The Darkest Legacy-The Darkest Minds, Book 4 (A Darkest Minds Novel)

“The world was never as simple as you wanted to believe it was.”4.5 STARSCW: gore, violence (including gun violence), graphic injury, human trafficking, loss of a loved oneTurns out that I wasn’t ready to let the TDM series go any more than Alex Bracken was, and I’m SO PLEASED to say that TDL really delivered. So often, a series addition that comes after the main series is finished can be weaker or less interesting, but that wasn’t the case this time. TDL actually might even be better than all of the books save for Never Fade, which is no small feat in my eyes.For one, it was so nice to see Zu front and center, because we really get the full force of her. She’s angry and clever and fed up with playing by the rules that do nothing but make her and other Psi kids easier to walk all over. The five-year time skip also meant that the rest of the Black Betty crew wasn’t present for most of the story, giving Zu that extra room to breathe and grow and be incredible. Of course, when the BB crew showed up again in different bits of the story, it warmed my heart (guys…Chubs/Vida makes me so soft…what a dynamic…), but this is Zu’s book through and through, and she’s the one making decisions here. Not Ruby, not Liam, not Chubs, not Vida. It’s all Zu, and she makes a couple decisions, especially toward the end, that I thought were incredibly clever, taking what’s been pushed at her and reshaping it to her own brilliant ends.The new supporting characters were interesting too! Roman is another one of those cinnamon roll boys, though with a decidedly darker past than Liam, and I appreciate the emphasis of family in his life. He’s a good egg with a rough shadow, and I love watching characters break away from their pasts like he tries to. And Priyanka, his best friend, is one of my new favorites. I would have LOVED to see more of her and Vida interacting, because I suspect those two could banter for a thousand years, but Vida doesn’t have to be in the picture for Priyanka to be smart and snarky and vibrant.Bonus? Priyanka is sapphic! It’s not stated whether she’s a lesbian or bisexual or what, but she’s confirmed to have been in love with another female character in the book, so there is QWOC rep! And there’s two minor characters, both boys, who are also clearly dating, which is a huge leg up from how queer rep was (mis)handled in the original trilogy.Finally, the other thing I liked is that, while it breaks the “everything will be okay” feeling you get at the end of ItA, TDL really digs into all the obstacles that have been in the way of the Psi kids since the camps were broken down. It’s far from a perfect world, riddled with injustice, but it also makes TDL stronger, because ultimately, it’s about Zu and kids like her taking their fate into their own hands instead of blindly trusting someone else to do right by them.On the flip side, though, there were a couple things (small things mostly) that didn’t work for me. For one, I didn’t go head over heels for Zu’s romantic relationship because it just…didn’t do it for me. Very “it’s not you, it’s me” tbh. This is a complaint I have about so many things, haha.More importantly, though, I feel like the ending was rushed in order to cram it all in. The antagonist reveals and motivations and origins felt like something that needed two books instead of one to feel the full weight of, especially since they’re not exactly light topics, but it burned by a little fast. The antagonist Priyanka and Roman have a personal connection to felt a little flat, which took away some of the oomph in the last 100 pages or so, and I wanted the rest of the antagonists to get what they deserved, though we really didn’t get to see that 100% in action.And the kicker? Clancy Gray is in the wind again. He’s just a loose end, like his father, and I’m genuinely irritated he’s out and dangerous again. Then again, I really can’t stand Clancy (a great example of a villain you love to hate), so maybe I just want him cornered and defeated once and for all. That’s possible.Altogether, though, TDL really impressed me, and I loved finally getting a chance to get into Zu’s head and see how she understands and interacts with the world, especially now that she’s five years out from the end of ItA. It’s maybe not the characterization I completely expected, but it fits so well, and I’m delighted I had the time to read it all in one sitting. 💛

A nice continuation of the series. Fun to learn more about different characters. Like the orginial trilogy a little better than this due to formatting but do recommend to complete the universe if you at all liked the first three books and novellas.

For those long-time fans of Alexandra Bracken's emotional, action-packed The Darkest Minds series, The Darkest Legacy is a complex and accomplished new installment of a story whose characters and their relationships, their family, are its heart and soul. For those who are new to the series, The Darkest Legacy can stand on its own, or as an entry point into a wider narrative world about teens who are both powerless due to age and circumstance, and powerful due a twist of a fate and their unremitting will to protect each other and survive.The Darkest Legacy picks up five years after the main series, which was told over the course of three full-length novels (The Darkest Minds, Never Fade, and In the Afterlight) and one collection of short stories and novellas (Through the Dark). The youngest of the four main protagonists of the main series, Suzume, who was a child in the earlier novels, is now a sixteen-year-old woman struggling with the complexities and contradictions of revolution and its aftermath. The villains of old may have been defeated (key word: may), but darkness has more than one body, and lives in more than one mind. The way the author expands the horizons of cruelty and human selfishness in this latest volume is, perhaps, a sign of the times in which it was written, but more likely an evolution of the sort of moral grayness and unflinching honesty about the human condition--its virtues and its malice--that characterized the earlier books.In the Darkest Legacy, a grown Zu serves as the mouthpiece for what you might charitably call a public relations campaign, and uncharitably call propaganda. She assures young Psi like herself--children and teens who survived a disease that killed most of their peers, and left those spared with awesome (in the true sense of the word) and at times terrifying psionic powers--that the new U.S. government is on their side...as long as they're willing to make temporary, escalating concessions. Zu does this because her childhood experiences have taught her that revolution is never clean, that triumph is never easy, and she believes on some level that it is better to struggle within the system than to face the loneliness and fear of exile. But at heart, she performs her duties because she believes in her friends, who have their own complex relationship with the government and are, too, trying to forge a better path for the Psi, even if it's more steps back than forward most days.But not all of Zu's friends believe this, and fissure has formed within the tight group of wanderers that is now the only family she knows. When an event Zu is speaking at is attacked and dozens of people are killed, blame soon falls on Zu, who has managed to escape with two mysterious Psi. After five years of trying to acclimate to normal life and society, Zu is once again on the run, with people she can only half-trust, in the hopes of proving her innocence to a country that believes she's only half-human.Our favorite characters from the Darkest Minds appear, and it is like coming home to see them once again on the page. But Zu is the real light of the Darkest Legacy, the little girl grown up, the powerful woman who has come into her own--and will not be silenced again.

Seeing how grown up Zu was, was amazing. The book was great it's just that the ending felt rushed leaving an unsatisfied ending.

I still can’t believe that this book is out and that I’ve read it. I had been anticipating this book for so long and I was really nervous that I wouldn’t love it. Thankfully, it was everything I wanted it to be and more. The characters, the plot and the world were all still amazing and interesting. It felt like coming home, it had the same amazing feeling that the original trilogy had and I loved it just as much.Zu was one of my favourite characters from the original series and I’m so glad we got this book from her POV. Zu has grown into a strong, confident young woman and we got to see her grow and develop even more throughout this book. Zu has such a unique perspective, she is so funny and sarcastic, I loved her. She doesn’t put up with anyone’s shit and she will fight for anyone she cares about. I was nervous that I wouldn’t love the new characters because I was so attached to the Black Betty crew but I really loved the new characters we met in The Darkest Legacy. Priyanka, Roman and Max were all so unique and amazing additions to the already incredibly diverse cast of characters.At first Priyanka reminded me a lot of Vida but the more we got to know her the more I saw that while they had similarities they are both different and amazing in their own unique ways. I love them both so much. Roman is so perfect, I loved him a lot. He is so funny and smart, I loved how protective he was over the people he cares for. I loved Priyanka and Romans friendship, they were so close and supportive of each other. Zu and Roman’s slow burn romance was great and I am 100% here for it.I loved getting to see all the characters from the series and seeing where they are now. The Darkest Legacy is set 5 years after the end of In The After Light and it was very easy for me to fill in all the blanks and imagine what all the characters had been up to. There were so many nice nods and Easter Eggs to the series that I loved. I wouldn’t say it’s essential to read Through The Dark before The Darkest Legacy but there are some characters and events mentioned that you will appreciate more if you’ve read those novellas (Also you should read it anyway because it’s amazing, Alex Bracken knows how to write short stories). The plot was exciting, mysterious and action packed. I was constantly gripped but these are definitely character driven novels and the characters truly shine.There are still so many loose strings after that ending, but Alex Bracken always does endings really well. There could easily be more books in this series and I really hope there is because I love it so much. Overall, The Darkest Legacy is an amazing addition to the series and Zu’s narration was amazing and unique. I highly recommend this book, it was fantastic.

If you are a lover of young adult dystopian novels then this is for you. I really liked the charachters and the storyline.

I left the series for all of two days and that was all it took to lose interest in the series. They are my favourite books, and I'm so upset I've had to give it three stars, but I promised myself I'd be honest in these reviews. It isn't the book's fault, it's 80% mine. I'm saying eitghy though because I just found the whole thing a bit same-y. The book didn't really seem to be going anywhere either - it just kept going on and on. This might have been me - and there are plenty of others saying this book is their favourite in the series - but I really didn't get this one like I did with the others. Go ahead and read it if you haven't already; just make sure you read it straight after you read the last!

This book was brilliant. It was great to have it from Zu's point of view. After so long with her not speaking in the previous books, it was great for her to have her own voice.The storyline was great and I liked the aspect of having glimpse into the world 5 years later. Many book series end leaving the reader thinking, 'what happens next and does the world change?'Things really are not that much better and the more the plot progressed, the more we saw that it was far from what they even believed things were at.The story was fast paced throughout. I liked the new characters introduced. Roman and Priya both had great personalities and their abilities made them unique. Max and Lana were also nice additions.I loved seeing everyone back together in the end. Over 5 years, things had definitely changed but a friendship like they all had was always going to come first and win through everything they had all been through.Overall, this book was brilliant. I would definitely recommend it. I would say that it definitely needs to be read as the 4th book in the series otherwise the characters and the state of the world wouldn't really make sense.jessreviews877169955.wordpress.com

This book feels a bit different to the previous ones. The story is told from a different characters' point of view and it had the potential to be good. However, the book is quite slow and not much happens to suddenly too much happens within the last chapters, to the extent it almost feels like the book leaps forward without sharing the details of the more action oriented parts. However, the big issue for me is that the book doesn't really end. I always find it frustrating when the arc of the story doesn't end. It's fine to create a thread that can continue on a next book...but writing a book that ends as if we are in the middle of the story is deeply frustrating and feels like a cheap trick to get the reader to buy the next one.