Book: The Darkest Minds
#3
Editorial: Disney-Hyperion
Year: 2014
Pages: 535 (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9781423157526
Mark: 8/10
ABSTRACT
Ruby can't look back. Fractured by an unbearable loss,
she and the kids who survived the government's attack on Los Angeles travel
north to regroup. With them is a prisoner: Clancy Gray, son of the president,
and one of the few people Ruby has encountered with abilities like hers. Only
Ruby has any power over him, and just one slip could lead to Clancy wreaking
havoc on their minds.
They are armed only with a volatile secret: proof of a
government conspiracy to cover up the real cause of IAAN, the disease that has
killed most of America's children and left Ruby and others like her with powers
the government will kill to keep contained. But internal strife may destroy
their only chance to free the "rehabilitation camps" housing
thousands of other Psi kids.
Meanwhile, reunited with Liam, the boy she would-and
did-sacrifice everything for to keep alive, Ruby must face the painful
repercussions of having tampered with his memories of her. She turns to Cole,
his older brother, to provide the intense training she knows she will need to
take down Gray and the government. But Cole has demons of his own, and one
fatal mistake may be the spark that sets the world on fire.
PERSONAL VALORATION
JUSTIFICATION
“In the afterlight” is the third and
last book in the trilogy "The Darkest
Minds" by the author Alexandra Bracken. In the blog you
can find the rest of the reviews of the previous two books:
Be careful because surely there are important spoilers
in this review about the previous books, although not about “In the afterlight” (The Darkest
Minds #3).
PLOT
The death of Jude and the destruction of the city of
Los Angeles, where the barracks of our protagonists were, is the end of the
previous book and the beginning of this one. Ruby is devastated by what
happened but there is no time to lose. It is time to make important decisions
and his leadership together with Cole (in which in the previous book we have
discovered that he is Red) must be strong in order to help all the Psi children
under their protection. Ruby is not alone and has resources that can be useful
or be her biggest downfall: Clancy as a prisoner, the pendrive with information
about the research of the ENIAA, Liam as her greatest strength and her greatest
weakness, the presence of her friends (Zu, Vida, Chubs, Nico), the
participation of Senator Cruz ... and a clear objective: to free the children
from the camps, especially the one that was her prison for six years, Thurmond.
Are all the decisions that Ruby make right? What are the true intentions of
those around her? Do the secrets and conspiracies have a place in the group of
children? How long will Ruby be able to stand that rhythm?...
CHARACTERS
Oh Ruby, Ruby ...! There is nothing left of
that innocent and frightened girl who was locked in Thurmond. Ruby has become a
fierce warrior, independent and protective, but also a girl too distrustful,
suspicious and vengeful. It is true that his character has evolved throughout
the trilogy as a result of the circumstances she has lived. However, sometimes
this evolution seems too artificial and I get the feeling that I have already
"read" it: Tris in the saga of "Divergent", Katniss in
"The Hunger Games", Mare in "Red Queen"... I would like to
meet a character that to be strong does not have to give up the characteristics
that make she who she is. In this case, I like that Ruby has internal conflicts
and that she has trust problems with those around her, but I get the feeling
that they are too recurrent and that they do not resolve quite well.
Then we have other secondary characters that,
honestly, I like the most in the book. So is Zu, as cute as always, Chubs
that I think is the most complete character in the whole novel, Vida
that is incredibly great in her role as a good girl but tough and super dodgy...
And then there are the Stewart brothers: Liam, who is a cinnamon roll
but sometimes he is even too sweet (in this book I have fallen a little bad for
some decisions it makes) and Cole, who has become the best brother for
me because of the torment of his past and present. I could not miss Clancy:
I have not liked him at any time, his story has given me grief but I have not
felt a bit of sympathy for him (that is, he tried to sexually assault Ruby in
the first book, there is nothing more to discuss).
AMBIENT
Most of this book is developed in The Ranch, the first
base of operations of the League of Children now inhabited by psi children of
that organization and others. I have already commented previously that I like
the hostile and devastated world that exists throughout the country. But now I
think it is simply used as a backdrop, a miserable scenario, which does not
affect anything. That is, descriptions of it are made, but I do not see how
that affects either the story or the characters. I would have liked to deepen
in many questions about the environment of the country: the process of deterioration,
the current problems....
WRITING STYLE
My problem with the shallowness of the environment or
the little used of it is mainly because Ruby is the narrator of the book. I
have already commented that this type of narrator does not convince me at all
because of the limitations that it presents in the descriptions and this is a
clear example of it. On the other hand, although in the previous book I did not
get tired of Ruby, I do not know what happened in this book but there have been
times when her internal monologue have bored me a bit. However, I love how Alexandra Bracken writes and I think
that my problems with her writing are due to the fact that I have read all
three books in a short time.
GENERAL COMMENT
“In the afterlight” is the third and
final book in the trilogy of The Darkest Minds” by Alexandra Bracken. A final book
full of action in which all the questions we have asked ourselves so far are
solved: what caused the ENIAA?, what will happen to the Psi children ?, will
the truth of the rehabilitation centers come to light ?, What role does Ruby
have in all of the above? What will Liam, Cole, Zu, Chubs, Nico, Vida and the
rest of the children who survived the destruction of Los Angeles have to do to
achieve the above? A saga full of powers, secrets, betrayals, plots and plans
in a dystopian but real world that puts youth in the spotlight.
-R.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario