Series: Partials Sequence #1
Hardback: 468 Pages
Publication: February 28, 2012 by HarperTeen
The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to 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 threaten to launch what’s left of humanity into 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 discover 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.
In Partials, Dan Wells creates a realistic future in which humans have suffered through a couple more wars before being decimated by the RM virus. Now, the remainder of North America, at least to Kira’s knowledge, has retreated to Long Island. Humanity is now divided in their argument for how to fight for the survival of humanity even as they guard themselves against the Partials, super soldiers they believe to be responsible for the release of the RM virus.
It is eerie how Dan Wells is able to create such a realistic future in light of the events that have passed in his world. The Senate is made up of older people who survived the attack of both the Partials and the RM virus unleashed upon humanity, and they are unwilling to take risks with the remnants of the human population. Instead, they decide to use statistics and pass the Hope Act, forcing women eighteen and older to have a baby every year in the hopes that one will be immune to RM. Kira and her younger friends believe that something else can be done, and her friends take little convincing to go along with her outrageous plans that follow.
The medical focus of the novel interested me the most. Kira first trained to be a medical intern in the maternity ward, because she thought that the dying newborn babies were the ones she needed to observe to find a way to save humanity, before deciding to research Partials. Kira’s conflicting scientific and emotional views give her a unique voice. While there is a lot of scientist in her, Kira will let her emotions get in the way when there are lives in danger, and she will jeopardize more lives along with the mission to save a single person.
The events in the novel take time to unfold, and more questions are raised than are answered. Partials is the start of what promises to be a thrilling series about a girl’s journey to find herself and the reason behind humanity’s destruction.
An ARC was provided by the publisher for review purposes
Author: Crystal
A story girl at heart, Crystal is a bibliophile who can easily spend the day immersed in a good read. She writes under the name Kristy Wang. You can follow her writing adventures on X and Instagram @_kristywang.
Portugal says
Partials is also action-packed, but Wells did bring romance into this fantastic storyline, which I'm so glad he did. And what a heartfelt romance it is with Kira and Marcus. I did, at times, think Wells was going to change Kira's romantic interest, and I'm still not sure he won't in Failsafe. I'll just have to wait and see. Wells also brings heart-break with plenty of tears with one of the character I will just say, I really loved this guy.
Dan Wells' dedication in Partials is the best way to describe my own feelings for this amazing novel: "This book is dedicated to the rule breakers, the troublemakers, and the revolutionaries.
Christina Kit. says
This sounds amazing!!
I love how it's a bit scifi with a totally new take on the genre
Kali S says
This series sounds so cool! I can't wait to read it.
Thanks for the review. 🙂
Ashley Prince says
I just got an ARC of Partials and am eager to read it. This review made me put it up at the top of my ARC list. 😀