Customer Reviews

Fade (Wake Series, Book 2)

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(51)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After finishing the wonderfully creepy Wake, I couldn't wait to extend my time with Janie and Cabel in FADE. The story picks up shortly after the end of Wake. Janie and Cabel are finishing up school, looking forward to the day when they can leave Fieldridge High behind and try the freedom (and anonymity) of college life on for size. And if there are a few key, seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their way, well, what's the use of letting your worry play on an endless loop? Particularly when real, peaceful, be-who-we-are moments are so few and far between.

When Captain hands them a new case to pursue, Janie and Cabel have no idea how far it will take them from those peaceful moments together. Cabel, particularly, begins to doubt the worth of their involvement when he realizes the case centers around a possible sexual predator(s) at Fieldridge High. That and the fact that Captain intends to dangle Janie out there as bait. What Cabel doesn't know is Captain has also handed Janie a folder. One that holds the contents of her predecessor's experiences and warnings as a dreamcatcher. Emphasis on the warnings. They are dire. As Janie works day and night to catch the predator and understand her abilities, Cabel tries to help but finds most of his time taken up worrying over Janie.

My favorite thing about FADE is that spare, distilled writing Lisa McMann excels at. It's a pleasure on ice to turn the pages and simply absorb the clean, concise lines of the story. I did find myself wanting a bit more in some areas. Janie's mother remains all but nonexistent and one begins to wonder just why she's there at all. And how she could possibly be that much of a nonentity, scores of empty bottles notwithstanding. I keep feeling like she's going to play a larger role at some point, but it must be yet to come. I also felt that everyone around Janie should have seen the eventual crisis coming from a mile away. (I did). And so I spent the last portion of the book gripping the pages, internally ranting that this shouldn't. be. happening. And wishing someone would listen to Cabe and not let her go there! That said, any scene Janie and Cabe are in together is breathless and lovely. And I really liked the developing relationship between Janie and Captain. Girl needs some halfway decent adult taking an interest in her life. The third and final book, GONE, will be out February of next year.

I loved the first book. I raved about it. I practically forced my friends to read it. I was breathless waiting for the second to arrive in the mail from Amazon.

Well, it was very good. But it is so different than the first book and has a lot more developmental problems than the first that it almost didn't feel like it belonged to WAKE.

WAKE was dreamy - an extraordinary world opening up amidst darkness and loneliness - exacerbated by a complicated and hungry teenage love. I read it twice. I was on pins and needles the whole time.

FADE isn't even a little bit like that. It is harder, darker, faster, rougher. The subject matter is shocking and doesn't make the reading fun at all...not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but it is so uncomfortable to read sometimes that it really sucks the dreaminess out of the book entirely. It is hard to fall in love with Cabel and Janie's wonderful romance while having to face the twisted, sick sexual predators Janie is helping the police track down at her school.

Positives: I think that Janie is maturing as a character, really coming into her own. The writing style, sparse and beautiful like a constant weaving of thoughts and moments, is even better this time around. It reads as easy as breathing. Most of the time Cabel remains a great character, and towards the end we get real insight into WHO he is now, and less about who he was THEN. I also like the relationship between Janie and the Captain. The sensual love scene between Janie and Cabel is so beautiful it left me with goosebumps. It was such a beautifully written scene. So many authors either pretend that teenagers don't do that, that it's not appropriate for teenagers to read about, or they write it so awkward and uncomfortable to read that no one can mistake it for sensuality. I think Lisa McMann really took a chance with that scene and the results were a stunning success.

Negatives: There is so much plot in this book, there is very little character development and interaction. Carrie is a nonentity, the mom is even MORE of a nonentity in this book than she was before, almost to the point of implausibility. Even Shay, the girl that we are informed at the beginning of the book is still hot for Cabel doesn't even make an appearance in the entire novel. Instead we are inundated with creepy ass teachers and a lot of in depth analysis of teenage police work. Which is another thing that bothers me- the assignment is almost too horrible to believe. It seems impossible for me to think that the Captain, who seems to care about Janie, would put her in the situation that she does, and even more impossible to accept Janie's reactions to Cabel's reactions. He freaks out, she gets mad at him for trying to control her. And as for Cabel? While he is a fantastic character most of the time, the end is a little too neat. He seems to understand himself in the way an adult would understand their teenage selves looking back fifteen years later. He didn't seem like much of a teenager. Which was too bad. In the first book his teenage habits actually give more life to him.

Like I said, not as great as the first book, but still very good. I am excited to see how she pulls it all together in GONE. It should be very, very exciting.

Fade was an enjoyable read. Lisa McMann skillfully builds upon the world she created in Wake. Lisa's prose is stark, littered with short sentences. It adds to the tension and grittiness of the book. Plus it makes the book go very quickly.

In Fade, Janie and Cabel are both working for the local police department. A fuzzy phone call leads the police to believe that one of the Fieldridge High teachers is having sex with a student. Janie and Cabel are assigned to discover the culprit. This assignment puts their relationship to the test. At the same time, Janie is learning more and more about her gift of dream-catching. She's discovering exactly how it is a gift and a curse.

Fade was definitely a page-turner. The plot moved quickly in a typical who-dunnit manner. I thought the discovery of which teacher was having sex with students was a little too much. It was so outrageous and creepy that it was just too unrealistic for me (at least I hope something like that never happens).

I loved the strong role played by the Captain. She becomes the mother Janie's never really had but sorely needs. Lisa also does an excellent job of making Janie and Cabel three-dimensional characters. We see how they "sparkle" but she also highlights their flaws.

I wish there were a few less swear words in Fade. It's not really a criticism of the book; the characters all swear frequently, but it sounded like many teenager actually speak. I just prefer reading fewer rather than more swear words. Depending on the age of the reader, the prevalence of swearing is definitely something to consider.

As you might remember, I absolutely adored Wake and Fade was no different. I started it about twenty minutes before bed (bad mistake) and then picked it up every spare second I had - I think I even skipped doing my hair in the morning to read it.

Fade picks up pretty much where Wake ends and you're instantly sucked into Janie and Cabel's world once again. Since it's a sequel, there wasn't nearly as much world-building/getting to know the characters and it jumped right into the action. I must say that I definitely preferred the plot of Fade to Wake. I don't want to give it away but I just really, really liked it.

Even though the plot moved forward quickly, it didn't stop the relationships between characters from developing and changing. The Janie/Cabel relationship became much more intense and realistic. I loved reading their conversations and found myself close to tears a time or two.

The ending wasn't anything spectacular, I can't really remember the details of it now, but it definitely left me waiting anxiously for Book Three.

Extremely recommended!

Lisa McMann's Fade (Wake, Book 2) picks up right where Wake left off. Janie and Cabel are now both working for the Captain as undercover narcs at their high school. This time though, the case involves a secret sex ring that the Captain wants to uncover by using Janie as bait. This naturally upsets her boyfriend Cabel, precipitating an ongoing tension between them that lasts for the rest of the book, uncovering a number of other insecurities along the way. Cabel and Janie's relationship development remains riveting and there are a couple of steamy, though non-graphic sex scenes, that will have readers clamoring for more.

On the whole, however, I felt that Ms. McMann dropped the ball a bit in this sequel. Though Wake had research issues of its own, Fade (Wake, Book 2) felt even less realistic in many instances. Indeed the portrayal of the case that Janie and Cabel are investigating seemed highly unlikely to me, as did the way in which Janie used dreams to sleuth out details of the crime that would never actually be present in a dream. It seemed almost as though McMann had thought to herself, "Well, I've done drugs, what next? A sex predator ring of course!" It just didn't ring true to me, and she didn't include any authentic sounding details to make the bizarrely melodramatic plot more believable. There are also some pretty glaring plot holes and flaws in motivations, and a couple of instance where things that were really built up had anti-climactic resolutions. McMann clearly had a vision of where she wanted her (vaguely ridiculous) plot to go, and didn't let trifles like realism and believability get in her way. Don't get me wrong, it was still a lot of fun to read, and I finished it in about 2 or 3 hours, but the substance really just wasn't there on this one. Read it for the romance, but don't expect much from the plot. Hopefully we'll see a return to believability in McMann's next book, Gone.

Janie is a dream catcher, a person who falls into other's dreams and becomes trapped within them. She can fall into dreams at any time, without any warning, when she is near a sleeping person. In this second installment in Lisa McMann's Wake trilogy, something is happening to the girls at Janie's school but no one knows exactly what. With the help of her boyfriend Cabel, Janie purposefully enters the dreams of those around her and stumbles into a nightmare of drugs, sex, and teachers.

Fade is more graphic and suspenseful than its processor and many adults will find the plot disturbing. Teens will relate to Janie's on and off again relationship with Cabel, a relationship that is central to the storyline but McMann's unique writing style will turn off some potential readers. The chapters are divided by date and time (6:54 am, 6:59 am) like journal entries but the novel is written in third person. McMann employs short sentence fragments regularly and while these fragments emphasize certain scenes they also lack descriptive elements.

Fade is a quick, must read for fans of the supernatural romance genre and will leave readers restlessly awaiting the final installment. Recommended for Grades 10 and up due to strong language and graphic images.

I loved WAKE, the first book in Lisa McMann's trilogy, mostly because the concept--a girl who is unwillingly pulled into other people's dreams, no matter how she fights it--was so exciting and creative. Loved the plot, loved the characters, and wanted to see much, much more of Janie and Cabe.

So I was so happy to dive back into their world in FADE, another excellent installment, as thrilling and well-told as the first. If we thought Janie's "gift" was complicated before, now we get to see even more of what a curse and a blessing it can be.

So exciting and impossible to put down! A quick read, mostly because you'll want to speed through it to find out how it all works out.

Title: Fade
Author: Lisa McMann
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publication Date: February 10, 2009
Pages: 256

Rating: A
Plot - 19/20
Characters - 18/20
Writing - 20/20
Originality - 19/20
Entertainment - 10/10
Recommendation - 10/10
Total: 96/100

Summary:
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....

Review:
I read WAKE last March, so when I realized this would becoming out really soon, I had to read it. I got it in the mail one night, and finished it early the next morning at school! I could NOT stop thinking about it. It was completely amazing.

FADE picked up where I imagined it would of, and it came on full force. Janie and Cabel were more intense then ever and it was deep. In the first novel, we didn't really know much about Janie, or Cabel, and, now, in Fade, we learn so much more about them. Janie's personality comes out more, and the characters in this book are a lot more shown then the first. Depending on the characterization, this book was much better then the first.

FADE is even more action packed then WAKE. Janie and Cabel are now narc's against the school, and Janie is put into a dangerous position for her new role as trying to get into peoples dreams to bring down an alleged rapists.

McMann writes cryptically. Mysteriously, and deeply. Her writing style is so different and unique, it leaves you wanting more with her way of words and she has such a writing style that is unforgettable.

We also learn more about Janie's dream-catching abilities, she continues to work her ability to the highest and we learn what will happen to her if she continues on the road she is on, and it is heart breaking. I started bawling.

May it be impossible that FADE be better then WAKE? Yes, heck yes. This novel rocked, and I can't wait for more of McMann's enigmatic writing and obscure story-telling.

FADE is released today.

After burning through Wake I couldn't wait for Fade to be released, it's more then fair to say that my expectations were high. I preordered the book months in advance and once it arrived I was finished in a couple of hours. On the whole I was pleased with Fade. A very well done, suspenseful sexy page turner. Once again Lisa MCMann brings her charaters to life in a way that engages the reader from cover to cover, with a writing style that drives staight to the heart of the story. almost like your watching the story through lense of a camera in close up.

Fade opens a few weeks after the events of Wake, Janie is making slow but steady progress learning to control her powers, she's begun working out getting stronger and healthier and though dream hopping is still draining and exhausting in the extreeme the effects are now somewhat manageable. Of corse with Cabel in her life everything is a little less difficult. If you'ed told Janie a few months ago that she would find somone to love who loved her in return, there's no way she would have believed it. it's true though and they'er devoted to one another, even though undercover work means that being a normal couple is, for the time being out of the question. All things considered life is better then Janie would have thought possible. But it's all so very fragile, when Captain taps Cabe and Janie to uncover a predator at Feildridge High, Janie's willingness to put herself at risk opens up all of cabels old wounds and pushes him to the brink. The thing that will keep fans desperate for the third installment is the bomb dropped by Martha Stubin in the form of a notebook buried at the bottom of a box of notes and files. Janie never considered that the elderly women's blindness and disability were anything other then the ravages of old age, nothing to do with being a Catcher. but as Janie's eyrsight begins to fail, she knows what the notebook that she's afraid to read is going to tell her. She's always known that her power demanded a heavy price on her body, but now she knows that it will take her sight and irevicably damege her hands leaving them useless. Now she knows that she can't stop it and the more dreams she enters the faster her world will go dark. The only thing left is to decide, will Janie use her gift/course knowing what will come, or will she hide herself away and hope.

I didn't enjoy Fade as much as I did Wake, but it's still a great book. now starts the wait to see how it all turns out SIGH....

This series is really shaping up nicely! I like how realistic it is. Yes, I know, I can hear you asking now "A series about a girl who falls into other people's dreams is realistic?? Yea ok!" But the writing in this series makes it realistic. Janie and Cabel do not ever have an easy road in front of them, and the book does not paint a fake pretty picture of their struggles. She shows things as they are, and I really appreciate that. You see everything they are going through. And yes, sometimes it bugged me how immaturely Cabel dealt with things. But then I remembered, this is so new to him and he is still a teenager. As a whole, the writing was awesome and really realistic. I loved the voice of the book. It really laid everything out on the pages and told you exactly what was going on.

The plot of this one was really interesting too! I think I liked it even more than the plot of the first one. The mystery dealt with teachers and students from the school and I was sucked right into the whole problem along with Janie and Cabel. It gets really intense towards the end of the book, but I was pleased with the way that everything turned out.

Cabel is just so loyal. I love that about him. He really loves Janie and even though that scares him so much- he never stops looking out for her. It is just so sweet to see. I was rooting for the two of them so much in this book. I just wanted to see them get their happy ending.

This series is addictive. I read them all back to back in just two days. They are pretty short reads and I find myself wanting so much more of them! Great book and a really great series!

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