Nocturnal Book Reviews: Partials by Dan Wells EARLY REVIEW

Partials by Dan Wells EARLY REVIEW

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 | Posted by kara-karina@Nocturnal Book Reviews

Partials by Dan Wells (Partials #1)

Egalley thanks to HarperTEEN

Synopsis from Goodreads
The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic in training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws threaten to launch what’s left of humanity into civil war, and she’s not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will discover that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

Dan Wells, acclaimed author of I Am Not a Serial Killer, takes readers on a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our humanity is both our greatest liability and our only hope for survival.
US/UK Release: 28th Feb 2012

Amazon US/UK | Amazon kindle US/UK | The Book Depository US/UK

* * *

I'm on the fence about this book. I liked it, and at the same time I wished it rose up to the challenge of characterisation and world-building as I'm not a big fan of a sketchy world and oversimplified characters.

Partials is a fast read, a lot of it to do with teens going back and forth between warring territories like they had all the training in the world to do something that seasoned soldiers are not risking to do or plotting against their government. O-Kay...

The research into the virus is a bit weird. It's like the author is trying to make it accessible to preschoolers by calling its parts funny names, but it doesn't really work that way.

Partial boy is quite interesting, but again his otherness and way of acting and thinking is not explored enough. The only truly good thing about this book? There is no love triangle. However there is no real emotional conflict as well, so for me this was a book in between, a book, which if only it had been more assertive would have been wonderful.

I liked it initially but my enthusiasm diminished after a while. Still, a good read.

* * *

В общем, автор проскакал по верхам, обрисовал чуть-чуть характеры, чуть-чуть сам мир и решил, что хватит... В итоге, вышла типичная для YA антиутопия с непроработанным миром, подростки, спасающие мир, и взрослые, занимающиеся чёрт знает чем и непонятно почему пытающиеся удержать в страхе несчастных оставшихся в живых 40 тысяч населения путём создания образа общего врага и удержания женщин босыми и беременными с 18 лет, так как рождающиеся дети из-за вируса РМ не выживают...

В итоге, читать можно, но вот нужно ли? - я не уверена.

Один плюс, - в этой книге нет любовного треугольника. :)

8/10

Tags: 8/10, dan wells, dystopia, YA, дистопия

3 comments:

Mel said...: I've got this one to read in the next couple of weeks but seem to be having my fill of YA dystopia at the moment...there's so much of it about!; 31 January 2012 19:41
Mimi Valentine said...: Oooohhhhhh, colour me intrigued!! I added this book to my TBR pile because it sounds like such a cool dystopian book, but I haven't really seen many reviews of Partials until now. :) Even if it was strange in some parts (like the preschooler accessibility thing LOL!), the fact that it doesn't overpower you with a love triangle sounds promising!

Awesome honest review, Karina! I always like to read on-the-fence reviews because they help me get the gist of what the book's about, so thank you so much for posting this! :); 31 January 2012 20:39
Marg @ Clockwork Reverie said...: Hmm...the shortcomings you've pointed out are things that will undoubtedly drive me absolutely bonkers. I hate sloppy world-building, science, and characterization(s). It's a shame because I've been incredibly curious about this one. I might still check it out at some point if I can get my hands on it via the library, but I'm definitely gonna reserve my hard-earned money for something else.; 3 February 2012 17:05