Partials

Reading YA science fiction can be a bit of a mixed bag. After the success of Divergent and The Hunger Games a very firm story arc has been established for these novels. There has to be a teenage female Protagonist; she must be beautiful but unaware of it; The society must be run by a secretive and ultimately "evil" leadership (church, government it really doesn't matter in the end what form they take), there must be a chaste but intense love triangle involving the heroine. It has become so ubiquitous that I have a hard time telling one novel from the next. Readers have to wade through a swamp of mediocre books to find the true gems. I know I have finished any number of books and have been more than underwhelmed in the end. That is why I found Partials by Dan Wells to be such a breath of fresh air.

This novel is full of an eclectic mix of drama and dry humor. The characters are all fully realized people (or partials) and the problems they face are both profound and mundane. The plotting was mature enough to hold this adults attention without losing its target audience, which I am assuming is not a 40+ year-old woman. I just loved the slow well-rounded plot development. I kept my attention and made the world building highly successful.

Now I have to admit that I figured out the "unexpected" plot twist around chapter 14, but instead of making the rest of the novel seem pointless to complete. Mr. Wells kept my attention with a strong story-line and characters who were interesting.

Items not found in this novel, not contrived and painful love triangle, a female protagonist who was smart and scientifically inclined. Kira, the main character, did not spend the novel wavering in her beliefs or need a "male love interest" to show her the truth. In a refreshing change she was smart enough to see it all for herself and resourceful enough to try to do something about it. That being said Marcus her "boyfriend" was a fully realized character, as were all the secondary characters.

Partials deals with some pretty heavy and complicated issues throughout the novel. Dan Wells does not shy away from these topics but addresses them in an organic way that showed that although we may find the ideas disturbing the "plague babies" have been dealing with it their entire conscious life and, as one character pointed out multiple times, Kira and the other "Plague Babies" are only the future, the current leadership is the present, and the present takes precedent over the future. Just a few of the topics the author confronts: Women's reproductive rights; Treatment of prisoners of war and the ethics of torture, The ethics of human medical experimentation, and an overall theme of Individual rights vs. the needs of society. Lets face it the Hope Act in the novel could have just as easily been called "The Patriot Act." There was a subtle but persistent Libertarian feel throughout the novel.

As you can see I just adored this novel and really can't wait to read more from Dan Wells.

4.5 out of 5 stars