Partials- Book Review

The first book I'm reviewing is Partials by Dan Wells. This is the book that was so similar to the novel I'd been working on for awhile that I decided to scrap it for now and move on. But, Dan Wells' version is sooooo much better. I couldn't put this book down and even brought it to church with me to read during the car rides to and from. Those extra twenty minutes of reading really made the difference.

So? What's so awesome? 

The book starts right off with the very detailed description of a babies death that doesn't even have a name because no babies have survived in the last decade. None. All of them die hours after birth because of a virus released into the air. The virus was released by the Partials, a super human army that we created to win our wars. Our main character is Kira. She's a 16 year old scientist who realizes that no amount of data on human babies is going to save the human race. So, she decides that she's going to kidnap a partial and study it. And we go from there. 

This book isn't too much sci fi, the only science part is the virus and aspects of the partials. Not that sci fi is bad, I personally just don't like the hard core sci fi. Actually, I don't like hard core of any genre. I like a good mixture.

The cast of characters is awesome. Kira is very believable, Marcus is our comic relief, there's warriors and Partials and crazy senators and even a camel. Yes, a camel. And it isn't even cheesy. 

"Look on the bright side, " said Marcus. 

Kira waited. 
"This is the point at which you would traditionally suggest a bright side. "
"I've never been a real traditional guy," said Marcus. "Besides, I'm not saying I know a bright side, I just think this would be a great time to look at one.” 

There isn't that now over done love triangle going on the whole book, BUT there is some romance. 

Now this is why I think this book should be considered literature. There's writing like this snuck in all over the place.

“The last to fall were the buildings, distant and solemn, the gravestones for an entire world.” 

This image has been stuck in my mind ever since reading that. I'm usually not one for details and imagery, but man, there's writing like this in there. 

Now, Partials has a sequel, Fragments. In my opinion it is nowhere as great as the first book BUT it is still worth reading. A lot of it is Kira having debates in her head and talking to herself. I skimmed over those chapters and wasn't lost at all and read the action. There's a lot of twists thrown into the mix which are crazy. One second you think you've figured it out but the next, nope. The last few pages of the story were totally worth it in my opinion, I wanted to jump up and down like crazy. 

Read Partials. It's a great story that won't leave you crying for weeks like Allegiant. If you want to wait a little bit until it's closer to the release date of the third book (as far as I can tell it's coming in March!) I'd understand.