TITLE: Never Fade (The Darkest Minds #2)
AUTHOR: Alexandra Bracken
RATING OVERVIEW
Writing: ★★★★
Story: ★★★★
Characters: ★★★★
Appearance: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★ (4.25)
AMAZON DESCRIPTION:
Book two in the hit series that’s soon to be a major motion picture starring Amandla Stenberg and Mandy Moore–now with a stunning new look and an exclusive bonus short story featuring Vida before she joined the League.
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?
Buy it HERE on Amazon!
THE CRITICAL POINTS
WRITING: Just like with book 1, I cannot stress enough how good of a writer Alexandra Bracken is. Obviously, her English and History studies at William & Mary in Virginia suited her well. She is a well-deserved #1 New York Times best-selling author.
STORY: Bracken does not disappoint with book 2 of The Darkest Minds series. This one doesn’t start exactly where the first one ends, so your left with unanswered questions and an eagerness to find many of the characters who have seemingly been left behind. However, it isn’t long before Bracken pulls everything together and you feel like the story is back on track with a new mission and new character motivations pulling (or pushing) you forward to keep reading.
CHARACTERS: Book two introduces the reader to a whole new group of characters. Although as a reader I wasn’t sure if I trusted them, or even wanted to trust them, I quickly became invested in their lives and their survival. Bracken beautifully weaves Ruby’s old life with her new life showing us both the mental and physical struggles she has to deal with and eventually overcome if she wants to survive.
APPEARANCE: The cover is again, beautiful. However, unlike with the first book, after reading book two I’m not sure how the cover relates to the story. When you pull back the cover this time, you’re no longer surprised, but instead eager to find the second full-color cover, to read the character quote, “I don’t want to just see someone’s face; I want to know his shadow, too.”
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Nina Soden 
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