Review: Partials by Dan Wells

Title: Partials (Partials Sequence #1)

Author: Dan Wells

Release Date: February 228th, 2012

Published by: Balzer + Bray

Read: March 25, 2012

Pages: 472

Series: 

1. Partials
2. Fragments
3. Ruins

Synopsis:

Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the world’s population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. The threat of the partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to the disease in over a decade. Humanity’s time is running out.

When sixteen-year-old Kira learns of her best friend’s pregnancy, she’s determined to find a solution. Then one rash decision forces Kira to flee her community with the unlikeliest of allies. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that the survival of both humans and Partials rests in her attempts to answer questions of the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.

Combining the fast-paced action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Battlestar Galactica, Partials is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our sense of humanity is both our greatest liability, and our only hope for survival.

What I thought:

I haven’t read a good sci-fi book in a while, and this was definitely good. The beginning was a bit slow for me, but I think that was because I just finished reading a really good book, and didn’t give myself a break before diving into this one.

Kira lives in a world where most of humanity has died from a virus called RM. She has devoted herself to working as a medic and wants to help with the cause of finding a cure. No babies have been born in over 10 years, they die shortly after birth. So the Senate of the city has a Hope Act in place, where anyone over a certain age must become pregnant, in order to see if they can have a baby that survives. Because of this act, a rebel group called the Voice is trying to bring down the Senate.

Things get to the point where the age goes down again, one of Kira’s friends gets pregnant, and her only option is to leave the city in hope of finding a Partial, the ones held responsible for releasing the RM. She wants to capture one and study them, but finding them first is the hard part. No one has seen a Partial since the war.

I won’t give away the story, but there is a lot of adventure, risk taking and fun involved. I definitely liked Kira, how she wouldn’t give up trying to help others, even when she finds out what’s really happening behind the scenes.

It’s a Sci-fi/Dystopian blend set in an Apocalyptic world after a crazy war that wipes out almost everyone. It’s a larger book to get trough, at almost 500 pages, but it does not disappoint!