“Life isn't fair…It's taken me a while to get that. It's always going to disappoint you in some way or another. You'll make plans, and it'll push you in another direction. You will love people, and they'll be taken away no matter how hard you fight to keep them. You'll try for something and won't get it. You don't have to find meaning in it; you don't have to try to change things. You just have to accept the things that are out of your hands and try to take care of yourself. That's your job.”
Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken is the second book of the Darkest Minds series, a post-apocalyptic dystopia where kids are hunted by the government and true safety is nearly impossible to achieve. In this book, Ruby Daly is part of the Children’s League, a revolutionary group that seeks to free the psi kids of America. While she’s on one of her missions, the teen discovers that a certain flash drive may hold the cure for the disease that caused everything. With some of her teammates, Ruby sets out to find the flash drive, while finding old friends and making new ones along the way.
I gave this book four stars because like its predecessor, Never Fade was a fast-paced, exciting book with fully fleshed characters and worldbuilding. However, it wasn’t as good as The Darkest Minds in my opinion because it didn’t feel as deep or wholesome. The best part, in my opinion, were the characters. Bracken managed to create many new, realistic characters that are easy to root for and get attached to while still keeping the charm and depth of the old ones. The characters were the driving force of the plot and made me want to keep reading so that I could know their fates. The plot and worldbuilding complemented each other and the prose was very well-suited to the story. However, one thing that I didn’t like was how abruptly the scenes changed and the characters had to focus on a different problem. I also did not like the ending as much as I liked the previous one. It broke my heart, and not in a good way. Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Legend by Marie Lu, and The Fifth Wave by Richard Yancey. Enjoy!