The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken
The Darkest Minds #4
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: July 31st, 2018
Rating: 5 Stars
Source: Alexandra Bracken
Format: Physical ARC
Summary (from Goodreads):
Five years after the destruction of the so-called rehabilitation camps that imprisoned her and countless other Psi kids, seventeen-year-old Suzume "Zu" Kimura has assumed the role of spokesperson for the interim government, fighting for the rights of Psi kids against a growing tide of misinformation and prejudice. But when she is accused of committing a horrifying act, she is forced to go on the run once more in order to stay alive.
Determined to clear her name, Zu finds herself in an uncomfortable alliance with Roman and Priyanka, two mysterious Psi who could either help her prove her innocence or betray her before she gets the chance. But as they travel in search of safety and answers, and Zu grows closer to the people she knows she shouldn't trust, they uncover even darker things roiling beneath the veneer of the country's recovery. With her future-and the future of all Psi-on the line, Zu must use her powerful voice to fight back against forces that seek to drive the Psi into the shadows and save the friends who were once her protectors.
From #1 New York Times best-selling author Alexandra Bracken comes a harrowing story of resilience, resistance, and reckoning that will thrill loyal fans and new readers alike.
So, I don't think this will come as a surprise to any of my regular blog followers, but The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken was my most anticipated book of 2018. It was made even more exciting by the fact that it was the first Darkest Minds novel that I got to look forward to because I originally discovered the series after In the Afterlight came out.
It absolutely lived up to the hype I gave it! I absolutely adored this book. I adored Zu. I adored the new characters that we get to follow. I pretty much loved everything about it. :')
I don't want to give too much of this book away because Alex has said that she believes that this book is better to go into not knowing TOO much. So to give a super brief summary of the plot: The Darkest Legacy follows Zu, five years after the events of In the Afterlight, where she is basically a spokesperson for the government, speaking on behalf of her fellow Psi. At one of her scheduled speeches, something awful happens that she ends up being framed for and she has to go out and try to clear her name with the help of a couple new characters.
I think it's safe to say that there is a bigger picture here, but you're going to have to read it to find out what it is.
I think that the best way to do this review is to talk about what I liked and what I didn't like.
What I Liked:
I loved Zu as a protagonist. I love that she is using her voice after spending 90% of the trilogy being afraid to speak. I loved that you can see bits and pieces of the other characters in her after they spent so long being each other's family. I love that there are points in this book where she doesn't pretend to be fine when she's not.
I feel like that's something you see a lot. A character is asked if they're okay when there is something bothering them and they said that they're fine. But Zu came out and said she wasn't really fine on several occasions and that was something that I liked seeing. It's okay to not be okay.
I also loved the new characters that we meet, Roman and Priyanka. Roman definitely gives Liam a run for his money for being so soft and just generally perfect.
Priyanka reminds me a lot of Vida. At the beginning I wasn't sure if I was going to like her because I was like, "She's not beiNG NICE TO ZU." But I loved Priyanka, she has a lot of attitude like Vida, but is a little bit less.... vicious?? I don't know what the best word I'm looking for is here, but I loved her.
I loved seeing the new characters interact with Zu. I liked seeing how they dealt with each other when they didn't trust each other, but even though it took them awhile to warm up to each other and trust each other fully, they were always kind of there for each other and helping each other and I loved their friendship. Lol, how many times can I get "each other" into one sentence??
I looooved the romance. The romance is definitely not a big thing in the book, it's very similar to how the romance went in The Darkest Minds. It's so slow and sweet and I. Loved. It.
I loved seeing what the world was like for psi kids this long after the camp closures. Seeing what may have gotten better, what may have gotten worse, what new problems they were having all together. I just generally love this world that Alex Bracken has created and I could read book after book after book that takes place in it.
I loved seeing what the original cast of characters was up to! It would be good to keep in mind when you're reading this book that this is not like The Darkest Minds 2.0. This book doesn't follow the same characters. Your favorites from the original books are still super important to Zu, but they're not necessarily as important to this story. I feel like if I hadn't seen something like this from Alex, I might have been disappointed about the lack of my favorite original characters, but since I knew to expect this, I was probably able to enjoy the book more. So if you're reading this review before reading the book, you should keep that in mind!
What I didn't like:
There really isn't anything that I didn't like about this book. If I were going to make a complaint though, I would say that I think the ending was rushed. When I was starting to get close to the end I was thinking there was no way this story could get resolved in so few pages.
It does get resolved, but there is a bit of a time jump and then they're in the middle of the op that is how they resolve the current problems. I would have liked to know how they got from point A to point B with a little bit more detail. And then there is one burning question that I have about something at the end.
But this book definitely ends in the same way as In the Afterlight. The story is resolved, but the problems for the psi don't end there. There is definitely room for more stories in this world. Which, the ending isn't a complaint about the book, I'm glad that it ended like that so that I can hope for more books in this world.
I guess I might deduct half a star for the ending being a bit rushed, but I felt like it was resolved satisfactorily in such a short amount of time and I'm gonna bump it up to five stars anyway because I'm just so impressed with this book.
Overall, I adored this book. I am so glad that this book lived up to the hype I gave it. If you liked The Darkest Minds series, you obviously need to read this. And if you haven't read the series, but you like books about kids fighting against the government, you should definitely read this series.
Have you read The Darkest Minds series? Are you looking forward to this book?
It absolutely lived up to the hype I gave it! I absolutely adored this book. I adored Zu. I adored the new characters that we get to follow. I pretty much loved everything about it. :')
I don't want to give too much of this book away because Alex has said that she believes that this book is better to go into not knowing TOO much. So to give a super brief summary of the plot: The Darkest Legacy follows Zu, five years after the events of In the Afterlight, where she is basically a spokesperson for the government, speaking on behalf of her fellow Psi. At one of her scheduled speeches, something awful happens that she ends up being framed for and she has to go out and try to clear her name with the help of a couple new characters.
I think it's safe to say that there is a bigger picture here, but you're going to have to read it to find out what it is.
I think that the best way to do this review is to talk about what I liked and what I didn't like.
What I Liked:
I loved Zu as a protagonist. I love that she is using her voice after spending 90% of the trilogy being afraid to speak. I loved that you can see bits and pieces of the other characters in her after they spent so long being each other's family. I love that there are points in this book where she doesn't pretend to be fine when she's not.
I feel like that's something you see a lot. A character is asked if they're okay when there is something bothering them and they said that they're fine. But Zu came out and said she wasn't really fine on several occasions and that was something that I liked seeing. It's okay to not be okay.
I also loved the new characters that we meet, Roman and Priyanka. Roman definitely gives Liam a run for his money for being so soft and just generally perfect.
Priyanka reminds me a lot of Vida. At the beginning I wasn't sure if I was going to like her because I was like, "She's not beiNG NICE TO ZU." But I loved Priyanka, she has a lot of attitude like Vida, but is a little bit less.... vicious?? I don't know what the best word I'm looking for is here, but I loved her.
I loved seeing the new characters interact with Zu. I liked seeing how they dealt with each other when they didn't trust each other, but even though it took them awhile to warm up to each other and trust each other fully, they were always kind of there for each other and helping each other and I loved their friendship. Lol, how many times can I get "each other" into one sentence??
I looooved the romance. The romance is definitely not a big thing in the book, it's very similar to how the romance went in The Darkest Minds. It's so slow and sweet and I. Loved. It.
I loved seeing what the world was like for psi kids this long after the camp closures. Seeing what may have gotten better, what may have gotten worse, what new problems they were having all together. I just generally love this world that Alex Bracken has created and I could read book after book after book that takes place in it.
I loved seeing what the original cast of characters was up to! It would be good to keep in mind when you're reading this book that this is not like The Darkest Minds 2.0. This book doesn't follow the same characters. Your favorites from the original books are still super important to Zu, but they're not necessarily as important to this story. I feel like if I hadn't seen something like this from Alex, I might have been disappointed about the lack of my favorite original characters, but since I knew to expect this, I was probably able to enjoy the book more. So if you're reading this review before reading the book, you should keep that in mind!
What I didn't like:
There really isn't anything that I didn't like about this book. If I were going to make a complaint though, I would say that I think the ending was rushed. When I was starting to get close to the end I was thinking there was no way this story could get resolved in so few pages.
It does get resolved, but there is a bit of a time jump and then they're in the middle of the op that is how they resolve the current problems. I would have liked to know how they got from point A to point B with a little bit more detail. And then there is one burning question that I have about something at the end.
But this book definitely ends in the same way as In the Afterlight. The story is resolved, but the problems for the psi don't end there. There is definitely room for more stories in this world. Which, the ending isn't a complaint about the book, I'm glad that it ended like that so that I can hope for more books in this world.
I guess I might deduct half a star for the ending being a bit rushed, but I felt like it was resolved satisfactorily in such a short amount of time and I'm gonna bump it up to five stars anyway because I'm just so impressed with this book.
Overall, I adored this book. I am so glad that this book lived up to the hype I gave it. If you liked The Darkest Minds series, you obviously need to read this. And if you haven't read the series, but you like books about kids fighting against the government, you should definitely read this series.
Have you read The Darkest Minds series? Are you looking forward to this book?
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