Fade Review

Having just read Wake by Lisa McMann, I couldn’t wait to get started on the sequel Fade as I had to know where the story was going to go next. Again, another quick read at 248 pages I devoured it in one sitting. If you haven’t read Wake yet, then please do not read this review until you have as I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Fade starts right in the middle of the action. There is something disturbing happening at Fieldridge High School and through a fellow student’s nightmare, Janie learns that a sexual predator is on the loose. With her unique ability, Janie seeks to reveal the culprit and save any other girls from getting hurt only she will have to become the bait and Cable isn’t really liking the idea. As well as the crime fighting, Janie is learning more and more about her ability from an unexpected source in the form of Mrs. Stubin’s journals. Janie takes longer and longer to recover from the physical symptoms of dream walking and finds out that the future is bleak. She has no choice but to accept it and share the knowledge of her fate with Cabel.

This time around, the scene is already set and the characters are already established so we can jump straight into the action. There’s still a few reveals however as we learn more about Janie’s ability and more about Cabel’s past and present secrets. Janie and Cabel’s relationship is still going strong and they do eventually end up in bed together. I’m not normally one for spoilers but I had to bring this up because a) c’mon you KNEW it was going to happen eventually and b) I felt that the sex scene was rushed. We’d built up to that moment with Janie and Cable becoming closer to each other emotionally speaking and then BANG it was over. You could argue that this was art imitating life as usually the first time isn’t often a prolonged experience but I still felt cheated.

Again, this book wraps up quite nicely at the end as graduation takes place. And I’m still wondering where the story is going to go next as I don’t remember picking up any hints. What’s frustrating for me at the moment is that whilst GONE has already been published, it’s only available in hardback and all my other copies are paperbacks so now I have to wait until November for the paperback to be released! Oh well, at least it’s something to look forward to.

Another enjoyable read, I’m definitely invested in the story and I’m looking forward to the third and final instalment GONE when I can get my hands on the paperback copy. Thank you to Simon & Schuster for sending me a copy of Fade to read and review.

Lisa McMann is the author of Wake, Fade and Gone as well as her newest book Cryer's Cross which is due to be published in February, 2011. You can access Lisa's website by clicking here. Lisa is also active on Facebook and Twitter.