Review: Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken

Title: Never Fade
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: The Darkest Minds, book #2
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: October 15, 2013
Source: received from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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?

If it's been awhile since you read The Darkest Minds, I advise you to re-read or at least skim it to give yourself a recap.  A year between books means you could potentially forget some really important plot points, as I did.  It'll start coming back to you soon enough once the story gets going, but considering Ruby is in a different place entirely than when we left her in the first book, it took a bit for things to click for me.

Just as with The Darkest Minds, the pacing in this sequel is go-go-go.  In the opening chapters, you're thrust right back into the thick of things, only the characters don't feel familiar at all, as Ruby's running with a new crew now.  I didn't want to trust Ruby's companions in the League, and I definitely didn't want to trust Cole -- Liam's brother -- but I wasn't given a lot of choice in the matter.  I was really hoping the brother triangle wouldn't play out because even though that can be hot, a la the Salvatore brothers, I just thought what Ruby and Liam had in the first book was too damn special to ruin with this kind of plot device.  I am happy ecstatic to report that the author played it cool and earned herself a forever fan.  Cole is arrogant and presumptuous, but he has bigger plans than stealing his brother's girl.

There is just so much to love about this sequel, which I might have enjoyed even more than the first book. Which is saying a lot because I loved the first novel.  Some characters from the first book are noticeably absent, while others return to save the day -- or at least my feelings -- and some of the new characters even manage to worm their way into my heart, despite initial misgivings.  The government is out to get the League and so none of them are safe.  Ruby constantly battles the monster she believes she is.  And she trusts no one, least of all herself.  She's learning to use her power, but she's still not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

This book is an emotional roller coaster as well as a non-stop thrill ride.  It's explosive -- literally -- and a real page-turner.  I know people say that all the time in reviews, but I mean it.  I really couldn't turn the pages of this book fast enough....I devoured it, and now I need the next book in my hands because the not knowing what happens next is torture!  I really can't say much more about the book without giving anything away, but if you liked The Darkest Minds, you NEED to pick up Never Fade.  These books are definitely going in my permanent collection.

About the author:

Alexandra Bracken wrote Brightly Woven as a birthday present for a friend, and the story grew and flourished during a year of unpredictable, wild weather. A native of Arizona, she is a recent graduate of the College of William and Mary, where she majored in History and English. She now lives in New York City.

Find Alexandra:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest

Read More

Labels: alexandra bracken, book trailers, disney hyperion, favorites, must-read, post-apocalyptic, reviews, superpowers, the darkest minds

Teaser Tuesday #76: Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken & For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's what I'm teasing this week:

Title: Never Fade
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: The Darkest Minds, book #2
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: October 15, 2013
Source: received from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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?

My teaser:

    "Not him, I thought, feeling the world shift sideways under my feet. Not him."

- 3% of galley, Loc 197

Oh, noes...this sounds bad.  *bites nails*  And that was only at 3%!!!

Title: For Darkness Shows the Stars
Author: Diana Peterfreund
Series: For Darkness Shows the Stars, book #1
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: June 12, 2012
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth--an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret--one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she's faced with a choice: cling to what she's been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she's ever loved, even if she's lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

My teaser:

    "His heart pounded beneath his shirt, but he did not move. The deep thrum sounded so normal, so familiar. This, at least, they had not changed."

-- p. 232

I've only just started this book, but I already think it's going to break my heart. I think it's probably a good thing that I don't really remember Persuasion.  :)  Reading this one (finally) to gear up for Across a Star-Swept Sky, which I've heard equally good things about.  Oh, and I'm listening to the audiobook for this author's killer unicorn series.  I'm going to be all Peterfreund-ed out.  That, or I've found a new favorite author.  =)


What are you teasing this week?  Share it in the comments or leave a link so I can visit!

Read More

Labels: alexandra bracken, diana peterfreund, disney hyperion, fantasy, favorites, for darkness shows the stars, harper-collins, must-read, post-apocalyptic, retellings, superpowers, teaser tuesday, the darkest minds

Waiting on Wednesday: Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken & Afterparty by Ann Redisch Stampler

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's WoW selections are...

Title: Never Fade
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: The Darkest Minds, book #2
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: October 15, 2013

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?

I'm not reading that synopsis.  I'm not.  I want to be completely surprised when I pick up this sequel.  Especially after that ending in The Darkest Mind.  And I've got squinty eyes aimed at all you BEAers who scored an ARC.  :-P

Title: Afterparty
Author: Ann Redisch Stampler
Series: n/a
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: January 7, 2014

A toxic friendship takes a dangerous turn that leads to a rooftop tragedy in this riveting novel from the author of Where It Began.

Emma is tired of being good. She’s always done what’s expected of her, and she’s starting to feel antsy. That’s why meeting Siobhan is the best thing to happen to her, before it’s the worst. Because Siobhan is dangerous, and fun, and alluring, and experienced... In other words, she’s everything Emma isn’t.

And then things go terribly wrong.

There’s Dylan, the boy who comes between them. And it’s true that their high-stakes pacts are spinning out of control. But there’s even more to the story—and everything comes to a head at an infamous afterparty where debauchery rages on the rooftop, and an intense, long-awaited confrontation results in a terrifying freefall…

A toxic friendship.  A boy who comes between them.  Rooftop debauchery. Count me in.  I just hope that terrifying freefall isn't literal.

What are you waiting on this week?  Feel free to share it in the comments or leave a link so we can stop by!

Read More

Labels: afterparty, alexandra bracken, ann redisch stampler, contemporary, disney hyperion, paranormal, post-apocalyptic, simon schuster, superpowers, the darkest minds, waiting on wednesday (wow)

Review: The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Title: The Darkest Minds
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: 1st book in the Darkest Minds series
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: December 18, 2012
Source: galley from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.

I'll be honest...I didn't read that synopsis very well the first time around.  I think I saw "frightening abilities" and said, Yep, I need to read that one.  Imagine my surprise and excitement when the book turned into something so much more than just your average superpower-type story:  daring escapes, a quest for a kid of near mythical proportions, and friendships to rival that of The Goonies.

From the very first chapter of The Darkest Minds, you are catapulted into the chaos of Ruby's life.  One minute she's just an average girl, and the next, she's not.  And now her parents are locking her in the garage, afraid of her.  Then she's being carted away to a rehabilitation camp.  It's all sad and daunting and over as quickly as it began, though hopefully it's left an indelible mark upon the reader, inciting them to question what it means to be human, among other things, once they see how the government is treating those kids with special abilities.

As readers, we only know what Ruby knows since it's told strictly from her point-of-view, and that's not a whole lot considering she's spent the last six years in a rehabilitation camp.  But we know enough to question everyone's motives, even those trying to help her escape.  Ruby isn't very trusting -- with good reason -- but she falls in with a band of misfits who are searching for the Slip Kid, a kid with abilities who has supposedly created a safe haven for others like them, and I don't think she could've done better for herself if she were trying to find them.

Despite some misgivings at first, the foursome become friends and allies during their journey to find the Slip Kid.  The friendship that blossoms is so genuine and comfortable, from the bickering between Chubs and Ruby to the girl-time with Suzume to the more-than-friends relationship that develops between Ruby and Liam.  I found this group of kids absolutely endearing, and I hoped more than anything that they'd find the Slip Kid and gain some semblance of a normal life after everything they'd endured.

Remember that old adage, "Be careful what you wish for"?  Keep that in mind when reading this novel.  And have faith in Ruby because she may be a tad naive and uncertain after her absence from the real world, but she can be calculating or selfless when the situation warrants.  Her character is one that grows on you, especially the more you see her interact with others and see how socially awkward she's become because of her time in the camp and because of her ability.

The Darkest Minds was a thoroughly engaging read that left my heart pounding...right before it broke into a million little pieces.  It's a gut-wrenching and harrowing tale of survival and trying to protect those you love, even if it means sacrificing your own chance at a happy ending...if such a thing exists in a world like this one.

Favorite Quotes:

"We'll just have to try to make better mistakes tomorrow."

"First of all, armadas are comprised of ships," Chubs said.  "And second, no, they wouldn't send one out for a few freaks."

"Relax, buddy; I got this," Liam said.
"You keep saying that," Chubs muttered, sitting back, "and then it's Oh, sorry team, let's huddle together for warmth while the bears try to break in and eat our food."
"Yeah...sorry about that," Liam said.  "But hey, what's life without a little adversity?"

"You really think that?" Liam sat up and pressed his lips against my hair.  "'Cause, frankly, the way I see it, you and me?  Inevitable.  Let's say we didn't get stuck in those god-awful camps--no, just listen.  I'm going to tell you the amazing story of us."

Rating:   1/2

Read More

Labels: alexandra bracken, disney hyperion, reviews, sci-fi, superpowers, the darkest minds

Teaser Tuesday #35: The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


This week's teaser comes from the following book:

Title: The Darkest Minds
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: The Darkest Minds, book #1
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: December 18, 2012
Source: from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

When Ruby wakes up on her tenth birthday, something about her has changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government "rehabilitation camp." She might have survived the mysterious disease that's killed most of America's children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she's on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her--East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can't risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.

My teaser:

"Uh, no thanks.  I read Lord of the Flies.  I know how this works--everyone starts dancing around the fire and painting their faces and worshipping a decapitated pig head and then someone gets hit by a boulder and plummets to their death--and, surprise, it's the fat kid in glasses."  Liam started laughing, but even I could see how uncomfortable Chubs looked.  "I think I'm going to play it safe and go read--and, hey, there's Ruby!  You two can enjoy the degeneration of human decency without me."

-- 70%/Loc 3698 of galley

I like this kid, whoever he is.  I'm just getting started on this novel, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy it from what I've read so far.  And there are a ton of positive reviews for it, so I'm optimistic, though I'm not going in with super-high expectations.  I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.  :-)

So, what are you teasing this week?  Share it in the comments or leave a link so I can visit!

Read More

Labels: alexandra bracken, disney hyperion, special abilities, superpowers, teaser tuesday, the darkest minds