins New Zealand were kind enough to send me The Darkest Minds trilogy to review. I’ve read Passenger by Alexandra Bracken and thought it was okay.. I’ve heard good things about these books so I wanted to see if I’d like these.

I plan on reading The Darkest Minds this month as part of a read a thon I’m taking part of. I’ll be sharing my TBR for that soon hopefully, when I figure out one of the books…

I love these covers. The colours are really pretty together. I’ve seen the US editions online but can only remember the first one.

I’m hoping that I’ll like these better than Passenger. It’s not that I didn’t like Passenger but there was just something that was off for me. But I loved the ending. 

Penguin Random House New Zealand were awesome and sent me a copy of And I Darken to review. I haven’t read it yet but really want to soon.

I’ve heard some mixed reviews about it but I am very excited to read it. I love books that have strong female leads and can’t wait to read about Leda.. I think that’s her name.

Anyway, I’m not sure that I have to give a little synopsis of this because I’ve been seeing it on Bookstagram a lot lately, thanks to The YA Chronicles box which I was going to buy but am glad I didn’t because I would have two copies.

A New Zealand author contacted me earlier this month and asked if I would be interested to review his book. I thought it sounded like something I’d like so I said yes. It’s the first time an author has found me through my blog and asked me to review their book.

Again, I haven’t read it yet but I plan to this month. I have another book that was sent to me from an author to read first though.

I’m just going to copy and paste the synopsis from Goodreads. “Spending your life underground isn’t living, it’s surviving.
But with the surface of the earth left ravaged from war, those surviving in the Burrows might be all that’s left, and their lives come at a cost.

As an orphan born in the depths of the Burrows, Foren has spent his life dreaming of this day. Amongst a group of unlikely friends, he’ll step foot on the Surface for the very first time. Together, they’ll pay their dues to the Burrows as they search for what’s needed to keep the human race alive.
They don’t exactly know what they’re looking for, what they do find … will change them forever.”

I took part in the Neverland Book Bingo a couple of months ago which was held by Nicole from Away in Neverland. I won her giveaway and the book I chose arrived this month. I’ve
heard mixed reviews about The Glittering Court but I’ve wanted to read it since I first heard of it.

I’m not sure when I’ll get around to reading this because my review book have priority but I do want to read it sometime this year.

I’ve read all of Richelle’s books and my favourites are the Bloodlines series. I’m slowly collecting those books. I think I have two left to buy now.

I don’t think I need to say what this book is about either because I’ve seen this a lot online too. If you’ve read this let me know what you thought in the comments.

The last to books I got in July were sent to me from Hachette New Zealand. I’ve only managed to get a photo of one of them so far though.

So Justin Ctonin is coming to New Zealand later in the year and I thought it was about time that I read The Passage. I’ve wanted to read this for a long time so I was happy to be able to review it for Hachatte NZ. I did not realise it was 950+ pages though… It might take me awhile to read, especially with the reading funk I’ve been in lately.

The second book I received was To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey. I don’t know why this one captured my attention but it did. I think I’ll just link you to the book here if you want to check it out.

So those are the books I got in July. What books did you get?

– Aimee.