Partials by Dan Wells

Partials
Dan Wells
Partials #1
Published February 28, 2012 by HarperTeen

Bite-sized Review
I really loved Partials. Despite a slow start, the story sucked me in, and I'm rather attached to the characters.

King-sized Review
Worlds built on lies and ignorance are my favorite to read about. There's something thrilling about working your way through the layers of deception to find the truth, and Partials plays that card really well. Partials takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where, after a war with cyborgs, what's left of the human race has been severely depleted by a disease that now kills off 100 percent of their children days or hours after they're born. The main character of the story is Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic, whose determination and will made her wonderful to follow. If she sometimes made questionable decisions, it was only because she was trying to do the right thing, and even though she was sixteen, I didn't see any kind of annoying angst, probably because of the world she grew up in.

The plot ended up being quite exciting. The beginning was a bit slow and depressing, but it did serve as a good introduction to the world, and there was a lot more action later. I found the premise very interesting. There's some medical jargon in the book, and not being trained in any kind of medicine other than what I learned from watching the first three seasons of House, I couldn't tell you if it was accurate, but it sounded reasonable to me.

There were some awkward info-dumping conversations at the beginning, which is probably part of why it was a bit slow. And despite all that, I'm still not quite sure how their world functions. I get why they had electricity but no one knew how to use the more advanced equipment, and I understand why the Voice was fighting against the government. But I don't really understand what people did if they weren't in medicine, the military, or agriculture. I would have liked to see a little more of what Kira's day-to-day life was like, not just in the hospital, but at home with her foster family and out with her friends.

And if you're going to create cyborgs to fight a war for you, why would you give them the ability to feel emotions, particularly fear? That was one thing that really stuck out as odd to me, but I'm willing to buy it for now and hope there's more explanation later, because I really liked the book.

Overall, Partials was a great read. I loved the suspense and action, and the fact that it didn't pull punches. I can't wait to learn more about the Partials' society in the next book, not to mention see what happens to the remaining humans now.

Quality: Excellent
Enjoyability: Excellent


Thanks to NetGalley and HarperTeen for providing this galley!