Partials ~ Dan Wells (ARC) review

Partials
Balzer + Bray
February 28, 2012
472 pages
add to Goodreads/buy on Amazon/or Book Depository

After a war with the partials - organic beings engineered to be almost, but not quite the same as humans - the human population has been reduced to less that of a present day city. The partials were created, unable to age or reproduce, as the perfect soldier to help humans, us win a war.

Their creators never dreamed they might one day be fighting against those same, engineered perfect soldier - and that they would lose. They were helped, in part, by a virus that took the human populations down to only tens of thousands. Those people, immune to the virus have been living the past decade on Long Island, the partial threat still there but attacks no longer imminent.

The imminent threat now is extinction. No human baby has been born and survived in the past decade. They're almost out of time.

When sixteen-year-old Kira learns of her friend's pregnancy she knows it's time for her to find the cure to RM, the virus that will take the baby's life, otherwise. Forced to taking perhaps rash and definitely against the rules action, Kira will learn more about why both humans and partials are in the state they're in than she ever expected. But will she be able to save the baby or will she, along with the group she assembles to carry out her plan, lose more than she dreams?


So, the synopsis on Goodreads says that Partials has the action of the Hunger Games series with the themes of Battlestar Galactica? First, while I do strongly heart the Hunger Games series, I'm not really sure you can compare these two. Hunger Games probably has more literally action but Partials has more suspense and things build up to bigger events a big more. It's not like the action while they're in the arena of Hunger Games but I'd say it beats the action of the other parts of the series, really.

I haven't seen Battlestar Galactica (for shame) but if this book has similar themes, then I really, really oh so very much want to now. I'm really intrigued by the themes in Partials and the way the Senate that made the laws and (sort of) kept order in Kira's world was in this new dystopian sort of world but was also a throw back to ancient Rome.

Partials looking exactly like humans but being a bit like the Terminator was hard completely accept at first - I kept picturing them as the Judoon from Doctor Who - I think it was the black helmet thing. But that was just for a little bit (and I logically knew I was wrong in doing so)! [picture above/right]

The plot of Partials is full of a ton of twists and turns - some of them way more unpredictable than others and will definitely keep you flipping the pages as fast as you can until it's over. Then you'll be devastated that there's not more.

The characters have great interactions with each other. They're young and lighthearted when they're away from the serious stuff but can be tough and business like when the time calls for it. We don't forget that they're young but we also get to see them dealing with some incredibly hard things that people that age should definitely not have to deal with - and the different way in which they deal with it.

There was not a love triangle in this book (readers, especially guys that don't like the romance taking over books will enjoy this one, it's a side element but not the mail thing) but I almost wish there was. There was a character that I wish had more love than they did!


Rating: 10/10   - definitely give this book a chance, you won't be able to put it down!!


Other books you might like: Gone by Michael Grant or Article 5 by Kristen Simmons