Friday Face Off: The Darkest Minds

This week, a story : I actually woke up a few days ago and realized that I'd been dreaming about this book... You see, Alexandra Bracken shared the AUS cover of her latest book, The Darkest Minds, on her facebook page, which just reminded me how much I want to pick this up. I've very nearly broke down numerous times and ordered it, but I keep reminding myself that I'm trying to save for a snazzy new camera. Resist, Misty, resist! So I keep putting it in and taking it out of Amazon carts, meanwhile dreaming that I'm in a quaint little marketplace where someone has a massive stall full of super cheap books, omg, and wouldn't you know, she's got a copy of The Darkest Minds?! (Looked nothing like either of these, though I can't quite remember what it did look like; pretty sure it was white...) I snatched it up, of course, and it was weighty and happy to be in my hands, I could tell. I looked around, paranoid as I added it to my stack, amazed that no one else had spotted it. It was my find. I was going to read it right then, as soon as I'd paid... Which I lined up to do, only to WAKE UP. It took me a number of minutes to realize that, though I'd felt it in my hands, I did not in fact own this book. And sad pandas the world 'round got sadder...
ANYWHO, here are the US and AUS versions of The Darkest Minds. They're startlingly different, which actually gave me the idea of doing something different this week: FFO started off as a pure cover-appeal type of thing; we judged the books simply on which we'd reach for, which we wanted to know more about. But this week I'm including the jacket copy below the covers, and though you're still welcome to make your decision solely on cover appeal (which intrigues you, which would you pick up and flip over, which would you have on your shelves), you're also welcome to vote based on which you think most suited to the synopsis.  (Let me know in the comments if you'd like me to continue doing this for future FFOs)

Which one did it better?

from Goodreads:

When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.

LAST WEEK ON FFO: Updated (and possibly non-existent) versions of Maureen Johnson's Devilish went head to head, with the updated - and rather more sinister - version just b a r e l y  ekeing out a win. Though I still prefer the subtle creep factor of my own yellow version (which is the same as the original hardcover, which was shown, only yellow instead of white), I definitely see why some of the details of the updated paperback won people over.
Winner -------->