Never Fade (Darkest Minds, 2) - Tapa dura

In the follow-up to Bracken's The Darkest Minds (2012), readers jonesing for an adrenaline fix will delight in 16-year-old Ruby's return as a reluctant resistance fighter. Having erased every trace of herself from Liam's mind and abandoned her friends in order to protect them, Ruby throws herself into mission after dangerous mission for the Children's League. Though purportedly fighting to save a generation of children stolen from their families and locked away in camps for possessing powers they barely understand, it quickly becomes clear to Ruby that the good guys may not be so good after all. A Hail Mary mission to recover a flash drive containing secrets about the origin of the disease that killed most American children and left survivors a persecuted and feared band of misfits forces Ruby on a perilous cross-country journey. It's a ride worth taking with her, particularly as Ruby collects a small posse of sidekicks who again become the beating heart at the center of this dark, dystopian series. Ruby is a wonderfully flawed heroine: fiercely loyal to the ones she loves and refreshingly conflicted about the enormous power she possesses. The intricate plot and diverse cast of recurring and new characters make this book difficult to fully appreciate as a stand-alone. But after reading the first two books, readers will be left clamoring for the third. (Dystopian thriller. 14 & up) Kirkus"

Gr 7 Up Ruby is a member of the Children's League, a group of young people who survived the catastrophic illness that has killed most children in America. The survivors are blessed or cursed with a variety of supernatural powers, from great physical strength to Ruby's ability to invade and control the minds of others. These talents make the children valuable to the corrupt government. However, the adults controlling the League turn out to be corrupt themselves. When Ruby realizes that the latest mission she has been sent on was designed to eliminate some members of her team, she decides to circumvent the League. The teen sets out with one of her friends, Jude, in search of a flash drive that holds information that may offer a cure for the disease that killed so many children. They are soon joined by other members of the League. Struggling to survive winter in a lawless country with minimal supplies is difficult enough. Trying to keep everyone focused on the same goal when the team members aren't sure if they can trust one another is harder. When they finally find the boy with the flash drive, he is so ill that it's not clear if he will survive or help them if he does. This fast-paced, suspenseful dystopian novel moves back and forth through time, jumping from one crisis to another, but frustratingly fails to completely fill in the backstory, which would have helped readers understand the characters' motivations. Nancy Silverrod, San Francisco Public Library SLJ"

Book two in the hit series that's soon to be a major motion picture!
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?