Darkest Minds, The: Never Fade (Darkest Minds Novel, A, 2) Hardcover – November 5, 2013

The Plot:In Never Fade, Ruby is an active member of the Children's League. In the beginning we find her on a mission to recover a valuable League agent, despite the fact that there is a rule that if you get caught you're on your own. No one is coming to help you.After recovering this agent, Ruby is given a special mission that takes her back to the other side of the country to find a flash drive with crucial information about IAAN on it. This flash drive is unknowingly in the hands of none other than Liam Stewart.This information is vital for the kids in the Children's League because it will take things out of the hands of the agents who are trying to take over the League and REALLY don't appreciate the kids being involved.The Characters:I absolutely love the characters in this book. They are so well-written and amazing. Ruby goes through so much change since we last saw her in The Darkest Minds. She no longer fears her abilities and has so much more confidence. She seemed a lot more closed off in this book. But in all, she's independent, strong, and fiercely protective of those she's in charge of.Vida and Jude are two of the kids on Ruby's team from the League. Jude is such a sweetie! He's chatty and lovable and kind of like an excited puppy. He doesn't like silence or the dark and I'm pretty sure that everything he does in this book is totally endearing.Vida on the other hand, I had a rough time with. I thought that since I grew to like her in the series the first time I read it, I would like her better now. But I seriously hated her so much for about 3/4 of this book. She's mean and literally never has a single nice thing to say about anything except Cate and I just got so sick of her until most of the way through the book when she started warming up to Ruby more. She is actually a great character, but it was just SO hard to like her for a long time.Since we last saw Chubs, things have changed a bit with him. He had to do some unpleasant things to make a place for himself in the world where he wasn't going to be hunted like an animal. He's still his same smart and kinda sassy self that we all love!Liam hasn't really changed. He's still the same protective, sweet, naive boy as he was in the first book. But he has a really rough time in this book with sickness and the fact that Ruby wiped herself from his memory. This leaves him kind of confused because all Ruby could erase were his memories, not his feelings. Oh Liam, how I love you.The Romance:All in all, the romance did go where I wanted it to go. However, the journey to get there wasn't everything I could have hoped. But that is partially because I basically just wanted a book that was AAALLLLL Liam and Ruby all the time. But they have to fight to be together in this one a little bit. While there wasn't much romance in this book until closer to the end, I loved every bit that I got.The Setting:This book takes place all over the place. I think during the mission Ruby is on in the very beginning, they're in Pennsylvania? Then they're in California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Tennessee, Colorado, and back to California.One of the reasons I picked up The Darkest Minds was because of the road trip aspect. There is definitely still a road trip in this book, but I feel like the focus is less on the journey itself and more on what they're doing and where they're going.What I Didn't Like:I can't think of anything that I really have a problem with in this book. I don't really like Cate or the Children's League in general for some reason, but it doesn't really affect my feelings about the book. I don't know why I don't like Cate, but I didn't like her the first time I read the series either.My main problem with the Children's League is that it separated my FAVORITE CHARACTERS EVER! But really I like that we got a more confident Ruby, Vida, and Jude out of the deal.Overall:I loved this book. I thought it was an amazing sequel. It's got tons of action, some wonderful new characters, and definitely some HEARTBREAAAAAK </3!! If you loved The Darkest Minds, you will need to read this one ASAP. It's got a lot more going on, it's got more road trips, it's got a badass Ruby. I highly recommend this series. To everyone.

http://functioninginsanity.blogspot.com/2016/01/never-fade.htmlRating: 5 Stars You’ve been warned. We left off with Chubs being shot and the only option to save them Ruby brings the Children’s League to them to save him and offers herself for Chubs and Liam to be free. Knowing Liam would never leave her in their hands she used her gift on him to wipe herself from his mind and keep him safe. She now works for the League as a team leader using her powers and becoming the monster she’d feared she could become breaking the minds of enemies. Now she is thrust into a new mission, one with a huge secret that could change everything. The only problem is her mission will take her to the one person she thought she’d never see again, Liam. Pushed back into a world of old friends and the promises she’s made she is torn. One thing she will do is everything in her power to protect those she loves. Never Fade, for me had lots happening in it. There was the overall mission but also so much growth with the characters. Ruby has really grown into her power and while that could make her a horrible monster thrilled on her power she hates having to use it and that keeps her very human and relatable even as she tries to shut out all emotion. Her struggle doing what she does working with the League and her knowing that she feels she made the right call saving her friends even when she misses them. We also get to know some new characters, some we just love from the start and others…let's say a bit less so. Still the new dynamic of the League and getting to know more about them from the inside was great. While they were one of the bad guys in the previous book, we learn there is more than one side to things. When Ruby is reunited with Chubs I was just beside myself. I missed him so much. I was happy to have his huge brain full of facts and comments around. He's grown some as well and we get to see more of him and how he's progressed on his own, both having been through some things since last they were together. Then Liam. I was so terrified of that moment because…well honestly just him not knowing her was hard. To know how cute and sweet they were and how much love was between them before she took it away to save him expecting to never see him again and to see him look at her and not know who she is. Heartbreaking. And poor Chubs is in the middle of it all as well. This book moves along pretty steady as there is never a shortage of things happening. The world is not their friend and that leads to danger around most turns which keeps pace well with the emotional growth of our characters. It also gives insight slowly into the overall big picture of things. In book one we focused more on staying free and away from the government and the League, Never Fade focuses more on the bigger picture of the broken US and possible solutions, oh and staying alive of course. I can't wait to see how the series wraps up because this one grew the story and I have high hopes for what will happen as it concludes. Again my own negative really was the same in the other book and I expect it will be in the next, long chapters. Just my personal preference is all and in no way detracted from the book. I did take longer to read with life getting in the way but I was able to dive back in where ever I'd leave off without issue which I always think is a positive.

Review originally posted on A Frolic Through Fiction:[...].Ohhh I left it too long.I knew this would happen. I’ve been going off so many series lately, I just knew it would happen.It’s so strange, because I reread The Darkest Minds before Christmas and loved it. But this one? …Meh.It could just be because of this phase of not-liking-books-I-used-to-love-anymore. It could be because I really wasn’t in the mood for it. I don’t know.Starting the book, I was really confused. It wasn’t clear to me how much time had passed, and it sort of just seemed like a huge jump had been made. Somewhere between the end of the first book and the start of the second, a whole new bunch of characters made it to “main character” status, and our lead character Ruby had gone through a whole heap of training. But compared to everything else – the situations, the other characters – it seemed not that much time had passed.This book definitely takes on the same themes as the first. It’s a conspiracy type story, where you don’t quite know who the villain of the story is because what’s the truth? That just seems to be the driving force of the book – what’s the truth?There’s just constant action. The entire book is a journey to find the truth, and all the “boring” parts of the journey are left out. It’s usually a good thing to have a book that’s non-stop. But for me, it sort of got to a point where I’d be thinking “oh my goodness, what now?!” purely because THAT MUCH goes wrong. There’s so many problems during this book, it got a bit tiresome for me. When it’s just one bad thing after another, one constant stream of problems…it just made the story unrealistic to me. Maybe if a bit more of the waiting period between events had been shown, or the actual travelling around, it would have been better spaced.This book is much more plot based than the first. But that made me not care about the characters as much as I should’ve. Especially with the amount of arguing. Oh god was I sick of the amount of arguing in this book. It’s understandable. If we were living in their situation, I’ve no doubt arguments would happen thanks to fear and built up tension. But again, because there’s hardly any pauses between events, it all just build up too much. I’d just roll my eyes every time someone started arguing and think *sigh* “Not again”.Granted, the story did pick up a bit more halfway through. There was a scene with “East River” – if you’ve read it, you’ll probably get which part of the book I mean – that really caught my attention compared to the rest of the book. And I did have hope that I’d enjoy the majority of the book after that. But…then the story moved on again and I fell back into my slump-ish mood.It just got to a stage for me where so many supposed “plot twists” happened, it made the story predictable. “How does THAT work?” I hear you ask. Well, when there’s so many plot twists of people being betrayed / someone being a bad guy / a much worse event happening / someone being caught / etc etc, you start to expect it. Which means…they’re not really twists anymore. It’s almost like the book was written in a way that tried too hard to be complicated and shocking.But I am going to say this. This is not a bad book . So so SO many people adore this series. Even while I was reading, I could see why. All the action can make it gripping. The characters can be lovable if you’re invested in the first book. The conspiracies and “what’s the truth” element can make it mysterious. If you have any interest in this book, then I implore you to try it for yourself, and don’t judge just from my (somewhat disappointed) opinion.Because for me, and my changing taste in genre and books…it’s just a “meh”.

This book was brilliant - the characters, again, are so vivid in my mind they feel like my friends; I feel like Ruby. The end ha left me on such a clifhanger I'm going to have to spend another six pounds on the next book...I do think that the beginning of the bool is a bit slow moving and it might take a while to get into it. Some of the characters and events don't fit together at first, but thats not a problem because you just have to keep reading! I PROMISE that it gets better... give it a chance!Wow, wow, wow. I'm six pounds poorer than I was when I started this reveiw!

What this book is about(if you haven’t read the first book, The Darkest Minds you should skip this review. Spoilers ahead!):Ruby is now a vital part of the Children’s League as a Leader of a small group of kids. Vida, a Blue girl with a big attitude, Jude, a yellow guy who doesn’t understand danger and the way this horrible world runs and Nico, a Green computer whiz. A few months have past since Ruby swiped Liam’s memory clean of every single representation of her. Now she is a trained agent who is not afraid of her Orange abilities anymore. Now she has to use these abilities to leave the Children’s League and find Liam, the same Liam who doesn’t remember her name, and retrieve from him something of great importance for the future of all the Psi kids in America.One thing I know for sure about this series is that if I read it when I was 16 I would have absolutely fallen in love with it. This is a great series for adolescents who are into dystopian adventures. As an adult now, I still enjoyed it but it’s not the literary diamont I was waiting all my life to read. This is a fun, fast-paced adventure, full of action and enough twists and turns to keep things interesting until the very end. It is rear from a first-person perspective, as was the first book in the series, and we follow Ruby and her new friends, Jude and Vida. Never Fade is approximately as big as The Darkest Minds and it continues off, some months after the end of the first book.The story of the first book is, in my opinion, much darker, compared to this second book. Never Fade doesn’t need to introduce us any more to the harsh reality of life for the Psi kids and so we are more interested in the relationships between the characters but also the conspiracies taking place in the U.S. government and the Children’s League. Many things that we didn’t know after the first book are slowly unravelling for us but there are also, still, many new surprises and secrets to find out throughout the book. The story starts of with the first three chapters all ending in cliffhangers that just made me want to read on and find out what is going to happen. And, as you would expect from Alexandra Bracken after reading The Darkest Minds, the last 100 pages of the book really pick up the pace and the action and thrill climb to their peak.We are introduced to a whole new cast of important characters in this book which was a little strange in the beginning, especially after getting to know Liam, Chubs and Zu so well. But the new guys are a great addition to the story and the writing style of the author really allows the reader to understand and know them in depth. Ruby has become more mature and taken up new responsibilities about her powers that she didn’t want to have. This has opened so many new doors and possibilities for her. Jude is like the little brother that Ruby never had and they are funny and very enjoyable to follow together. Finally, Vida is a character that made the story more realistic. Be warned though, there is a lot of heavy, I would say, cursing in this book that might not be appropriate for very young teens. This is another difference from the first book in the series.One more thing that really helped this book advance was the writing style. It’s simple but very descriptive and powerful. Alexandra Bracken writes to the point and doesn’t use excessive sentences to get her message across. This makes the book very enjoyable and easy to read and the time flies by before you know it. There is a lot of character development taking place as Ruby comes to accept her Orange abilities. There are new adventures in which our characters get into. There are conversations and confrontations of great importance for the future of all the kids. This book is full of fun, engaging content which the author has efficiently presented in 500 pages without becoming overwhelming or boring.As I said, as my younger self, this series would have been perfect for me. To be honest, now that I’m thinking about it, this would probably also make a great movie. I had a nice time reading this second book and I’m excited to pick up the third and final novel to see where the story is going to end and where our characters will end up. I urge you to pick this up if you enjoy dystopians or YA sci-fi/fantasy.

This book leads on well from the previous one. The storyline develops well, although it does take a little while to properly get going. I loved how the connection between Ruby and Liam developed, even after the ending of the last book. It was nice to see Ruby become so strong compared to the vulnerable girl which she was when Liam and Chubs first found her.Overall, this book was great.jessreviews877169955.wordpress.com

The first book was ok, poorly written but at least kept me reading. I started reading this one as I wanted to know the outcome of the end of the first book. Unfortunately this book is such a bore! Talk about unlikeable characters and non sensical plot. The kids are so happy swinging their guns about they hardly use any of their powers. The “outcome” of the end of the first book was also disappointing. Not going to read the third book.