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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. Combining the fast-paced action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Battlestar Galactica, Partials is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our sense of humanity is both our greatest liability, and our only hope for survival.
Source: Bought for my birthday in Waterstones.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. Combining the fast-paced action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Battlestar Galactica, Partials is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our sense of humanity is both our greatest liability, and our only hope for survival.
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: Paperback, 482 pages.
Reason for Reviewing: 1. It was such a good book and 2. The sequel, Fragments (available to preorder now on Waterstones.com) is coming out soon so I wanted to remind myself and you of Partials.
My reading time: 1-2 days, depending on other commitments.
THE SHORT VERSION
I loved this book. Loved the issues, the world-building, the science - one small glitch but 5 Stars.
THE BREAKDOWN
INITIAL REACTION
I knew I'd love this book from the moment I saw it in on the shelf. Normally I hate characters on my covers but this was an exception. The tagline is amazing also. I actually don't think I read the summary until I'd already bought it, which was a bit careless, but it all turned out for the best.
WORLD-BUILDING
Some have said that this book took a while to get going, but that's because of the fantastic world-building. I loved learning about how the apocalypse had happened and I loved RM. In the fictional way. Obviously. I personally loved how the book went into such detail with the virology because it complemented the fantastical side nicely. The premise of the book is entirely plausible, with the possible exception of RM, which doesn't exist, of course. But perhaps in the later books of the sequence more will be revealed about it. Well, of course it will, otherwise I will come knocking on your virtual door, Dan Wells http://www.fearfulsymmetry.net/. You shall do as I say. Because great writers always listen to me...
Overall the world-building was very intriguing, except for the few parts where it got bogged down with descriptions of gardens and pregnancy...Although I liked the Hope Act, it was very interesting. I'm just cold and heartless sometimes when it comes to the personal bits.
CHARACTERS
Kira: While I didn't feel any great attachment to her until the middle of the book, she was a great main character and really drove the plot along. I started to adore her once I saw her working with the virus. As a medic she was interesting and nice to read about; as a lab scientist she shone. I love science. And, as a lot of people have said, female scientists. With attitude. Also, I loved how her *relationship/communication* with Samm developed.
Samm: Samm, I love you. It was so interesting when he was being discussed and, again, I loved it so much when he started to talk to Kira. And he was a hero! It was so sad how distrustful everyone was of him...but they weren't entirely at fault, of course.
Marcus, Maddie, etc.: Seemed nice and fun. Didn't really make much of an impression on me - my one criticism of the characters is that a lot of them seemed to blend into one. Because of that, I didn't think Marcus made much of an addition to the plot but I don't remember him very well so don't take that to heart.
PLOT
I seem to be alone on this one, but I thought the plot timing of Partials was close to perfect. The beginning set it up really well, and wow, the last part...was really intense. I can't reveal them here, but I LOVED each event going towards the end and the suspense just built and built, with interventions and I wish I could say more here but that would be mean so I can't. Sorry. I especially loved, and was shocked by, since I strangely hadn't seen it coming at all, the revelation about a main character at the very end and the consequent course of action leading onto the SEQUEL!
One thing: The summary compares Partials to The Hunger Games, or at least links them. I don't really think it should, apart from that it draws attention to this wonderful book. They're not similar at all, apart from being futuristic. But that doesn't diminish the merit of Partials one bit. Seriously. Read it.
JUMPED OUT AT ME - SCIENCE
I really enjoyed the detailed descriptions of Kira's findings and the way her *lab* equipment was portrayed pretty accurately too. The virology was discussed really knowledgeably, which was very interesting in itself, so well done Dan Wells. I thought that each additional discovery, as well as her initial failure, were really intriguing, so this part jumped out at me in Partials. I also really liked the idea of the Partials themselves and the politics behind them.
OVERALL
Partials was a thriller with a great world-setting and interesting issues raised but not too heavily.
STAR RATING
Definitely fits into 5 stars for being thought-provoking, interesting and thrilling.
GET IT:
Waterstones - http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/dan+wells/partials/8824045/
Easons - http://www.easons.com/search.aspx?query=Partials
Amazon.com - (Kindle version) http://www.amazon.co.uk/9780062071040-Partials-ebook/dp/B00739WG8U/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1357419442&sr=1-1
Overall the world-building was very intriguing, except for the few parts where it got bogged down with descriptions of gardens and pregnancy...Although I liked the Hope Act, it was very interesting. I'm just cold and heartless sometimes when it comes to the personal bits.
CHARACTERS
Kira: While I didn't feel any great attachment to her until the middle of the book, she was a great main character and really drove the plot along. I started to adore her once I saw her working with the virus. As a medic she was interesting and nice to read about; as a lab scientist she shone. I love science. And, as a lot of people have said, female scientists. With attitude. Also, I loved how her *relationship/communication* with Samm developed.
Samm: Samm, I love you. It was so interesting when he was being discussed and, again, I loved it so much when he started to talk to Kira. And he was a hero! It was so sad how distrustful everyone was of him...but they weren't entirely at fault, of course.
Marcus, Maddie, etc.: Seemed nice and fun. Didn't really make much of an impression on me - my one criticism of the characters is that a lot of them seemed to blend into one. Because of that, I didn't think Marcus made much of an addition to the plot but I don't remember him very well so don't take that to heart.
PLOT
I seem to be alone on this one, but I thought the plot timing of Partials was close to perfect. The beginning set it up really well, and wow, the last part...was really intense. I can't reveal them here, but I LOVED each event going towards the end and the suspense just built and built, with interventions and I wish I could say more here but that would be mean so I can't. Sorry. I especially loved, and was shocked by, since I strangely hadn't seen it coming at all, the revelation about a main character at the very end and the consequent course of action leading onto the SEQUEL!
One thing: The summary compares Partials to The Hunger Games, or at least links them. I don't really think it should, apart from that it draws attention to this wonderful book. They're not similar at all, apart from being futuristic. But that doesn't diminish the merit of Partials one bit. Seriously. Read it.
JUMPED OUT AT ME - SCIENCE
I really enjoyed the detailed descriptions of Kira's findings and the way her *lab* equipment was portrayed pretty accurately too. The virology was discussed really knowledgeably, which was very interesting in itself, so well done Dan Wells. I thought that each additional discovery, as well as her initial failure, were really intriguing, so this part jumped out at me in Partials. I also really liked the idea of the Partials themselves and the politics behind them.
OVERALL
Partials was a thriller with a great world-setting and interesting issues raised but not too heavily.
STAR RATING
Definitely fits into 5 stars for being thought-provoking, interesting and thrilling.
GET IT:
Waterstones - http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/dan+wells/partials/8824045/
Easons - http://www.easons.com/search.aspx?query=Partials
Amazon.com - (Kindle version) http://www.amazon.co.uk/9780062071040-Partials-ebook/dp/B00739WG8U/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1357419442&sr=1-1
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