In the Afterlight

Maybe I took too much time between reading [b:Never Fade 16150830 Never Fade (The Darkest Minds, #2) Alexandra Bracken https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368460550s/16150830.jpg 21986942] and this book. Because I remember caring about these characters and what they went through, but I wasn't feeling a whole lot of that here.This is an enjoyable, thrilling book once it gets started. Unfortunately, it doesn't really start until about 250 pages in, which if you can do math you'll note that that's about half the book. The first chunk of the book is made up mostly of Ruby's thoughts of self-doubt, some character based stuff, some plotting and planning because hey a bunch of kids trying to overthrow a corrupt and cruel government is actually really difficult, as well as developing a new relationship with a great character who will be killed off-screen in the second half of the book. Oof. It took me a while to get through that business. Once the action kicked in, things moved quickly and with purpose. We go back to where things all started, Thurmond, and some loose ends were tied up that I was really happy about. There was something about the action though that felt really stale, and it might have been that there wasn't a whole lot superpowers involved.If [b:The Darkest Minds 10576365 The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds, #1) Alexandra Bracken https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1343178841s/10576365.jpg 15483434] was about the end of days, and In the Afterlight about revolution, then Never Fade was anarchy. That book was deeply entrenched in the kids' raw abilities, in the broken landscape and society that was left behind by IAAN. Ruby came into her powers, she discovered how devastating they could be and how terrible the gifts of others could be as well. But in In the Afterlight, all that felt incredibly neutered. There's a lot of military and political strategy involved instead, which is cool and slick and sophisticated but I guess not what I love about these books. One of the big teases of the second book was the Reds and the role they would play in the climax - as it turned out, that role was largely insignificant. Ruby uses her abilities gently for the most part, there's nothing like the kidnapping/car crash scene from Never Fade or the scene with Mason. Even with how angry and emotional she is, her power becomes one of the smaller parts of her, instead of one of the most profound.There's also a lot of Liam and Ruby here. Not that the romance overwhelms the plot or anything, its actually really well integrated into the main story. The two of them hashing out their issues and learning to trust each other is big part of their own personal development and their strength as leaders and friends. Unfortunately, I just didn't really care about them a whole lot. Like, I'm happy for you crazy kids, but I don't really need to know the details.I know I must sound like a big unsentimental grouch who just wants her favorite characters to be like Magneto or whatever. I do feel like Bracken did a great job of saying what she needed to say about culture and fear. She shows far more knowledge about government and politics then a lot of other people writing YA dystopias. She actually addressed how the international community responded! I wanted to cartwheels. And honestly, if you've read the first two books and enjoyed them, probably nothing is going to stop you from reading this one, at least to see how it ends. Like I said, after you slog through the first half of the book, its a fun time. I think I was just expecting something else.