Something has happened to Ruby—and all of the other kids in America. First, a mysterious and deadly disease has swept the country, killing off most of the children. But the most terrifying thing is not the astounding numbers of those who have died from this disease, but those who have survived the disease.

The children surviving this plague are one of the “dangerous ones”. The ones who lived emerged from the plague with terrifying abilities and powers that they have no control over. Ruby is one of these. She woke up on her tenth birthday, and was forever changed. Changed enough to scare her parents to the point where she was locked in the garage until the police could come and take her away to a brutal “rehabilitation camp”: Thurmond.

At age 16, the truth about places like Thurmond is out, and Ruby manages to escape, living on the run, living for the hope of a new life at East River, a safe haven, run by kids, for the kids left. Will Ruby make it to East River? What will happen if she does make it there?

Are you intrigued yet? This book is super amazing. I could rave about it for a while, but I feel that it would get repetitive and boring long before I would finish talking about this book.

This dark novel is fast-paced, and kept me glued to the pages. I was dying to know what would happen to Ruby and Liam and the other kids with this odd condition. There are twists and turns in this book that shocked me, and the ending is not at all what I expected (but in a good way. This ending was surprising but not horrible, not like that of other novels I have read… *cough cough Mockingjay cough cough*).

And the best thing about this book is that it leads to a trilogy! One of my favorite things in the world! Trilogies are fantastic because they are the perfect length for a series- long enough to provide a deep and more in-depth story than one novel, and short enough to not drag a series out forever (like the Warriors series, which I read in elementary and middle school. A fabulous series, but it NEVER ended. I think that it is still going on now, which 30 or so books out. I need closure at some point! I just gave up in late middle school because I couldn’t keep reading this never ending-series.) Anyways, trilogies are great. And I have read the first two books and a novella from this trilogy, and it seems like it will be a fabulous trilogy overall. And I have great news! The second novella and the last book in this series just came out this fall! So I can finish this trilogy soon! I am really looking forward to reading these two more parts of this fantastic series.

So here’s the whole series:
-Book 1: the Darkest Minds
-Novella 1.5: In Time
-Book 2: Never Fade
-Novella 2.5: Sparks Rise
-Book 3: In the Afterlight

All of these books have really high ratings online, and all are written by Alexandra Bracken, who is pretty freaking good at writing. So go; read them! Now! (Or at least after finals and over break, you’ll have time then!)