Jan 26, 2012

Review: Partials by Dan Wells

Title: Partials
Author: Dan Wells
Publisher:  HarperCollins
Publication Date: 2.28.12
Pages: 472
Genre: SciFi
Series: Yes (Partials #1)
Source: ARC from publisher

Rating: B-

Summary (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.

Review:
I had never heard of Partials before I was given a copy to review, so I knew next to nothing about it. I read the synopsis that you see above and was immediately intrigued. While SciFi novels are hit or miss for me, I couldn’t help but compare this to a show I absolutely adored, Dark Angel. That made me even more excited to read this.

Unfortunately that was as excited as I was going to get.

I found that the story really dragged in places, and occasionally found myself skimming some pages to see when it would get better. The good parts (and yes, there were quite a few good parts) really propelled the storyline. When the action picked up, I was riveted. But then, a chapter or two later, the story would drag out again. I found these lags really soured the story for me.

I think my biggest problem was Kira. She was too bland of a main character for me. I never really connected with her, and so I had a hard time caring about her story. I don’t want to divulge too much because the actual story is fairly different from the summary. The summary provided barely skims the surface of what the novel really is about.

Overall, Partials is a good read. It’s not my favorite, but I would pick up the next book in this series to see what happened to the characters in this one. Dan Wells came up with a great idea for a novel … I just felt like it was poorly executed in places. Maybe I set my expectations too high for this one, but I would recommend checking this one out of the library before buying it unless you are a big-time SciFi fan.

Buy: Amazon

16 comments:

  1. Great Review. I would like to read this one. First review I have read for this book.

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  2. glad I read this review! I heard about Partials recently and it's still on my TBR list but I might borrow a copy to read instead of buying it right away!

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  3. Great review! I have received this title to review also and had not heard of it prior to receiving it.

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  4. This book is already on my TBR list! It's too bad you didn't enjoy it more. Bland characters are never fun, but maybe the sequel will be better! =)

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  5. I just snagged an ARC of this at work and when you said DARK ANGEL, you had me, but now I'm wary since you didn't like it! maybe it will be lower down the list for me. Thanks for the warning :)

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  6. I haven't heard of Partials before. I might give it a read sooner or later. Not gonna rush out since you didn't think that much of it...

    Great review!

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  7. Great review, sad that it's a bit laggy and slow. I'm a skimmer too when I can't get through certain sections.

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  8. I totally judge books by their covers, this one looks cool!! This looks like a quick read, even if it's not the most exciting.
    dede

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  9. This books sounds like an interesting idea, but I am not sure if I will read it or not after your review- I have so many books that I hate to waste time on one with lots of 'lags'. I really appreciate an honest review, though.

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  10. Thanks for the review! I've heard really good things about it, but maybe it's just the hype. Always good to get different opinions!

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  11. Thanks for the review. I was unsure about this one, and I opted not to try to get it at ALA. It looks like I won't be missing too much.

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  12. I like Dan Wells, and I loved Dark Angel, so I think I will try this one. Will try it, but stay iffy on it anyway, heh.
    Thanks for the review!

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  13. Thank you for the honest review. I had not heard of this book, but I don't think it's something I would enjoy.

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  14. Oh no!! My expectations are really high for this one and I am reeeaaally looking forward to it! I can't wait to get my hands on it, hope I'm not disappointed!

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  15. I like light sci-fi but I think I need a main character that I can relate to more. But Partials still sounds pretty good.

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  16. I seriously want to read this one. I haven't picked it up yet because I have so many others to read but it looks like its right up my alley. Least it made you curious enough to read the next haha.

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