The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds #1)

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


We enter a world where the youth either die at puberty or develop amazing powers. Once you develop powers, the government is coming to get you and put you in a camp. To rehabilitate you. Right? Trust your government. But no! You are now too dangerous, and you must either be locked up, or die. The choice is yours.

Ruby develops her power at the age of 10, and off to the camp she goes. How it happened and what she can do with her power will be unfolded along the way. We also get a prison break, road trip, and buddy comedy. Plus love. Because it wouldn't be young adult dystopian without it. The side characters are decent and you might find you are more attached to them than fearless Ruby, but I'll leave that to you to decide.

So much here that I wanted to love! But in the end, I rated it 3 stars. I liked it, but didn't fall in love with it. I will continue to the next book to see where this is all going.



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Mockingbird

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I loved this little book! What an unexpected surprise.

Mockingbird is told in the voice of Caitlin, a young girl with Aspergers, moving on with life after her brother is killed in a middle school shooting. She is working to understand her father's feelings, being accepted at school, and living life without her older brother. I enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes, and often found myself completely understanding her point of view. Like the book says, we all fall somewhere on the autistic spectrum. I may be a little closer to Caitlin than other people, and that's ok.

If you like getting inside a character's head who might cause you to view the world a little differently, it's definitely worth the read. So good!




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