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A review by andreathereader
Fade by Lisa McMann
5.0
One of my favorite fictional couples is back. Cabel (swoon) and Janie are still in school, still (secretly) together and still dealing with Janie’s unusual ability. This time, the Captain offers Janie a position with the undercover team. There’s a sexual predator on the loose in their school, and the Captain thinks Janie can use her special talent to help suss out the guilty party. Though Cabel protests (he wants to keep her out of harm’s way), Janie convinces him that this is something she has to do. She wants to use her power for good. He relents and they join forces to take down the bad guy. Only Janie ends up in some dangerous situations they weren’t prepared for.
Once again, Janie was a strong, confident woman stuck in an unenviable position. She was learning to control the basics of her dream jumping with Mrs. Stuben’s help and Caleb’s support. Though Janie was unhappy with her dream-jumping (and her mother’s continued mental absence), she never complained. She just kept on doing her thing while staying focused on her future college plans. Cabel is still one of my top literary crushes. He had his flaws, of course: he was overprotective (in Janie’s opinion, not mine) and he had a hard time letting her make her own decisions. But he truly cared about her and only wanted her to stay safe. Nothing wrong with that as far as I’m concerned. It turned out Mrs. Stuben had quite a few secrets she was hiding from Janie in Wake. I enjoyed learning about her past and how she handled the same ability that Janie was now dealing with. Some of the things Janie learned were sad and heartbreaking, and I really felt for her.
The plot was a bit farfetched (I really doubt a police force would leave so much of the actual police work up to a pair of teenagers), but I enjoyed it anyway. If you can suspend your belief and just go with it, you’ll like the ride much more. I liked that Cabel and Janie didn’t have an easy relationship, where everything worked out perfect right from the get-go. They both had their issues, and both had to learn to give as well as take. It was nice to see such a realistic relationship in a YA book.
There was cussing and drug and alcohol use. There were also sexual situations, including the topic of rape, though they were handled realistically and honestly. The plot moved along at a quick pace, as did the writing. No extraneous subplots or prose. Simple and to-the-point writing really worked with this story, with Janie’s frame of mind. Again, as with Wake, I think this type of writing worked better in the audio version than it would in print.
The sum up: Another intense story in the series, Fade sets the scene for the final book and I can’t wait to read how everything turns out. And also, more Cabel, please.
Once again, Janie was a strong, confident woman stuck in an unenviable position. She was learning to control the basics of her dream jumping with Mrs. Stuben’s help and Caleb’s support. Though Janie was unhappy with her dream-jumping (and her mother’s continued mental absence), she never complained. She just kept on doing her thing while staying focused on her future college plans. Cabel is still one of my top literary crushes. He had his flaws, of course: he was overprotective (in Janie’s opinion, not mine) and he had a hard time letting her make her own decisions. But he truly cared about her and only wanted her to stay safe. Nothing wrong with that as far as I’m concerned. It turned out Mrs. Stuben had quite a few secrets she was hiding from Janie in Wake. I enjoyed learning about her past and how she handled the same ability that Janie was now dealing with. Some of the things Janie learned were sad and heartbreaking, and I really felt for her.
The plot was a bit farfetched (I really doubt a police force would leave so much of the actual police work up to a pair of teenagers), but I enjoyed it anyway. If you can suspend your belief and just go with it, you’ll like the ride much more. I liked that Cabel and Janie didn’t have an easy relationship, where everything worked out perfect right from the get-go. They both had their issues, and both had to learn to give as well as take. It was nice to see such a realistic relationship in a YA book.
There was cussing and drug and alcohol use. There were also sexual situations, including the topic of rape, though they were handled realistically and honestly. The plot moved along at a quick pace, as did the writing. No extraneous subplots or prose. Simple and to-the-point writing really worked with this story, with Janie’s frame of mind. Again, as with Wake, I think this type of writing worked better in the audio version than it would in print.
The sum up: Another intense story in the series, Fade sets the scene for the final book and I can’t wait to read how everything turns out. And also, more Cabel, please.