Partials(Partials #1) by Dan Wells

 

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.


My Thoughts/Review:

Can you imagine the kind of patience and skill that it must take to properly think through a novel like this before you write it? Years, I'm sure, because there is absolutely no way that a lone man could craft this kind of a story, without time to think it through. He would have to be some kind of super human.

To be honest, when I started this book I had absolutely no idea what it was about, or even if I was going to like it. I just thought the cover was neat. I didn't know that I was going to be hard-pressed to put this book down, or that I was going to fall so deeply into the story that I can't think of anything else other than holding Fragments in my hand.

I want the sequel so bad.

Anyways, now is the time for reviewing, not for rambling. Sorry, guys. I got a little carried away.

I thought that the story itself was very fast-paced, and it definitely kept me entertained, but I had a few issues.

I saw a few things coming, so that made it a tad more predictable than I would have liked, but that can't be helped. If anything though, that didn't hurt my interest in the story at all, because I still felt a need--make that a burning desire--to know what happened next. Let's just say that the plot was good, and leave it at that.

The characters really surpassed all of my expectations, though. I was expecting your normal, bland, two-dimensional characters, but may I just say that I was pleasantly surprised? All of Dan Wells's characters far surpassed that, and shot straight into "four-dimensional". I can imagine ever face they make, every noise, every single thing that makes them, well, them.

Personally, Kira was my favorite, because I got to read through her point of view, and she is every bit as driven to save humanity as I am driven to fix my pick-up. That's pretty darn driven, let me tell you. She's more stubborn than me and my father put together, and she never even thought about giving up. She was going to save them all, no matter what it took.

So, all in all, I would say that this book was fast-paced, emotional, paranoid, and predictable, all wrapped up in one pretty little package. My thoughts are racing.
♠♠♠♠
Favorite Quote: "No matter why you're here, no matter why any of us are here, you're never tied down to fate. You're never locked in. You make your own choices, Kira, and you can't let anyone ever take that away from you."