Author Dan Wells is back with the sequel to the sci-fi blockbuster Partials, which Pittacus Lore called a "thrilling sci-fi adrenaline rush, with one of the most compelling and frightening visions of Earth's future I've seen yet."

After discovering the cure for RM, Kira Walker sets off on a terrifying journey into the ruins of postapocalyptic America and the darkest desires of her heart in order to uncover the means—and a reason—for humanity's survival.

Dan Wells extends his richly imagined, gritty world and introduces new memorable characters in this second installment in the Partials Sequence.

My Review

Author: Dan Wells
Publication Date: February 26 2013
Pages: 576
Source: Library

Dan Wells' writing style, something I didn't have too much of a problem with in Partials, irritated me in Fragments. It is needlessly long because it is full of unnecessary explanations. 

Let's say that Kira, the main character, is alone in the strange hallway of a desecrated building. She is about to walk into the room. The reader knows Kira has not been here before and she is on a hunt. The reader knows that either the room will have what Kira wants, or not. The reader knows the consequences of both. The reader knows the importance of finding this thing, and the reader should have some sense of how likely it is that this thing will be in this room. This is all especially true if this is the main plot of Kira's story thus far. 

Dan Wells wrote every single one of these things, and it really burdened his writing because so much of this was completely unnecessary. An author should trust the reader to keep up, to some extent. Some mentioning of the stakes are valuable, but it should be more subtle, because I felt like I was being bludgeoned by the "obvious hammer" with paragraphs of explanations that added nothing to the story. Maybe, there would be a simple line of character development through that, but I felt what was really weird was that Wells would later write about the characters being in emotional distress, and I would suppose that this is the moment where he should overexplain and talk about the characters' feelings and maybe write about how they were feeling, and instead we get a simple line of "Kira was sobbing" or something, and the story would end. 

This writing style made so little sense to me because I cared about why Kira felt the need to sob, and whether she was a heavy crier, and I already knew just how imperative it was to find whatever she was looking for. The argument against sci-fi books are that they are too inaccessible, and it's hard to keep up with the storyline. Maybe Wells was trying to make his book easier to understand, but what he did detracted from his fascinating world building and story because it was the equivalent of what they tell us to do in business class presentations: say you're going to say something, say it, and then say what you said. It's the holding your hand approach to writing, and maybe that works for some readers, but it was too much for me. 

The plot is attractive. And yet the book is almost 600 pages. Almost 600 pages, and very little happens because of this convoluted writing style. I have nothing against the length of a book because I usually love it. The author can offer a more complete story, but I think Fragments was unnecessarily wordy, and that was frustrating.

Perhaps Fragments also suffers from middle book syndrome in the sense that it's all building up to one reveal, and reveal is pretty cool, but the journey there is not that interesting. Still, the ending does set up the next book nicely, and I will still read the sequel. 

Another interesting aspect were the morality questions. I liked that Dan Wells challenged the reader and his characters to make tough decisions. While reading Fragments, I was firmly on the side of Team Human, but I remember seriously pondering the lines I would cross and wouldn't cross for humanity. It's quite obvious that Dan Wells is a smart dude who likes to include big questions in his writing, and his writing is full of good ideas. I just generally felt like the style of Fragments was too much of a drag. It's tough to balance the line between storytelling and explanation, and I didn't have any problem with Partials, so I'm hoping Ruins works for me. 

-P.E.

Author: Dan Wells
Date of Publication: February 28 2012
Pages: 468
Source: Library

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only 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 have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of 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 find 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 pulsepounding 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.

Review:

There was something about Partials that called to me from the beginning. I went into the book feeling like I would probably enjoy it. The first chapter captured my attention, and the rest of the story didn't disappoint either.

Where Partials excels is in the details. There are so many nuggets of information about the world, and how it works that maybe are unnecessary and maybe, as not a med student, I'm not qualified to understand any of the medical ones, but they add a layer of reality. If you've ever looked for a truly immersive read, Partials is it. Everything is so well described, and I was pleasantly surprised that with the mix of politics and morality, the story is an intelligent read.

The downside is that the plot is not the most action packed. The story looks long but a lot of it is set up and again, details. A few very important events do happen and there is certain progression of the plot. I think Dan Wells, through his writing, promises very early on that there will be twists and there were. I was expecting a few of them, but I enjoyed them all the same.

The characters were all very interesting to read about. Kira is a medical intern, something I've never read about before. She's an idealist but a very strong moral compass. She's someone I could respect because she was capable, and I admired her strength. That being said, the story features interesting characters, but neither the characters or the plot are what really run the show.

But wait,  I'm still supposed to be talking characters. Marcus was adorable and I did like him. His relationship with Kira did have its issues but they clearly share a bond. That part was exceptionally well done- Kira and all the characters had back stories and families. They were all interrelated through sibling bonds,  romantic bonds, and friendships. There was a history and a background, which made Kira's plight that much more believable.

The star of Partials is the phenomenal premise and world building. So much thought and research obviously went into everything from the medical terms of the RM virus that has killed off humanity, to the behaviour and makeup of Kira's current world. There are political issues, and I loved reading about how the world would respond after a massive tragedy.

The best part is the overall mood the story sets. The tagline is that "the only hope for humanity isn't human" which pretty accurately tells you that humanity is in a rough state. Let's just say that no children are being born and they are faced with extinction. All around Kira are remnants of a previous age- old technology, old systems. It was particularly interesting to see the divide between the adults and the "plague babies". The trauma of the release of RM obviously affected everybody and there are different reasons for different ideologies.

I'll reiterate that the consideration put into Partials is really fantastic. It feels like an intelligent story because the world is so imaginative and realistic. I can't help but to want to read much more, especially after a really good ending. The book was well structured into parts and although some descriptions were a touch unnecessary, Partials felt very well put together and deliberate. In short, well-written.

I'm incredibly excited with these series. I would like to revisit Kira's world. Partials was engaging and complex, and definitely worth a read.

-P.E.