Never Fade

September 15, 2013
In the follow-up to Bracken's The Darkest Minds (2012), readers jonesing for an adrenaline fix will delight in 16-year-old Ruby's return as a reluctant resistance fighter. Having erased every trace of herself from Liam's mind and abandoned her friends in order to protect them, Ruby throws herself into mission after dangerous mission for the Children's League. Though purportedly fighting to save a generation of children stolen from their families and locked away in camps for possessing powers they barely understand, it quickly becomes clear to Ruby that the good guys may not be so good after all. A Hail Mary mission to recover a flash drive containing secrets about the origin of the disease that killed most American children and left survivors a persecuted and feared band of misfits forces Ruby on a perilous cross-country journey. It's a ride worth taking with her, particularly as Ruby collects a small posse of sidekicks who again become the beating heart at the center of this dark, dystopian series. Ruby is a wonderfully flawed heroine: fiercely loyal to the ones she loves and refreshingly conflicted about the enormous power she possesses. The intricate plot and diverse cast of recurring and new characters make this book difficult to fully appreciate as a stand-alone. But after reading the first two books, readers will be left clamoring for the third. (Dystopian thriller. 14 & up)

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January 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-Ruby is a member of the Children's League, a group of young people who survived the catastrophic illness that has killed most children in America. The survivors are blessed-or cursed-with a variety of supernatural powers, from great physical strength to Ruby's ability to invade and control the minds of others. These talents make the children valuable to the corrupt government. However, the adults controlling the League turn out to be corrupt themselves. When Ruby realizes that the latest mission she has been sent on was designed to eliminate some members of her team, she decides to circumvent the League. The teen sets out with one of her friends, Jude, in search of a flash drive that holds information that may offer a cure for the disease that killed so many children. They are soon joined by other members of the League. Struggling to survive winter in a lawless country with minimal supplies is difficult enough. Trying to keep everyone focused on the same goal when the team members aren't sure if they can trust one another is harder. When they finally find the boy with the flash drive, he is so ill that it's not clear if he will survive-or help them if he does. This fast-paced, suspenseful dystopian novel moves back and forth through time, jumping from one crisis to another, but frustratingly fails to completely fill in the backstory, which would have helped readers understand the characters' motivations.-Nancy Silverrod, San Francisco Public Library

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
Caught between a post-plague government that imprisons the (now psionically gifted) surviving children in camps and a resistance movement that forces them to become weapons, Ruby searches for information about the plague's origins and cure in this second installment. Though the narrative wanders due to antagonists on all fronts, the characters are complex and the world-building engages readers with powerful questions about corruption and fear.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)