Book Review of Partials (The Partials Sequence #1) by Dan Wells

Synopsis:

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

Review:


Partials by Dan Wells
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the first book in the Partials Sequence series. I loved it!

Kira is a sixteen year old girl living in a post apocalyptic Long Island, along with the few remaining humans after a biochemical war. I liked this character a lot. She has a lot of compassion, bravery and determination. However, she finds out a secret that will change her life forever.

I was recommended this book by Amazon, since I am a fan of dystopian YA. I decided to give this book a try, and downloaded an audio book copy to listen to whilst doing chores. I loved the story so much, I also purchased a Kindle copy to read.

Narrated by Julia Whelan, the story is a fantastic post-apocalyptic dystopian novel full of twists and turns. Kira is a girl facing an insurmountable challenge (capturing a Partial and trying to find the cure for RM). However, she has a host of friends that go with her on her journey. The story is told through Kira's eyes, and the reader goes through the ups and downs of being a teenager - the angst and the frustration of being old enough to work and have children, but not exactly treated as an adult either. The characters were quite interesting, but Samm was an enigma. Yes, he's a Partial, but I was dying to know what he thought of things. It would have been nice to have some of the latter part of the story from his point of view. However, that wasn't to be. There is political intrigue that threatens the populace, not to mention the RM disease. There is also hint of attraction between Kira and Samm that smoldered in the background and, even though Kira already has a boyfriend, I was secretly hoping that they would get together.
The narrator did a wonderful job in bringing the characters alive, but I was a little disappointed that she made Kira sound a bit whiny. Yes, teenagers and angst go hand in hand, but when I read the story rather than listened to it, the voice in my head didn't sound the same. I suppose it's the interpretation we, as readers, make when reading books that brings the book to life in the mind's eye. I am now wanting to read/listen to the next book in the series, Fragments and the final installment, Ruins, which has not been released yet.

Dan Wells has written a fast paced, action packed post-apocalyptic YA novel that kept me riveted from the first page. I loved his writing style, which kept me highly entertained and the story flowed wonderfully.

I highly recommend this book if you love books like The Hunger Games and Divergent or YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic genres. - Lynn Worton

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