A book review of Partials by Dan Wells – mild Spoilers
Note to self:
It’s probably not a good idea to read a book about a killer
virus that destroys 99.98% of the human population, leaving only 40,000 people
left IN THE WORLD, when you are getting sicker and sicker by the minute with
the flu…
If you do, you will probably worry that your fever is the RM
virus and you are about to boil to death from the inside out. Which is a
problem because you probably don’t have the immunity only 40,000 people IN THE
WORLD had. You know, and we haven’t developed a half-human, half-machine army
called the Partials who will hold the key to curing the virus and saving the
human race. Granted, that doesn’t matter too much because if I have the RM
virus, I’ll be dead in like 3 days so I wouldn’t be able to get the cure
anyway.
I read Partials by Dan Wells recently. While getting the flu for the first time ever.
I’m usually a pretty realistic person when it comes to sickness, but there were
times I thought I must have contracted this world-killing virus. And that was a
little scary, to be honest. Especially when I kept getting sicker and sicker
for 5 more days.
I loved, loved this book. Why?
Reason number 1. It’s dystopian, which is my fave genre. Or
post-apocalyptic at least. Yeah, not so much dystopian because I learned
through a pin on Pinterest that a book is only technically dystopian if the
main character thinks everything is fine and dandy and hunky dory until the
crap hits the fan for said character, when really, crap has been hitting the
fan for a long, long time. But definitely post-apocalyptic. And it just makes
the wheels in my head whirl thinking about what it might be like after the end
of the world. Gah. Love it.
Reason number 2. Slight romantic tension without hitting you
over the head (or heart, or other body parts for that matter) with it. Granted,
there are times that I love a strong romantic plot line in a book, but it would
have felt wrong in this book. The main character, Kira, is in a relationship
with Marcus, but questions the depth of her feelings throughout. Then she is
chosen to be the sole researcher on a captured Partial named Samm. They start
out with mutual loathing toward each other but as the week of her research
continues on, they relax into a kind of friendship. You know, the strongest
friendship possible when one person is strapped to a table and the other is
performing researching on said captured person. I found myself wanting that
relationship to strengthen while feeling torn about my desires for her to stay
with Marcus. Kira and Samm don’t come anywhere close to actually starting a
relationship, but the tension and buildup was indeed fantastic.
Reason number 3. There were a lot of different races represented. I appreciated that this ethnic inclusion was presented lightly
enough that it didn’t feel like the author was making a socio-political
statement by including lots of ethnicities. At the same time, being aware of
the great need for greater diversity in our YA novels, I wish it had been
focused on a tad more. The main character is of Indian (from India, not Native
American) descent, but it’s only mentioned a few times and I found myself
forgetting a lot. Despite wanting more, I was happy to see that it was not only
middle-class white Americans that survived the end of the world.
Reason number 4. The characters had to deal with some really
hard situations and decisions. The virus is still in the world and every new
baby that is born dies within three days because he/she contracts the virus so
quickly. Basically, the last survivors of the world were faced with eventually
dying out because they couldn’t reproduce. Those stakes are pretty high. These
people have to face some major moral decisions of how to protect and increase
the human race. I love thinking about morality and under what circumstances
normal beliefs and values must be challenged and altered. This series presents
many moral dilemmas for those whirling gears in my brain. And presents the
characters with horrible situations they have to either accept or fight to
change. Love it. Well, and hate it, cause it’s so hard for them. But that’s
what makes a book good, right?
Reason number 5. A male writing from a female point of view.
It was believable 95% of the time. There were a few times I thought something
was not said how a girl would say it, but they weren’t big enough to completely
draw me out of the story, which is a good sign. Props to authors who write from
the opposite sex’s point of view.
Basically, if you like post-apocalyptic/dystopian books, you
will enjoy this book as well. The next book in the series, Fragments, comes out
soon too. Thank goodness.
Recommendation:
- 4.5 stars
- If you want a strong romance, you probably won’t love this
book, but would probably still enjoy it
Tissue Count:
0
Details for more cautious readers:
- There is a major emphasis in on pregnancy because the
government wants immune babies to be born, and immunity is incredibly rare. In
11 years, not a single immune baby was born. So, they have a law that all girls
must get pregnant at 18, with some leaders fighting for that age to be lowered
to 16. No sex scenes, just mention of getting pregnant and who got who
pregnant.
- Mild war-time violence, people getting shot, bombs, dead bodies, etc.
