Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Review: Fade by Lisa McMann

Title: Fade                                                              Author: Lisa McMann
Age Range: 14+
Publication Date: January 28, 2009
Pages: 248
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Rating: 10/10

Synopsis from Goodreads:  SOME NIGHTMARES NEVER END.

For Janie and Cabel, real life is getting tougher than the dreams. They're just trying to carve out a little (secret) time together, but no such luck. 


 Disturbing things are happening at Fieldridge High, yet nobody's talking. When Janie taps into a classmate's violent nightmares, the case finally breaks open -- but nothing goes as planned. Not even close. Janie's in way over her head, and Cabe's shocking behavior has grave consequences for them both.

Worse yet, Janie learns the truth about herself and her ability -- and it's bleak. Seriously, brutally bleak. Not only is her fate as a dream catcher sealed, but what's to come is way darker than she'd feared....



Initial Thought: " I can't wait to dive into this book, I miss Lisa McMann's writing style!"
End Thought: "Wow...talk about getting down to the harsh truth, that was intense."

Review: In this installment of the Wake series, Lisa McMann does a great job of getting down to the nitty gritty of Janie's and Cabel's lives. I thought Wake was intense in it's portrayal of the lives some teenagers lead as well as how drugs play a part in those lives, but the topic that Lisa McMann discusses in Fade and the way she allows Cabel and Janie to deal with them while they worry about the supernatural problems Janie is dealing with, creates for a very impacting read that really opened my eyes to the distress of some teenagers lives, even though this book is supernatural fiction.

To begin with, the romance felt so real and natural in this book. There wasn't any forces declarations of love, or anything that a teenager wouldn't have really said. It was these two teens brought together by circumstance trying to do what's best for each other. In summary, it wasn't a fake romance. And Cabel represented the way a leading YA guy is supposed to act, at the same time demonstrating the way a protective, but not insanely protective, boyfriend would act towards his girlfriend. He really tries to protect Janie, and take the burden of her dreams and all she is facing, on himself, and this ends up affecting and changing their relationship drastically. 

To be honest, I actually found some parts of this book hard to read. Not because of the writing style at all, but because of the topics it addressed. Sexual predators, rape, chronic depression, these are really intense and controversial areas of writing and they were demonstrated in such a vivid and realistic way that I had to set the book down a few times.

In all I loved this book, the romance didn't take away from the plot, and the plot didn't take away from the romance. Janie really grows as a character in this book as she learns a lot about how her life is going to play out with this gift/curse. 

Recommendations: All who loved the first book should definitely read this. I love it when the next book in a series surpasses the first. And to those who are fans of Ellen Hopkins, this book isn't as gritty and raw as Ellen Hopkins, but it does address the same topics!

Characters: 10/10 
Plot: 10/10
Originality: 10/10 
Entertainment: 10/10 
Ending: 10/10 
Writing Style: 10/10 
Cover: 8/10 (Am I the only one who has no idea what that thing in the center is?)

2 comments:

Girl on a Mission said...

I agree this one did get pretty down and dirty but in my opinion it was better than the first. I can't wait to read Gone (still sitting on my shelf).

Marce said...

I recently finished this series, loved it. Wake was my favourite but I ended up giving both Wake and Fade 4 1/2 stars.

I didn't enjoy the start of Gone but did enjoy it in the end. I think LisaM had a hard time wanting to end the story actually.

The picture is a shot glass, the ice splashing over the alcohol.......

My review of the trilogy if interested.

http://teawithmarce.blogspot.com/2010/06/review-gone-by-lisa-mcmann-wake-trilogy.html