Author:Dan Wells
Release Date: February 28, 2012
Publisher: Harper Teen
Partials Book #1
ISBN: 0062071041
ISBN13: 9780062071040
Genre: Dystopian
Review Copy Source: Publisher
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.
Dan Wells, acclaimed author of I Am Not a Serial Killer, takes readers on a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our humanity is both our greatest liability and our only hope for survival.
The virus that killed off most of the human race has kept the population at a stand still since the babies that are born die within days due to the virus that is in the air. Kira is working in the hospital helping with research to keep the babies that day within days alive. Kira refuses to watch another baby die and begins the journey to find a cure which leads to some secrets she never would have guessed would be revealed.
Kira was easy to like. She was strong and brave when most people would have listened to their friends and given up. I loved Samm, I enjoyed watching Kara getting to know what a Partial really is instead of what the humans at the top told her they were. The other characters were enjoyable. Wells did a good job with giving back story on the virus and events that lead to the world that the humans now live in. I cant really say more about the story without giving away spoilers but I can say the twist towards the end was fantastic and I really did not see it coming.
Ive been on a huge Dystopian kick lately and I'm so glad I got a chance to read PARTIALS early. The only downside to that is that I have to wait even long for book 2 to come out. PARTIALS had a fantastic world, built around an interesting and unique story with great characters. Kira's story continues in FAILSAFE planned to release in 2013.
I gave it 4/5 stars