Sunday, January 12, 2014

Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken

Title: Never Fade
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release: October 15, 2013
Series: The Darkest Minds
Pages: 512
Review: Five Stars

I loved the first book in this series. It was awesome and different and just plain amazing. The novella In Time was a bit of a let down (and I reviewed it here). I bought Never Fade on a whim back in October, and until last week, I hadn't read it. I picked it up, and immediately fell in love all over again. If you doubt the amazingness of this series, don't. I had forgotten many key points and characters, but Never Fade reminded me of everything pretty early in the book. I was not lost for one single page. The novella didn't really, as far as I could tell, play into Never Fade, but I believe it will be instrumental in book three.

The main character is Ruby. She lives in a world where children are hated because they have special abilities. There are the Blues, who are telekinetic. The Yellows, who can mess with electricity. The Greens, who are extremely smart. The Oranges, who can, basically, control minds/erase memories/etc. And the Reds, who can make fireballs of sorts. It's believed that all the Reds and Oranges are dead, but Ruby's and Orange and there's an army of Reds run by the evil president himself. And his evil son. Ruby has been broken from childhood. Her parents forgot who she was and she lived in a concentration camp like place for ten years of her life. It pretty much sucked to be her. By the end of book one, Ruby had become a strong character, and by this point, she's proven it. Ruby is a fighter now. She has a gang of loyal friends, even if they are scattered all over the place. While she was at first reluctant to use her abilities, Ruby knows that, in time of danger, she can fry a person's brain if need be. It's a pretty cool ability, I have to say.

Plot wise, this moved extremely fast. There are about five hundred pages, and I read it easily in under five hours. Did you know that, once the titles are all put together, they will make a sentence? So far, we have: The darkest minds in time never fade... Anyone wonder what the last book will be called? I know I am! There's an abundance of action, and plenty of romance to go around. Plus, we meet a character's older sibling in this book and *swoon*. There were a few events where I figured out what was going on before the main character, but other than that, the author did a good job of making sure events were a surprise. The end of the book, a HUGE cliffhanger! After that end, I need book three, stat! A definite five stars!

Author Bio:

Alexandra Bracken wrote Brightly Woven as a birthday present for a friend, and the story grew and flourished during a year of unpredictable, wild weather. A native of Arizona, she is a recent graduate of the College of William and Mary, where she majored in History and English. She now lives in New York City and works in children’s book publishing.

You Can Find Her At:
Website

Synopsis:

Ruby never asked for the abilities that almost cost her her life. Now she must call upon them on a daily basis, leading dangerous missions to bring down a corrupt government and breaking into the minds of her enemies. Other kids in the Children”s League call Ruby ‘Leader’, but she knows what she really is: a monster.

When Ruby is entrusted with an explosive secret, she must embark on her most dangerous mission yet: leaving the Children”s League behind. Crucial information about the disease that killed most of America”s children—and turned Ruby and the others who lived into feared and hated outcasts—has survived every attempt to destroy it. But the truth is only saved in one place: a flashdrive in the hands of Liam Stewart, the boy Ruby once believed was her future—and who now wouldn”t recognize her. As Ruby sets out across a desperate, lawless country to find Liam—and answers about the catastrophe that has ripped both her life and America apart—she is torn between old friends and the promise she made to serve the League. Ruby will do anything to protect the people she loves.

But what if winning the war means losing herself?

You Can Find it At:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
iBookstore
IndieBound
Indigo

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