I’m in a YA rut

It’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m at least reading relatively high quality YA. And the next book up is different, so I’m getting out of that rut. But it’s important to recognize when you’re in one. Anyway.

Hey this one is being made into a movie! Starring that really feminist badass who is always saying awesome things on TV and Twitter and in articles! And it has Gwendolyn Christie! I know a lot of folks thought Divergent and The Fifth Wave spelled the end of the dystopian YA movie train, but with this series, I’m not so sure.

The Darkest Minds is set in an America where … something killed the children. No one knows what but it played out like a disease and something like 98% of preteens died very quickly, and it continues to spell doom for the generation coming up behind them. The very few who did survive came out changed, with strange powers, and the government is very, very afraid of them. Like, concentration camp and extermination afraid. Ruby, 16 and more than she seems, escapes one such camp with the help of the comfortingly-named Children’s Freedom League but quickly discerns they aren’t really there to help her. She’s the only one who can help her. She falls in with a few other kids in similar situations as they try to make the best of what they have and escape to anywhere better.

I’m not describing it well, but it’s a nice book with a lot of nuance and multiple layers of people hiding their true intentions. Ruby is a strong and fallible character surrounded largely by one-dimensional playdough (with one exception, love you, Chubs). The books are about the fear of the other, about unchecked power, and about how humanity reacts in extreme situations. I’m not over the moon about the series, but I am going to keep going. Largely because I mis-clicked and already checked out the next one from the library.