Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken

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This is the second book in The Darkest Minds trilogy by Alexandra Bracken. If you have not read the first book, The Darkest Minds, it's about a girl named Ruby who is living in a rehabilitation camp.  She is being "reconditioned" by the government for having a psychic ability that was caused by surviving the disease IAAN.  When she is able to escape the camp, she joins a group of misfits that are on their way to East River, a haven for children with the psychic abilities.  Ruby must try to keep her powers a secret from the others while they try to avoid the many dangers on the road.  Now go read it, then read this one, and then come back. 

Bracken has done it again and completely blown my mind.  Never Fade starts six months off of where we left Ruby.  She has now been trained by the Children's League and is the Leader for Cate.  She leads Vida, a hot tempered blue, Jude, an observant yellow who reminds me a little bit of Zu if she could talk, and Nico, a quiet green who so not who he seems.  Ruby and Vida are on an Op that almost kills them, but they were able to rescue their target who happens to be Liam's brother Cole.  At the same time Jude and Nico over hear a plot by Rob and Jarvin to take control of the League and get rid of all the kids.  Ruby joins forces with Cole to find a memory card that will help them free all the children in the camps.  Only problem is that Liam is the only one who knows where the chip is, and Ruby doesn't know where Liam is. There are so many twists and turns along the way.  I really don't want to give too much away if you haven't read this yet.

This is a completely different Ruby then in the first book.  She is not afraid to use her powers anymore.  She has embraced them and not always in a good way. She's so much more reckless. She's not afraid of a gun, a fight, almost anything unless you try to hurt her friends. The monster that she is so scared of becoming, she is close to being especially the scene in the car with Rob.  I spent a good part of this book yelling at her to stop being self destructive.  First with what she did to Liam, then with herself.  Bracken did a fantastic job of weaving the old timid Ruby into this new stronger Ruby.  Watching her walls that she builds up come down for Vida and Jude was reminiscent of the old Ruby and a perfect touch to the story.

My biggest down with this story was no Zu.  I think the Jude's personality was so similar to Zu that Ruby instantly embraced him.  If Zu could talk, I think that she would be full of questions like Jude.  I'm really hoping that what happened to Jude is not a foreshadowing of what is to become of Zu. 

Let's talk Clancy.  I really hate him.  I would love to see Voldemort and Clancy face off against each other.  I seriously think Voldemort would lose.  He is one evil messed up kid.  I was really hoping the Jude was going to electrocute his ass by the end.  Here's to hoping that Zu will do it.  Considering that he controlled his mother to stop a cure, I would not be surprised if Clancy is calling the shots and his dad's brains have turned to mush.  Plus Clancy is one of the those characters that has to be killed ten times before he officially dies.  He will probably have to be put into a blender and buried 100 feet down into the earth before I will believe he is dead.

The ending blew me away.  So many things happening at once plus throw in a few plot twists it left me reeling and anxious for more.  What I'm hoping to see in the next and final book is not a cure, but maybe an acceptance from everyone that the government caused these abilities in the children and that the people in charge of the experiments punished for it.  I would like to see Clancy punished in some way.  Taking away his powers would be the best punishment ever.  I'm also loving the idea of Vida and Chubs having a happy ever after together just because I love them.  Also in a perfect world no more characters will die.  

What I liked about this sequel was that it was a strong companion to the first.  The plot moved along smoothly.  Character development was spot on.  The title was perfect and I knew that she would never completely fade from Liam's mind.  I am highly recommending everyone to read this book in fact the whole series.  Never Fade deserves five stars, two thumbs up, fireworks, and cookies.