Never Fade (The Darkest Minds, #2)

by Alexandra Bracken

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2013/12/never-fade-by-alexandra-bracken.html
The Darkest Minds was the surprise of 2012, and Never Fade was a worthy follow up, even bordering on surpassing the original. A group of kids that were plucked from their lives and thrown into detention camps around the country, for exhibiting supernatural abilities. A disease that swept through the juvenile population spared some, while others simply perished. Parents often called the authorities, scared of being harmed and only wanting to rehabilitate their young. The children are barely kept alive, tortured and abused, yet the public aren't aware that the children aren't being rehabilitated, nor will they ever be cured. But with the information that Ruby is sent to retrieve, the future of the children and their families may never be the same again.

Ruby is an awesome female heroine, she's tough and makes no apologies. But the real star of Never Fade is Vida. Vida is a member of Ruby's team at the Children's League and if you think her bark is bad, you've never seen this girl bite. She's snarky, witty and balls to the wall tough as they come. My only complaint is that for the first few chapters, I was struggling to remember where book one had left off and who some of the characters are, unfortunately Never Fade provides little to no back story until you read midway through. But as the storyline began to click into place, I absolutely loved it. The Darkest Minds is a series that challenges the young adult boundaries and is impossible to put down. Alexandra Bracken has mastered the art of submerging the reader into the storyline and allowing us to connect with her characters. And the ending? Epic. The third book is set to be explosive.