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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
I can't with this, it was so perfect but cole, why?:(
amazing ending to an amazing trilogy! some things turned out as i expected them to be, but there were still a few twists and turns. the characters were awesome fantastic and everything amazing. they're probably my favorite part of the whole series.
I FREAKING LIVE FOR CHUBS AND VIDA.
I FREAKING LIVE FOR CHUBS AND VIDA.
Personally, I'm not a fan of Ruby, but overall, I enjoyed this book.
The ending made me sooo emotional.
My favorite character, Cole, got killed
RIP
The ending made me sooo emotional.
My favorite character, Cole, got killed
RIP
FIrst of all let's start with ranking the books in this series from the one I love the most to the one I was meh about:
1- Never Fade! (5 stars)
2- In The Afterlight. (4 stars)
3- The Darkest Minds. (3 stars)
For those of you who don't know, when I first read The Darkest Minds I thought it was so over hyped. I didn't understanding why so many people loved it so much, I kind of got bored while reading it because the first part of the book was really slow, I couldn't get into it and it took me forever to get through the book. I was going to give up on this trilogy but then a friend of mine convinced me to read the novella In Time and OMG. I can't even tell you how much I loved it.
Never Fade was as good as the novella and I loved everything about it, then there was another novella sparks rise which was also amazing. So there was no doubt i'd be picking the last book in the trilogy. here are my thoughts on it.
Spoilers ahead folks**
So, In The Afterlight. What an emotional book! as you can see I gave it 4 stars. I was very happy with how everything wrapped up in the end. It was a nice conclusion with all the answers we were looking for. We got answers about what caused IAAN and we found out more about the cure and we fixed everything in the end, I really loved how much information we got from this book.
The only thing that made me take a star off was the fact that the characters were dealing with some heavy crap through out the whole book. There's not much light heartedness at all. I mean I was kind of expecting it but still, it made the book so frustrating at times because the characters were frustrated and that got me frustrated too.
I think we spent too much time in the same place because most of the book takes place in HQ. That made the angst build up between the characters.
In the first two books we are all over the place, always moving around but In the afterlight I felt confined and I think that's what made me feel aware of the length of the book.
The relationship between Ruby and Liam:
In almost all of the Ruby/Liam moments in the book I wanted to slap them both. I hate it when characters don't communicate with each other that just gets on my nerves. Just freaking talk to each other for God's sake! and because of the communication issue we saw so little of Liam in this book, which is NOT cool because we loooooove Liam.
I JUST WANT LIAM STEWART! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?
On the other hand, we see a lot of Ruby/Cole moments. I kind of hated Cole just on principle because I thought there was going to be a freaking love triangle and I just couldn't stand that. At some point I was like "Ruby get your shit together, stop hanging out so much with cole and go talk to Liam! remember? Liam? boyfriend? does that ring any bell?"
I felt so bad for Liam because he was always excluded, nobody told him anything! and seeing his brother and his girlfriend just go off on their own all the time aghhhhh.
Cole ends up dying. I didn't see that one coming! I wasn't that hurt when it happened because I spent most of the book hating him but when they said "stewart is dead." I was freaking out. Don't you dare kill my Liam Alexandra Bracken! so I was kind of relieved that it was Cole and not Lee.
Now, let's talk about Clancy. No one never learns their lesson about Clancy. The kid can't be trusted! why would Cole go bring him food on his own? Why would you ever trust him? why? why? I just can't understand that! and then there's the whole sleep walking situation with Ruby. We should have shot stupid Clancy ages ago. When his mom was shooting him I was like "you go Mrs Gray!" Also, Any relation with Christian Gray that I should know about?
One of my favorite moments of the book was when Zu finally spoke, that was just so emotional, the tears you guys, the tears.
I loved the Chubs/Vida relationship, it was just so funny and cute and sweet.
The Cole/Liam relationship was so complicated. I mean Cole was always acting like an asshole and Lee was trying to stand up for himself and it just didn't work. I was really hoping that Cole would tell Liam that he was a Red sooner in the book because I feel like that could've helped their relationship.
Over all I really enjoyed this book and i'm really glad I stuck with this series long enough to enjoy it. Hope you liked the review :)
1- Never Fade! (5 stars)
2- In The Afterlight. (4 stars)
3- The Darkest Minds. (3 stars)
For those of you who don't know, when I first read The Darkest Minds I thought it was so over hyped. I didn't understanding why so many people loved it so much, I kind of got bored while reading it because the first part of the book was really slow, I couldn't get into it and it took me forever to get through the book. I was going to give up on this trilogy but then a friend of mine convinced me to read the novella In Time and OMG. I can't even tell you how much I loved it.
Never Fade was as good as the novella and I loved everything about it, then there was another novella sparks rise which was also amazing. So there was no doubt i'd be picking the last book in the trilogy. here are my thoughts on it.
Spoilers ahead folks**
So, In The Afterlight. What an emotional book! as you can see I gave it 4 stars. I was very happy with how everything wrapped up in the end. It was a nice conclusion with all the answers we were looking for. We got answers about what caused IAAN and we found out more about the cure and we fixed everything in the end, I really loved how much information we got from this book.
The only thing that made me take a star off was the fact that the characters were dealing with some heavy crap through out the whole book. There's not much light heartedness at all. I mean I was kind of expecting it but still, it made the book so frustrating at times because the characters were frustrated and that got me frustrated too.
I think we spent too much time in the same place because most of the book takes place in HQ. That made the angst build up between the characters.
In the first two books we are all over the place, always moving around but In the afterlight I felt confined and I think that's what made me feel aware of the length of the book.
The relationship between Ruby and Liam:
In almost all of the Ruby/Liam moments in the book I wanted to slap them both. I hate it when characters don't communicate with each other that just gets on my nerves. Just freaking talk to each other for God's sake! and because of the communication issue we saw so little of Liam in this book, which is NOT cool because we loooooove Liam.
I JUST WANT LIAM STEWART! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?
On the other hand, we see a lot of Ruby/Cole moments. I kind of hated Cole just on principle because I thought there was going to be a freaking love triangle and I just couldn't stand that. At some point I was like "Ruby get your shit together, stop hanging out so much with cole and go talk to Liam! remember? Liam? boyfriend? does that ring any bell?"
I felt so bad for Liam because he was always excluded, nobody told him anything! and seeing his brother and his girlfriend just go off on their own all the time aghhhhh.
Cole ends up dying. I didn't see that one coming! I wasn't that hurt when it happened because I spent most of the book hating him but when they said "stewart is dead." I was freaking out. Don't you dare kill my Liam Alexandra Bracken! so I was kind of relieved that it was Cole and not Lee.
Now, let's talk about Clancy. No one never learns their lesson about Clancy. The kid can't be trusted! why would Cole go bring him food on his own? Why would you ever trust him? why? why? I just can't understand that! and then there's the whole sleep walking situation with Ruby. We should have shot stupid Clancy ages ago. When his mom was shooting him I was like "you go Mrs Gray!" Also, Any relation with Christian Gray that I should know about?
One of my favorite moments of the book was when Zu finally spoke, that was just so emotional, the tears you guys, the tears.
I loved the Chubs/Vida relationship, it was just so funny and cute and sweet.
The Cole/Liam relationship was so complicated. I mean Cole was always acting like an asshole and Lee was trying to stand up for himself and it just didn't work. I was really hoping that Cole would tell Liam that he was a Red sooner in the book because I feel like that could've helped their relationship.
Over all I really enjoyed this book and i'm really glad I stuck with this series long enough to enjoy it. Hope you liked the review :)
This series has been on my to-read list for years, I finally got around to getting it, AND I WANT TO PUNCH MYSELF IN THE THROAT FOR WAITING SO DAMN LONG. I am a cryer, I cried the other day because a little girl on Facebook was singing on X-factor and got the golden buzzer, didn't matter to me that I'd seen the video on like 8 seperate occasions. Of course not, I watched it again and loudly sobbed the whole time. Why am I like this? I have no idea, I never used to be a cryer, I reread books now, that at 15 I didn't even shed a tear at, and I wail. So reading this series was a goddamn nightmare for me, I had to stop every four seconds to cry because my tears were making it hard to see. But DAMN was it worth it, this was an awesome and heart wrenching series from the get go, it did have its moments where I was like "WTF ARE YOU DOING" but for the vast majority I was in love with these books. The characters are real and raw and they have been through so much, and it shows. God I love it when a book accurately depicts the after effects of trauma, some authors just don't seem to get that if Suzy fell down the well, Suzy is probably going to have a life long aversion to wells. And even more? These characters had to work at their recovery, it wasn't all peachy keen and roses, it was messy and honest AND I LIVE FOR THAT. I don't want to say too much about this series, cause I want you to read it and love it, I did see ~a lot~ of the twists coming, but was caught off guard for a lot too so that's okay. But I can't really fault this series, it was beautifully written (its chock full of amazing quotes) and it was just a raw, and real series that you need to read asap. *drinking game~ every time i say "raw and real" you take a shot*
Who I recommend this to: anyone who likes a good cry or doesn't, just read it.
I give it 5/5 roses 🌹 it wasn't ~perfect~ but it was pretty damn close in my humble opinion.
For more reviews like this visit www.rosebookshelf.tumblr.com
Who I recommend this to: anyone who likes a good cry or doesn't, just read it.
I give it 5/5 roses 🌹 it wasn't ~perfect~ but it was pretty damn close in my humble opinion.
For more reviews like this visit www.rosebookshelf.tumblr.com
Come see this review and more at my blog, The Scribe Owl!
[b:The Darkest Minds|10576365|The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds, #1)|Alexandra Bracken|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1343178841l/10576365._SY75_.jpg|15483434]: ★★★★★
[b:Never Fade|16150830|Never Fade (The Darkest Minds, #2)|Alexandra Bracken|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1368460550l/16150830._SY75_.jpg|21986942]: ★★★★½
[b:In The Afterlight|16150831|In The Afterlight (The Darkest Minds, #3)|Alexandra Bracken|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1400697474l/16150831._SY75_.jpg|21986944]: ★★★½☆
3.5/5 stars
This was such a bittersweet ending. I love this series so much that I didn't want it to end! This book was the worst in the series, but that isn't saying much when compared to the other two books which were phenomenal. There were highs and lows all across the board, but I'm just happy with the conclusion of a well-loved series.
I'll start with the bad to get it out of the way. First of all, the plot was all over the place. It was like Alex Bracken had too many ideas for what she wanted this book to be and then tried to squish them all in anyway. It doesn't work! The pacing was also off. In The Afterlight is a little more than 500 pages, but it felt much longer. Sometimes the pages would fly by, but most of the time it felt like nothing was happening.
I love most of the characters, but Ruby is so annoying! She never learns from her mistakes and always holds Lee back without even a good explanation! Don't get me wrong, I love Lee, but the whole book felt like one massive Ruby/Liam lover's quarrel and 500 pages is a long time to read about that.
The writing wasn't really working for me either. It got repetitive and sometimes the sentences would sound strange when read out loud because of the way they were set up. Did she check over it enough? There was also a lot of stuff that we were supposed to infer that I couldn't. Was this just me? I needed her to be more literal.
Now that all the bad is out of the way, I can talk about the good! The characters are always a high point of this series for me (not counting Ruby). Zu, Chubs, and Vida are perfect, if not a little predicable. Clancy was just as scheming as always, but Lee had some weird personality swings going on. For the first and last thirds he was the Lee from The Darkest Minds, the sweet and doting one. But for that middle third he was the Liam from Never Fade, the angry and blustery one, which is not at all what I associate with his personality! I wish we could have just had the Liam from the first book for the whole time.
The ending was very well done. I won't say much here so I don't spoil, but it was definitely satisfying while still leaving a somewhat open ending for Zu's book. I can't wait to read it!
All in all, it was a little sad to finish this series but I had a good time with it. In The Afterlight is adittidly not as good as the other two books in the trilogy, but I can appreciate it anyway. I would definitely recommend this series! It's a dystopian staple.
Trigger and content warnings: Blood, death, murder, guilt, torture, trauma, and violence.
[b:The Darkest Minds|10576365|The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds, #1)|Alexandra Bracken|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1343178841l/10576365._SY75_.jpg|15483434]: ★★★★★
[b:Never Fade|16150830|Never Fade (The Darkest Minds, #2)|Alexandra Bracken|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1368460550l/16150830._SY75_.jpg|21986942]: ★★★★½
[b:In The Afterlight|16150831|In The Afterlight (The Darkest Minds, #3)|Alexandra Bracken|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1400697474l/16150831._SY75_.jpg|21986944]: ★★★½☆
3.5/5 stars
This was such a bittersweet ending. I love this series so much that I didn't want it to end! This book was the worst in the series, but that isn't saying much when compared to the other two books which were phenomenal. There were highs and lows all across the board, but I'm just happy with the conclusion of a well-loved series.
I'll start with the bad to get it out of the way. First of all, the plot was all over the place. It was like Alex Bracken had too many ideas for what she wanted this book to be and then tried to squish them all in anyway. It doesn't work! The pacing was also off. In The Afterlight is a little more than 500 pages, but it felt much longer. Sometimes the pages would fly by, but most of the time it felt like nothing was happening.
I love most of the characters, but Ruby is so annoying! She never learns from her mistakes and always holds Lee back without even a good explanation! Don't get me wrong, I love Lee, but the whole book felt like one massive Ruby/Liam lover's quarrel and 500 pages is a long time to read about that.
The writing wasn't really working for me either. It got repetitive and sometimes the sentences would sound strange when read out loud because of the way they were set up. Did she check over it enough? There was also a lot of stuff that we were supposed to infer that I couldn't. Was this just me? I needed her to be more literal.
Now that all the bad is out of the way, I can talk about the good! The characters are always a high point of this series for me (not counting Ruby). Zu, Chubs, and Vida are perfect, if not a little predicable. Clancy was just as scheming as always, but Lee had some weird personality swings going on. For the first and last thirds he was the Lee from The Darkest Minds, the sweet and doting one. But for that middle third he was the Liam from Never Fade, the angry and blustery one, which is not at all what I associate with his personality! I wish we could have just had the Liam from the first book for the whole time.
The ending was very well done. I won't say much here so I don't spoil, but it was definitely satisfying while still leaving a somewhat open ending for Zu's book. I can't wait to read it!
All in all, it was a little sad to finish this series but I had a good time with it. In The Afterlight is adittidly not as good as the other two books in the trilogy, but I can appreciate it anyway. I would definitely recommend this series! It's a dystopian staple.
Trigger and content warnings: Blood, death, murder, guilt, torture, trauma, and violence.
“It rained the day they brought us to Thurmond.
And it rained the day I walked out."
4 STARS
CW: violence (including gun violence), concentration camps, domestic abuse, invasive medical scenes, loss of a loved one, graphic injury
It’s a bummer to say that I don’t think In the Afterlight is quite as good as Never Fade, but thankfully it’s not by a huge margin. Mostly, the lower rating comes down to the initial pacing. It’s slower than I would have liked in the conclusion to the trilogy during the first half, taking too much time to set up the rebellion we’ve been waiting for the whole series.
That said, the second half delivers, and the final fifty pages never fails to bring tears to my eyes. In some ways, it’s a little corny, the idea of the best of people winning out, but I can’t help being a sucker for endings that insist doing the right thing will bring about the change the world needs.
On top of an ending that hits all the notes I long for in a story, we get a ship I love (THE BANTER! THE SNARK! THE SHEER LEVEL OF COMPETENCE BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM!), we get Zu stepping up and taking charge of her story, and we get Ruby finally getting the resolution she’s needed since she was ripped away from her normal, loving life on her tenth birthday. It’s an ending, not something too open and hazy, and it pulls the Black Betty Crew together again, with some new additions that I love.
I will say, though, that there was one element I didn’t love, and while I feel that it’s not unexpected in a book from 2014, that doesn’t make me any happier about the fact that the only queer character we get is the tragic gay who loves the villain who will never love him back. That detail remains deeply disappointing.
And it rained the day I walked out."
4 STARS
CW: violence (including gun violence), concentration camps, domestic abuse, invasive medical scenes, loss of a loved one, graphic injury
It’s a bummer to say that I don’t think In the Afterlight is quite as good as Never Fade, but thankfully it’s not by a huge margin. Mostly, the lower rating comes down to the initial pacing. It’s slower than I would have liked in the conclusion to the trilogy during the first half, taking too much time to set up the rebellion we’ve been waiting for the whole series.
That said, the second half delivers, and the final fifty pages never fails to bring tears to my eyes. In some ways, it’s a little corny, the idea of the best of people winning out, but I can’t help being a sucker for endings that insist doing the right thing will bring about the change the world needs.
On top of an ending that hits all the notes I long for in a story, we get a ship I love (THE BANTER! THE SNARK! THE SHEER LEVEL OF COMPETENCE BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM!), we get Zu stepping up and taking charge of her story, and we get Ruby finally getting the resolution she’s needed since she was ripped away from her normal, loving life on her tenth birthday. It’s an ending, not something too open and hazy, and it pulls the Black Betty Crew together again, with some new additions that I love.
I will say, though, that there was one element I didn’t love, and while I feel that it’s not unexpected in a book from 2014, that doesn’t make me any happier about the fact that the only queer character we get is the tragic gay who loves the villain who will never love him back. That detail remains deeply disappointing.
Il quartier generale della Lega è stato raso al suolo. Gli agenti stessi della Lega iniziano a rivoltarsi contro i ragazzi Psi. Ma Ruby sa che non può mollare adesso, non quando è così vicina a liberare i prigionieri dei campi, e in particolare di Thurmond. Ma quando si avvicina la resa dei conti, inevitabilmente anche i segreti più oscuri dovranno venire a galla, e anche i sentimenti più forti saranno messi alla prova.
La serie “The Darkest Minds” si conclude, è il caso di dirlo, con il botto. Calibrando con la solita attenzione il miscuglio di fantascienza, azione e romance, l’autrice accompagna la squadra di ragazzini Psi fino alla resa dei conti finale, in un crescendo di tensione ed emozione che riesce a tenere il lettore incollato alla pagina. Non mancano i colpi di scena e le rivelazioni: dalla vera identità di Cole Stewart alla causa della malattia che ha ucciso quasi tutti i minorenni nel paese, lasciando ai sopravvissuti poteri che non sono in grado di controllare. Funziona di nuovo molto bene il rapporto tra Ruby e Cole, come aveva funzionato nel primo volume quello tra la ragazza e Clancy: è verosimile che Ruby cerchi disperatamente la guida di qualcuno che possa capire che cosa significhi avere delle capacità così potenzialmente pericolose e distruttive.
Tema di fondo è sempre il coraggio di fare ciò che è giusto e non ciò che è facile; la forza di scegliere la strada che porterà al benessere della maggioranza nonostante ciò comporti sacrifici a volte anche molto dolorosi. Inoltre, torna con prepotenza l’idea che diverso non vuol necessariamente dire cattivo e che l’unico modo per creare una società sostenibile è di renderla inclusiva, abbracciando la diversità.
Altrettanto forte il messaggio che Ruby sottolinea più volte nel corso del romanzo, ossia che invece di stare ad aspettare che sia qualcun altro ad andare a salvare la generazione “perduta” dei ragazzi Psi tocchi proprio a loro rimboccarsi le maniche e salvarsi da soli.
Messaggi di forza e di speranza che contribuiscono a rendere questo romanzo, oltre che una lettura di grande intrattenimento, anche uno spunto di riflessione - il tutto condito dal fantastico stile della Bracken.
La serie “The Darkest Minds” si conclude, è il caso di dirlo, con il botto. Calibrando con la solita attenzione il miscuglio di fantascienza, azione e romance, l’autrice accompagna la squadra di ragazzini Psi fino alla resa dei conti finale, in un crescendo di tensione ed emozione che riesce a tenere il lettore incollato alla pagina. Non mancano i colpi di scena e le rivelazioni: dalla vera identità di Cole Stewart alla causa della malattia che ha ucciso quasi tutti i minorenni nel paese, lasciando ai sopravvissuti poteri che non sono in grado di controllare. Funziona di nuovo molto bene il rapporto tra Ruby e Cole, come aveva funzionato nel primo volume quello tra la ragazza e Clancy: è verosimile che Ruby cerchi disperatamente la guida di qualcuno che possa capire che cosa significhi avere delle capacità così potenzialmente pericolose e distruttive.
Tema di fondo è sempre il coraggio di fare ciò che è giusto e non ciò che è facile; la forza di scegliere la strada che porterà al benessere della maggioranza nonostante ciò comporti sacrifici a volte anche molto dolorosi. Inoltre, torna con prepotenza l’idea che diverso non vuol necessariamente dire cattivo e che l’unico modo per creare una società sostenibile è di renderla inclusiva, abbracciando la diversità.
Altrettanto forte il messaggio che Ruby sottolinea più volte nel corso del romanzo, ossia che invece di stare ad aspettare che sia qualcun altro ad andare a salvare la generazione “perduta” dei ragazzi Psi tocchi proprio a loro rimboccarsi le maniche e salvarsi da soli.
Messaggi di forza e di speranza che contribuiscono a rendere questo romanzo, oltre che una lettura di grande intrattenimento, anche uno spunto di riflessione - il tutto condito dal fantastico stile della Bracken.
I love this series so much! I experienced a major unexpected reading slump this summer, and so I spent an entire three months with these characters. The quality of this series is heavily based on character development and just the characters in general. The resolution is amazing, even though my heart aches for the characters we lose along the way. This series was never not enjoyable every time I picked it up. It was everything I hoped it would be when I decided to read The Darkest Minds! I’m so happy it’s a movie franchise now. It’s so incredibly deserving!