Never Fade (A Darkest Minds Novel) (Darkest Minds Novel, A) Paperback – September 30, 2014

The Plot:In Never Fade, Ruby is an active member of the Children's League. In the beginning we find her on a mission to recover a valuable League agent, despite the fact that there is a rule that if you get caught you're on your own. No one is coming to help you.After recovering this agent, Ruby is given a special mission that takes her back to the other side of the country to find a flash drive with crucial information about IAAN on it. This flash drive is unknowingly in the hands of none other than Liam Stewart.This information is vital for the kids in the Children's League because it will take things out of the hands of the agents who are trying to take over the League and REALLY don't appreciate the kids being involved.The Characters:I absolutely love the characters in this book. They are so well-written and amazing. Ruby goes through so much change since we last saw her in The Darkest Minds. She no longer fears her abilities and has so much more confidence. She seemed a lot more closed off in this book. But in all, she's independent, strong, and fiercely protective of those she's in charge of.Vida and Jude are two of the kids on Ruby's team from the League. Jude is such a sweetie! He's chatty and lovable and kind of like an excited puppy. He doesn't like silence or the dark and I'm pretty sure that everything he does in this book is totally endearing.Vida on the other hand, I had a rough time with. I thought that since I grew to like her in the series the first time I read it, I would like her better now. But I seriously hated her so much for about 3/4 of this book. She's mean and literally never has a single nice thing to say about anything except Cate and I just got so sick of her until most of the way through the book when she started warming up to Ruby more. She is actually a great character, but it was just SO hard to like her for a long time.Since we last saw Chubs, things have changed a bit with him. He had to do some unpleasant things to make a place for himself in the world where he wasn't going to be hunted like an animal. He's still his same smart and kinda sassy self that we all love!Liam hasn't really changed. He's still the same protective, sweet, naive boy as he was in the first book. But he has a really rough time in this book with sickness and the fact that Ruby wiped herself from his memory. This leaves him kind of confused because all Ruby could erase were his memories, not his feelings. Oh Liam, how I love you.The Romance:All in all, the romance did go where I wanted it to go. However, the journey to get there wasn't everything I could have hoped. But that is partially because I basically just wanted a book that was AAALLLLL Liam and Ruby all the time. But they have to fight to be together in this one a little bit. While there wasn't much romance in this book until closer to the end, I loved every bit that I got.The Setting:This book takes place all over the place. I think during the mission Ruby is on in the very beginning, they're in Pennsylvania? Then they're in California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Tennessee, Colorado, and back to California.One of the reasons I picked up The Darkest Minds was because of the road trip aspect. There is definitely still a road trip in this book, but I feel like the focus is less on the journey itself and more on what they're doing and where they're going.What I Didn't Like:I can't think of anything that I really have a problem with in this book. I don't really like Cate or the Children's League in general for some reason, but it doesn't really affect my feelings about the book. I don't know why I don't like Cate, but I didn't like her the first time I read the series either.My main problem with the Children's League is that it separated my FAVORITE CHARACTERS EVER! But really I like that we got a more confident Ruby, Vida, and Jude out of the deal.Overall:I loved this book. I thought it was an amazing sequel. It's got tons of action, some wonderful new characters, and definitely some HEARTBREAAAAAK </3!! If you loved The Darkest Minds, you will need to read this one ASAP. It's got a lot more going on, it's got more road trips, it's got a badass Ruby. I highly recommend this series. To everyone.

This book was so much better the first one! we left off in The Darkest Minds as Ruby (rather rudely, I might add) wiped all traces of herself from Liam's memory, a move that I imagine left many of us distraught.The Darkest Minds was full of action, and Never Fade has even more thrilling, suspenseful escapades and missions.We are introduced to three new characters who are Children's League agents- Vida, an acerbic, honest and hilarious Blue, Nico, a small, fragile Green, and Jude, a sweet, naive bubbly Yellow.Vida particularly was such a brilliant addition to Ruby's family, and every scene she was in had me cheering for her.Kate, the CL agent who originally tried to recruit Ruby is also an intriguing and brave character who is further developed in this sequel.RUBY undergoes tremendous character development through the novel-she is no longer the frightened girl ashamed of her Orange abilities. She is willing and ready to use them unflinchingly and brutally against anyone who threatens those she loves.I'll address a couple worries I had before I began this book, just in case anyone else happens to be taking them into consideration before they purchase this title.Mild spoilers ahead! Ill try to keep things as vague as possible though!Clancy Gray DOES take an important role in the latter half of this book.Ruby and Liam and Chubs DO meet again.Suzume (Zu) is NOT present in this book at all, though she is mentioned.The book DOES end in a bit of a cliffhanger.There is NO love triangle in this book (in case you're thinking/cheering for Ruby and Clancy to be a thing) that grammar was atrocious sorry lol yikesThe reason I gave this book 4/5 vs. 5/5 is because I, for one, have a lot of questions about the state of the US and IAAN.Is IAAN still an active disease? Or has the outbreak ended, and now the population of children is decimated, with only the Psi kids and young children who constantly are getting checkups left?At the very end of the book, Clancy reveals something that he's done that I don't really understand his reasoning for at all, and I was left a bit flabbergasted.A few plot twists occurred in this book that I struggled to comprehend the logic and reasoning for. I felt that insufficient background and explanation was provided for things like what Clancy did (sorry about being so confusing and vague-I don't wish to ruin the book for anyone)The way that Ruby put a curtain over herself in all of Liam's memories was just so disrespectful and unacceptable, and I don't think her actions were sufficiently addressed and resolved with Liam.ALSO- the romance isn't very active in this book. Ruby loves Liam still, and is thinking about him constantly, but there is so much action and intense scenes that there isn't much time to think about romance. Bracken makes this work just fine though.If I sound like a supercritical person who didn't ready enjoy this book that couldn't be farther from the truth. I absolutely adored this book and I love the series. It is one of the best books I've read this month. READ THIS BOOK!I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS TO FANS OF: the Shatter Me series by Tahareh Mafi, False Memory by Dank Kronos, Unwind by Someone Who's Name I Forgot, and The Young Elites by Marie Lucas.