Imagine a disease wiping out the majority of America’s children one by one, its origin unknown, no cure in sight, you wonder if someone you know will die tomorrow, or if you are next on the chopping block. Are you afraid yet? If you said no, then you will fear what comes next. The Darkest Minds will take you on an intense and dangerous journey through dystopian America, making these fears reality.
     The children that survived IAAN are not safe, not even close, being deemed dangerous by the government; they are in for a rude awakening. The survivors of IAAN developed mutations, enabling them with unimaginable powers, powers that intimidated the American government. All of the children’s powers were impressive, some children developed powers like super intelligence or super strength; others developed more lethal powers like power over electricity, power over the mind, and power over fire.  Because the government feared these children, they ripped them from their homes, telling their families that their children were being taken to rehabilitation camps. The government said that the purpose of the camps was to help the children recover from the chaotic aftermath of the IAAN epidemic. In reality the government was taking the children to concentration camps to extinguish the threat these children created. The government divided the children into colors based on their powers, green for intelligence, blue for strength, yellow for electricity, orange for mind control, and red for the creation and manipulation of fire. Because of the threat to the government that the oranges and red posed, the government eliminated the majority of them as soon as they entered the camps. This left the remaining colors to live in the horrible concentration camps, starving, afraid, and tired.
     Ruby, a strong, scared, and intelligent 16 year old, is the reluctant heroine of this novel, and she is one of these surviving children. However, Ruby has a secret; she is an orange, “one of the dangerous ones.” Tortured by the awareness of accidentally removing herself from the memories of her parent’s and best friend, Ruby is in Thurmond, the worst and most famous of all the Psi concentration camps. Because of her orange status, Ruby uses her power of mind control to trick the soldiers of the concentration camp into thinking that she is a green. Being a mix of fragile and strong, Ruby is an intriguing character, who drew me since the first page. Ruby has so much power, but due to her mistakes she is unwilling to use them, and this makes her character relatable to teens in our own world.
     With the help of rebels, Ruby escapes Thurmond stumbling into a world that has changed drastically since her captivity. Joining forces with a group of diverse escapees, Ruby looks for the “Slip Kid” who is essentially a Harriet Tubman for the Psi-kids. Hope and fear encourages Ruby to keep going, her hope of gaining better control of her powers is rising, but her fear of losing her new friends is also rising.  Ruby’s journey resembles that of a hamster in a wheel, never grasping the cheese, but still filled with hope of reaching it eventually. Afraid of repeating her past mistakes, Ruby and her friends rush to reach the Slip Kid in a suspenseful and dangerous journey, always filled with hope even at times where hope could be lost.
     I believe this story will help teens today who struggle with recognizing their full potential. We are all given gifts that help us to grow and prosper, we don’t have the power to control minds like Ruby does, but we are all have strength and all it takes is a push in the right direction to embrace our strength, talents, and uniqueness. No one is immune to fear, whether we fear something material or we fear the unknown makes little difference, it is the way in which we conquer our fears that matter the most. The Darkest Minds is definitely a page turner, and if you are looking for a unique, suspenseful, and interesting dystopian novel, this story is perfect for you. When reading The Darkest Minds I entered a totally unique world with equally fascinating characters, and I have not regretted picking it up since. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs something a little different to read, and needs a little encouragement to reach their full human potential.