Book Review: Partials by Dan Wells

Published Febuary 28th, 2012
Balzer + Bray
480 pages (Hardcover)

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.Dan Wells, acclaimed author of I Am Not a Serial Killer, takes readers on a pulsepounding 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. (From Goodreads)

I really enjoyed this book.  Post-apocalyptic and action and medical stuff is a great combination.  Bombs and guns and virology and a genetically engineered soldier I love (oh my).  

The world building here is complicated, but really cool.  Not only is there a virus killing babies, but there is a superhuman army keeping everyone isolated on Long Island.  It's one giant lose-lose situation, but no one seems too depressed about that, beyond our protagonist, Kira.  Everyone else is concerned about the sketchy government looking over their situation (and they should be).  It's complex, but works really well.

The characters are believable and interesting.  I developed some strong opinions on these guys while reading Partials.  For example, Kira definitely crosses the line from brave to stupid.  Marcus is a sincerely good guy.  Jayden was a badass.  Samm is my favourite (I completely ship him and Kira did I just use the term "ship").  These characters were well done and had me from the beginning.

Romance is typically a huge factor in me enjoying a book.  Sorry, but I like kissing and cute monologues and all that jazz.  The romance in this book actually takes a backseat, and I was okay with it.  The relationship between Kira and Marcus already exists when the book starts.  It worked really well, but I have a subtle feeling that the romance may become a bit more prominent in the next book.

I definately suggest this book to anyone interested in dystopian/post-apocalyptic books or anything with action.  Go check it out.

Much love, Samantha