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|after = [[Never Fade]]
 
|after = [[Never Fade]]
 
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'''''The Darkest Minds''''' is the first novel in the '''Darkest Minds Series''' by [[Alexandra Bracken]].
 
'''''The Darkest Minds''''' is the first novel in the '''Darkest Minds Series''' by [[Alexandra Bracken]].
   
 
==Synopsis==
 
==Synopsis==
  +
'''''<u>“They were never scared of the kids who might die, or the empty spaces they would leave behind. They were scared of us - the ones who lived.”- Alexandra Bracken.</u>''''' When teens mysteriously develop powerful new abilities, they are declared a threat by the government and detained. One of the most powerful young people, Ruby, escapes from her camp and joins a group of runaways who are seeking a safe haven. In the novel, The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken, Ruby and her friends Liam Stewart, Charles(Chubs) Meriweather, Suzume(Zu) face life and death situations and hardships.This intriguing novel is unique because it compels the reader to continue reading.
When [[Ruby Daly|Ruby]] woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something frightening enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to [[Thurmond]], a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that had killed most of America’s children, but she and the others emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they could not control.
 
 
Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones. She is an orange, one who can control others. When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. She is on the run, desperate to find the only safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who have escaped their own camp. [[Liam Stewart|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 [[Clancy Gray|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 having a life worth living.
 
   
 
==Plot==
 
==Plot==
  +
When a sudden disease kills children throughout the United States, it leaves the survivors with supernatural abilities. As a result, the government places the survivors in a "rehabilitation camp", where they attempt to cure the children of their disease, and categorize them into classes based on their abilities. On Ruby’s tenth birthday with her family, her parents were upset realizing she was the last child on the block. Seeing her parents concerned about the disease, Ruby goes to comfort her parents in the middle of the night, holding their hands, and accidentally erasing all their memories with Ruby. The next morning, her mother locks Ruby in the garage; having no memories of her, and she sends Ruby to Thurmond, where Ruby is determined to be an Orange, a dangerous class where they have the abilities to control other people's minds and memories. Ruby accidentally uses her abilities to convince her supervisor that she is a Green, the least dangerous one with extremely high intelligence. Six years later, Ruby is found out to be an Orange following a test using a frequency that is only detectable by Oranges. Doctor Begbie,(AKA Cate), helping Ruby reveals herself to be part of the Children's League, an organisation that uses the survivors as soldiers and helps Ruby in her escape from the camp. The two make their way to a gas station, and a suspicious Ruby makes her escape from the station with a quiet little girl named Suzume, a yellow who has the ability to control electricity. Suzume, Zu for short, introduces Ruby to her friends, Liam, a Blue who has telekinetic abilities, and Charles, Chubs, a blue as well, agreed to let Ruby join them as they try to make their way to a safe haven, led by another Orange, the "Slip Kid". The group heads to an abandoned mall to gather supplies, where they cross paths with more survivors, who give a clue about the location after Ruby slips into their minds getting the letters 'EDO'. Chubs deduces that 'EDO' stands for the numbers '540', which lead to a radio transmission, revealing the location of the haven. The group makes their way there and along the way, Ruby and Liam begin to develop a romantic connection, but Ruby refuses to touch him, fearing that her powers will hurt him. At the haven, "Slip Kid" is revealed to be the president's son, Clancy, who teaches Ruby how to control her powers, and in turn, has Ruby teach him how to erase people's memories. After Clancy assaults Ruby, Liam attempts to escape with her and Chubs but are stopped by Clancy and the other kids under his control. Liam is nearly beaten to death and their escape plan fails. Ruby goes to face off against Clancy who turns out to be no match to her. Chubs comes to her rescue and they are able to hide while Clancy's soldiers raid East River and capture most of the kids. Liam avoids capture by being dragged away from camp by some of the other camp kids who managed to evade capture. However, he returns to camp and is reunited with Ruby and Chubs the following morning. Together they gather what supplies they have and use Clancy's laptop to find Jack's father's whereabouts so they can deliver his letter. Upon delivering the letter, Chubs is shot by Jack's father and Ruby uses the panic button given to her by Cate to call for help. Chubs is taken away to a hospital for treatment, while Ruby and Liam are captured by the league. Ruby makes a deal with the league promising to work for them in return for Liam's freedom. As Liam would never leave Ruby willingly, Ruby uses her powers to erase herself from his mind, causing him to leave her behind.
Across the United States, children are dying at alarming rates to a disease known as Ligma. Ruby Daly, a ten-year-old child watches as most of her classmates die, and she has no idea if she will be next.
 
 
Little does everyone know that the children who don't succumb to Ligma develop strange abilities that are later classified according to colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and Blue. Ruby Daly is one of the few children that survive the epidemic. After accidentally erasing her parents' memory of her the night before her tenth birthday, she is taken from her home by Psi Special Forces Officers, or PSFs, She is loaded onto a bus with many other children and taken to a camp in West Virginia called Thurmond.
 
 
Before she can be taken off the bus, however, one of the psi kids uses his abilities as an orange to mind control one of the PSFs into shooting herself in order to cause a distraction and escape. This plan backfires and the rest of the kids are assessed in their abilities.
 
 
Ruby realizes that the PSFs are scared of the orange kids, so she manipulates the scientist administering her test into thinking that she's green. She spends the next six years at Thurmond with a group of green girls, and makes friends with a girl named Sam in her cabin. However, one day, she accidentally erases Sam's memory of her and Ruby loses her only friend. A year passes and the PSF's test out a new frequency of "white noise" or Calm Control, and Ruby loses consciousness.
 
 
She wakes up in the infirmary and the doctor, Doctor Begbie secretly offers Ruby escape from Thurmond if she takes a little bag of pills. Ruby takes the pills and wakes up in a car that Dr. Begbie is driving. She learns that "Dr. Begbie" is actually Cate Connor, an agent for an anti-government agency called the Children's League. She also learns that Martin, another orange was rescued from Thurmond as well, but she is creeped out by him.
 
   
  +
While reading this intriguing book, the element that brings it to life are the characters. In this case Ruby Daly, Liam Stewart, Charles (Chubs) Meriweather, and Suzume (Zu) Kimura. Let us start with Ruby, a beautiful young lady with curly brown hair and green eyes, our main protagonist, an alluring character in the book. Ruby was born in the state of Virginia and had very average first years of life. Eventually however, the first signs of IAAN appeared. Ruby was, for the most part, oblivious to it, very guarded by her parents and teachers. Her first true interaction with the disease was when she witnessed Grace, her classmate, die in fourth grade. After Grace, tons of kids followed, reaching a point where half her class had died, and she was the only living kid in her block. Then there is Liam Stewart, a blond guy with vibrant blue eyes, our second protagonist. Liam is considered the leader of the runaway group that consists of Chubs and Zu. He was the mastermind behind the escape plan that got hundreds killed and few kids out of the Caledonia camp that held many powerful children captive. He is a Blue, meaning he has telekinetic powers that came in handy throughout the book. He is charming, and he is described as handsome. He is a trustworthy person, and an older brother figure to his two younger companions. Next up we have Chubs, our third protagonist. Chubs was sent to the IAAN rehabilitation camp in Caledonia. Here he meets Liam and Zu. When Liam makes a plan to escape, Chubs and Zu are some of the only ones to make it out alive with him. The three friends band together and steal a minivan they name Black Betty. They stay together avoiding PSFs and skip tracers and eventually meet up with Ruby Daly. Chubs is a very loyal friend, but has a hard time with new people. He finds it difficult to trust people he just met as is evidenced when he meets Ruby for the first time. His loyalty to his friends is very strong as is shown in how he strives to protect Liam, Zu, and Ruby. Last but not least, we have Zu, a wonderful girl with black hair and brown eyes, our last protagonist. Zu was sent away by her parents after she short-circuited her dad’s car in the middle of a freeway. Zu is first seen in an abandoned gas station by Ruby, who pursues her to the van she, Liam, and Chubs are traveling in. Through the entire book, Zu doesn't speak at any point. According to Liam, she hasn't said a word since they broke out of Caledonia because of her traumatic experience with the escape and her time spent at the camp. Ruby convinces Zu to let her in the van and Zu covers her in a blanket when Cate comes looking for her. She and Ruby form a close friendship in the time they travel together.
Eventually, Cate, Ruby, and Martin meet up with Cate's boyfriend and League agent Rob. They discuss the fact that Rob was supposed to have two kids with him as well, but he breaks the news that he wasn't able to get them out of their camp. Ruby accidentally slips into Rob's mind and finds out that he lied; he got the kids out, but instead of bringing them to freedom, he shot them in the head and threw their bodies in the dumpster.
 
   
  +
 
==Characters==
 
Ruby Daly, the protagonist of the story, Liam Stewart, Clancy Gray, Charles Meriweather or "Chubs", Suzume or "Zu" and Cate Conner. Other characters include: Martin, Sam, Olivia, Lady Jane, Rob Meadows and others.
 
   
 
==Gallery==
 
==Gallery==
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==Navigation==
 
==Navigation==
 
{{Books}}
 
{{Books}}
  +
[[fr:Les Insoumis]]
 
[[Category:Books]]
 
[[Category:Books]]

Revision as of 06:55, 16 May 2020

The Darkest Minds
Book 1 Cover
Information
Author/s Alexandra Bracken
Release Date December 18th, 2012
Publisher Disney Hyperion
Series The Darkest Minds Series
Pages 488
Chronology
Preceded by
N/A
Followed by
In Time
Release Order
Released after
N/A
Released before
Never Fade

The Darkest Minds is the first novel in the Darkest Minds Series by Alexandra Bracken.

Synopsis

“They were never scared of the kids who might die, or the empty spaces they would leave behind. They were scared of us - the ones who lived.”- Alexandra Bracken. When teens mysteriously develop powerful new abilities, they are declared a threat by the government and detained. One of the most powerful young people, Ruby, escapes from her camp and joins a group of runaways who are seeking a safe haven. In the novel, The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken, Ruby and her friends Liam Stewart, Charles(Chubs) Meriweather, Suzume(Zu) face life and death situations and hardships.This intriguing novel is unique because it compels the reader to continue reading.

Plot

When a sudden disease kills children throughout the United States, it leaves the survivors with supernatural abilities. As a result, the government places the survivors in a "rehabilitation camp", where they attempt to cure the children of their disease, and categorize them into classes based on their abilities. On Ruby’s tenth birthday with her family, her parents were upset realizing she was the last child on the block. Seeing her parents concerned about the disease, Ruby goes to comfort her parents in the middle of the night, holding their hands, and accidentally erasing all their memories with Ruby. The next morning, her mother locks Ruby in the garage; having no memories of her, and she sends Ruby to Thurmond, where Ruby is determined to be an Orange, a dangerous class where they have the abilities to control other people's minds and memories. Ruby accidentally uses her abilities to convince her supervisor that she is a Green, the least dangerous one with extremely high intelligence. Six years later, Ruby is found out to be an Orange following a test using a frequency that is only detectable by Oranges. Doctor Begbie,(AKA Cate), helping Ruby reveals herself to be part of the Children's League, an organisation that uses the survivors as soldiers and helps Ruby in her escape from the camp. The two make their way to a gas station, and a suspicious Ruby makes her escape from the station with a quiet little girl named Suzume, a yellow who has the ability to control electricity. Suzume, Zu for short, introduces Ruby to her friends, Liam, a Blue who has telekinetic abilities, and Charles, Chubs, a blue as well, agreed to let Ruby join them as they try to make their way to a safe haven, led by another Orange, the "Slip Kid". The group heads to an abandoned mall to gather supplies, where they cross paths with more survivors, who give a clue about the location after Ruby slips into their minds getting the letters 'EDO'. Chubs deduces that 'EDO' stands for the numbers '540', which lead to a radio transmission, revealing the location of the haven. The group makes their way there and along the way, Ruby and Liam begin to develop a romantic connection, but Ruby refuses to touch him, fearing that her powers will hurt him. At the haven, "Slip Kid" is revealed to be the president's son, Clancy, who teaches Ruby how to control her powers, and in turn, has Ruby teach him how to erase people's memories. After Clancy assaults Ruby, Liam attempts to escape with her and Chubs but are stopped by Clancy and the other kids under his control. Liam is nearly beaten to death and their escape plan fails. Ruby goes to face off against Clancy who turns out to be no match to her. Chubs comes to her rescue and they are able to hide while Clancy's soldiers raid East River and capture most of the kids. Liam avoids capture by being dragged away from camp by some of the other camp kids who managed to evade capture. However, he returns to camp and is reunited with Ruby and Chubs the following morning. Together they gather what supplies they have and use Clancy's laptop to find Jack's father's whereabouts so they can deliver his letter. Upon delivering the letter, Chubs is shot by Jack's father and Ruby uses the panic button given to her by Cate to call for help. Chubs is taken away to a hospital for treatment, while Ruby and Liam are captured by the league. Ruby makes a deal with the league promising to work for them in return for Liam's freedom. As Liam would never leave Ruby willingly, Ruby uses her powers to erase herself from his mind, causing him to leave her behind.

While reading this intriguing book, the element that brings it to life are the characters. In this case Ruby Daly, Liam Stewart, Charles (Chubs) Meriweather, and Suzume (Zu) Kimura. Let us start with Ruby, a beautiful young lady with curly brown hair and green eyes, our main protagonist, an alluring character in the book. Ruby was born in the state of Virginia and had very average first years of life. Eventually however, the first signs of IAAN appeared. Ruby was, for the most part, oblivious to it, very guarded by her parents and teachers. Her first true interaction with the disease was when she witnessed Grace, her classmate, die in fourth grade. After Grace, tons of kids followed, reaching a point where half her class had died, and she was the only living kid in her block. Then there is Liam Stewart, a blond guy with vibrant blue eyes, our second protagonist. Liam is considered the leader of the runaway group that consists of Chubs and Zu. He was the mastermind behind the escape plan that got hundreds killed and few kids out of the Caledonia camp that held many powerful children captive. He is a Blue, meaning he has telekinetic powers that came in handy throughout the book. He is charming, and he is described as handsome. He is a trustworthy person, and an older brother figure to his two younger companions. Next up we have Chubs, our third protagonist. Chubs was sent to the IAAN rehabilitation camp in Caledonia. Here he meets Liam and Zu. When Liam makes a plan to escape, Chubs and Zu are some of the only ones to make it out alive with him. The three friends band together and steal a minivan they name Black Betty. They stay together avoiding PSFs and skip tracers and eventually meet up with Ruby Daly. Chubs is a very loyal friend, but has a hard time with new people. He finds it difficult to trust people he just met as is evidenced when he meets Ruby for the first time. His loyalty to his friends is very strong as is shown in how he strives to protect Liam, Zu, and Ruby. Last but not least, we have Zu, a wonderful girl with black hair and brown eyes, our last protagonist. Zu was sent away by her parents after she short-circuited her dad’s car in the middle of a freeway. Zu is first seen in an abandoned gas station by Ruby, who pursues her to the van she, Liam, and Chubs are traveling in. Through the entire book, Zu doesn't speak at any point. According to Liam, she hasn't said a word since they broke out of Caledonia because of her traumatic experience with the escape and her time spent at the camp. Ruby convinces Zu to let her in the van and Zu covers her in a blanket when Cate comes looking for her. She and Ruby form a close friendship in the time they travel together.

 

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