In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken

“-like a fire on a horizon. Afterlight. It’s a sky that wants you to guess if the sun is about to rise or set.”

This is the last book in the Darkest Minds series. If you would like to read the reviews of the first two books click here for the first book and here for the second.

Overview: 

Ruby and the rest of the Children’s League struggle to regroup after the attack on Los Angeles and after losing one of their own. Now they have to focus on getting to a safe house where they hopefully plan to free the kids still in camps. Cole and Liam have different ideas on how to achieve this goal causing tensions to rise all the while Clancy is still trying to manipulate the situation despite being locked in a cell. On top of it all, there’s pressure to find the cause of IAAN, the disease that has affected all of these children, and to find the possible cure.

My thoughts: 

As the last book in the series, I’m very happy with the way everything turned out. My only issue with this book was Ruby’s character. Her character had come such a long way in the second book that I expected to find the same fierce, determined girl and was a little disappointed to find that wasn’t the case. Instead, she turned into someone who is constantly running away from her issues but to be fair there was reasoning behind this. I am really proud of her for sticking with what she wants in trying to free the kids when she could have easily changed course.

Cole and Ruby form an interesting relationship. One that I think is good for the both of them and that was formed, in part, because of their understanding of each other’s abilities and how it affects them.

What is nice about this book is that it comes full circle. You see most of the characters from the first two books in this one: Chubs, Vida, Liam, some of the kids from East River, and you even find out what happened to Zu. Keeping with that theme, Ruby’s role at the end of the book is completely fitting and once again made me proud of how she acted.

Another thing I really appreciated about this book is that after everything is said and done, the author addresses what the nation is like as a whole following everything that’s happened.

I classify this book as a: great read. This book had a good ending that made me glad I read the series; definitely one of the better endings I’ve read. I would classify the series as a whole as a: good read but not one that you should drop everything to read.