In the Afterlight (A Darkest Minds Novel, Book 3): A Darkest Minds Novel (Darkest Minds Novel, A, 3)

Powerfully well-written, far beyond the quality of Twilight (C-D quality writing), The Maze Runner (B quality writing, but dry and "cold"), and The Hunger Games (B+/A- quality writing, but arresting and interesting content and plotlines). This is A-level writing, A-level story, A-level character development, page-turning, gut wrenching, deep and evolved YA content that will satisfy both teens and adults alike. And it is deep. If you're trying to develop a young teen's mind in your life or at school, challenge them, etc., you cannot go wrong with this and the rest of the series. Features a strong, complex female heroine of depth and nuance.

Rating: 5 Stars

Many were killed. Ruby lose someone close to her and looking back could break her. The ones who survived the LA bombing move north to regroup with their prisoner, a fellow Orange like Ruby who is basically a twisted evil genius. They are set back but they are determined to regroup and continue to free other Psi kids from the “rehabilitation camps” and bring an end to the corrupt government that has hunted them and covered up the cause of IAAN. Despite her attempts to save him by erasing herself from his memories Liam is back and a small bright spot in the sea of bleakness. Still the repercussions of her choice and everything that has transpired since has left everyone with demons as we reach the conclusion to this journey and see what will happen and who will survive.

So I read the first two books back in January 2016. I enjoyed them and meant to continue on but for whatever reason I took a break before finishing it and it just kept getting pushed back. So with the movie and new sequel coming out I was determined to finish it and be caught up again. With two years between I was a bit nervous that I would have forgotten things but I was able to dive right back in. A couple of the names (non-core) were a bit rusty but it was very easy to fall back into this world and remember what was happening. That says a lot about the writing.

“Everyone needs reality to punch them in the face every once in a while. Keeps you on guard.”

The pacing for this book did seem a bit faster than the others. We are left a bit broken and defeated but not ready to give up. They need to regroup and figure out the best way to finish this once and for all. Saving kids from the camps and getting the government exposed for the liars they are seems to be the main focus as it should be. No one is fighting for themselves anymore they are fighting for a better world for all children which I love. There is a lot happening with the powers and process. Everyone has a different theory of what method to use and which would best serve the needs of the group. This can divide people and it's true you can all want the same goal but have different ways of going about it. I liked seeing that as it seemed very true to the world they Bracken has built.

Ruby and Liam. I was devastated when she took his memories in the first book. To have all their sweetness erased and for him to look at her and not know her was hard in book two but in a way some parts of this were harder. Everyone has been through so much and being in Ruby’s POV I could see all of her pain both for the losses she has suffered and the consequences of her actions. She is an Orange and while some trust and respect her there will always be the knowledge that she can get in anyones head. There are parts that have you down but also some very amazing parts that just bring you back up and fill your heart.

Overall as a series my only downside is that I wish I had read all together and not taken so long in between but that is on me. Bracken did an amazing job in each of the following books making sure she reminded the reader who everyone was and what happened last without being over the top about it. I cared for these kids and their fight. It was such a complex story full of challenging and important issues and I think that for the most part the majority of it was handled though there are still some open questions given the ending but I am hoping with the next book and the time jump we will see more of what became of everyone and the world as a whole. While this was a story about kids with powers the whole world as a whole suffered in devastating ways during this time and a fact that is never lost.

When I started reading this book, I was a bit confused. I forgot a lot of events that happened in the previous two books because its been almost a year since I read both. I remembered the big details, but it was a few of the small details that I needed. If its been a while since you’ve read the first two books, I highly recommend searching the internet for a synopsis of some sort. There are some blogs out there that will hash out the details for you. It definitely helped me and I was able to insert myself back into the story a bit easier.

What I loved about this book was that it came full circle to The Darkest Minds. Freeing the rehab camps means dealing with the one place that Ruby fears. We see some old characters from the first book, like Sam. Now, I read the novella, Sparks Rise featuring Sam. Because I read that, I wanted more of Sam in the story. I kind of became attached to her in the novella.

As for the story, the first book in the series is my favorite. I remember thinking while reading In The Afterlight that they would get out there and free the camps. The majority of the book is spent in their new headquarters in the north of California. A lot of it was planning, re-planning, and people being stubborn. Don’t worry, this book is action packed the entire time.

When it comes to the end, the story leaves some issues unresolved. They weren’t blaring huge issues that leave you feeling like you were robbed of a true ending. But they were issues where the reader can assume what happens or imagine their own resolution. Trust me, I wanted to see Ruby and Liam ten years from now, just to make sure they were safe. Thats how attached to the characters I am. I worry for them.

This was a strong ending to The Darkest Minds series. You get to see your favorite characters, finally get to know what happens to them, and I’m not going to lie, I swooned a bit. The action was great along with the scientific and moral decisions. This was my most anticipated book of 2014, and it didn’t disappoint.

The rest of the series is good. This one is poorly edited, and the interaction between the characters is limited. The series turns to the annoying protagonist piddling around whining, alienating her friends, and reiterating "the plan" over, and over again for like 200 + pages in the same boring locations. All the actions interaction gone for the most part.

The biggest issue I had with this is pacing. So much detail. Logistics. The pace did pick up a little in the second half, but on the whole ‘In The Afterlight’ felt like it was a looong read. I really had to force myself to keep picking it up.

Even though I was relatively familiar with the cast, there was still a lot of characters to keep track of, and several times I had to stop and try and remember who some people were and what had gone down in the prequels.

I was expecting some major events around the use of their abilities, upping the ante from the previous novels in this franchise, but all I got was a whimper. This wasn’t the cinematic climax I was expecting. Yes, it resolved all the plot points it needed to, but a more impotent manner. I think it was more to do with the pacing, but with some of the more tragic and emotional scenes in ‘In The Afterlight,’ it did not affect me so much. At the end of the book I was like… meh! It was cool, and I loved getting a resolution, but it was a lukewarm finish.

The character acrs for all the main players weren’t that huge either, it felt more like their wishes being fulfilled rather than any major change in their beliefs, character, or goals. There was even a few points in this finale that rendered all the events in the second book, ‘Never Fade’ irrelevant – and I was like, what was the point of that book than other than experiencing yet another failure?

I kinda like Alexandra Bracken’s writing style, I just really wish she would edit to keep the plot moving forward with each scene.

My opinion on this collection has been slowly dropping with each consecutive instalment. There is a bind-up of short stories in ‘Through the Dark’ that I have yet to read, and I can even break those up through other reads if the pacing falls; and I’m sort-of interested in ‘The Darkest Legacy’ this time following Zu. The blurb sounds good, but it is 569 pages and I’m concerned it is going to suffer the same pacing issues… and judging from the mixed reviews it seems to be the case from many reviewers. I do have the ‘Wayfarer’ duology which I will indulge in at some future date, but if it has the same types of issues I think I’ll start skipping Bracken's work altogether.

‘In The Afterlight’ was predictable. It hit all the points it was meant to to wrap up the series, but there were no real surprises, no twists, and in fact had an underwhelming conclusion. It was such a long journey to get there I wanted a bang for my buck… but no dice.

Ruby was an interesting protagonist, I still cared about her and her story, but that is pretty much it.

At this point in time, I don’t really recommend this book, or the series. Instead, go watch the movie – it will be much more satisfying.

This is an amazing final book for Darkest Minds. Ruby learns what she thought she might have control might not necessarily be the case. Can she trust what she believes she can control, Clancy's control over her? She forms an alliance with Liam's brother much to the "gangs" dismay. She learns Cole's secrets and vows not to tell anyone even Liam. This book is exciting and the action never ends! Along with the relationships and who can be trusted.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I even thought about giving it a 3 star rating, but I just couldn't get over the things that bugged me, while I was reading the book, enough to give it more stars. I will admit that the book was interesting enough to keep me reading until the end without skimming any of the book, but it just felt like the author was trying to have too many things happen in too short of a time span and a lot of things felt rushed. This book continued to have the 3x repetition of a word or saying to express someone being in a hurry or scared (ex. "Run, run, run." or "This can't be happening, This can't be happening, this can't be happening.) I just felt like this was way over used and I no longer felt or cared about what the character was going through at this point and just thought to myself " here we go again." This book also had several editing errors that I didn't notice in the first two books. There were several places where a wrong word was used or a word was missing. I felt like this added to the feel of the book being rushed and maybe not edited as well as it could have been. The most frustrating mistake that I noticed was, to me, a biggie. **possible spoiler** When you have a brilliant scientist explaining something that happened to babies while the mothers were pregnant and the doctor says "it affected the brain cells of their children in vitro." but should have said in utero that's a big mistake that should have been caught. If I'm expected to believe the doctor than the information that she is giving should at least be correct.

Definitions: 1. in vitro: In an artificial environment outside a living organism. 2. in utero:Occurring or residing within the uterus or womb; unborn.

The story here is better than some third-of-a-series books. But I had a couple objections. While I know one perk to the dystopian genre is teens acting in adult roles, I worry about the way the lines of what's acceptable for a teen book have blurred. This is concerning, especially as YA readers get younger all the time.

I could have loved this book if instead of feeling the need to thow in F-bombs and sex, the author had instead finished the storyline of Sam and Lucas. Who knows, maybe she intended to finish that plot thread and it got cut in the editing process, but the final book doesn't specifically resolve the storyline we'd really hoped would be tied up.

This book just couldn't capture the interesting and adventurous story line of the first book (which I loved). The characters were stuck in that underground bunker - forever, very few interaction between the main characters (the story was basically almost all Ruby & Cole with the other characters thrown in here and there), hardly any smart mouthed lines from Chubs & Vida, lot's of swearing which .. is ok, but just seemed an odd addition as I don't recall this type of language in the first book.

Fans of Alexandra Bracken's Darkest Minds series are in for a wild ride with In The After Light, as this series comes to an exciting, unpredictable end.

Normally I don't have a hard time summing up my feelings over a book, but being that I'm still digesting everything I read, and that ending, I'm struggling to put everything into words. Keeping this spoiler free will be hard, but here goes. Alexandra Bracken has done a fabulous job at creating an intriguing, dangerous world that fans of YA sci-fi/dystopian books will enjoy. From her fascinating world building, to her lively cast of unforgettable characters, Bracken has done a suburb job at the way she developed her story, and characters over the course of the entire series. Just as I think I might have things figured out, Bracken quickly made me realize that, that wasn't the case at all.

Ruby is an interesting character, and someone I've rooted for since the get go. I've really like the way she's grown over the course of the series, and how she story wrapped up. Though it's not without betrayal, heartbreak, and some crazy events. I felt that in this particular story, both she, and her group of friends all have to learn to face their fears, and the consequences of their earlier actions, head on. If these characters weren't already all broken in some manner, I would say what they deal with and have to over come personally would break them. Instead, I felt that they're learning to face the demons from their own pasts, and accepting the consequences of their actions from the previous two books in the series. It makes them stronger, and strengthens each of them in a different way. I liked seeing how each of them grows and matures through everything they go through and deal with in this book.

Bracken's world building is awesome. Her writing is awesome. From the world building to her characters, to the story itself, everything is written in vivid detail. I love it when an author creates a story/series where everything comes together. All the details no matter how little or big are in the story for a reason. It was easy for me to visualize the world, the characters, and get sucked into all that was going on in this series, and this book. In The After Light is one crazy, wild ride. It will either have your heart hammering in your chest from the adrenaline ride, leave your heart breaking with some of the shocking reveals, and then there are the moments that you will cling to the pages to find out what will happen next.

In summary, In The After Light is an awesome, thrilling conclusion to an exciting series. The Darkest Minds sucked readers in, Never Fade had readers wanting more, and In The After Light will leave readers wishing the series wasn't over. If you read The Darkest Minds, and Never Fade, then you definitely need to pick up In The After Light! *There is language in this book (including the f-word) that might not make it suitable for younger YA readers.