Never Fade: The Darkest Minds, Book 2

Gr. 9 Up—Haunted by two murders she witnessed, Ruby has nevertheless embraced most of the combat training she received from the Children's League, and is now an Ops leader. She is also called upon to use her ability to probe memory to gather information for the League. Though she is willing to help with these sometimes distasteful interrogations, Ruby's ultimate goal is to shut down the brutal camps that house the small percentage of psi children who survived IAAN, the "disease" that hits American kids at adolescence. Background from book one is necessary for full enjoyment of the story, although it's possible to jump straight in. Chubs, Liam, Clancy, Cate, and Rob reappear from the first book, and Vida (angry and profane) and Jude (innocent and optimistic) join in the hunt for a missing flash drive that may contain answers about IAAN. Amy McFadden uses a wide variety of accents. Her tone, especially when Vida is speaking, conveys an anger that makes this a darker story than the first in the series. An obvious choice where the first book was popular.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX