For the human race, time is rapidly running out. Only thousands have survived the plague of a weaponized virus unleashed by the Partials and more than a decade has passed since the birth of a child genetically immune to the fatal onslaught. On the front lines of what seems to be a losing war is Kira, a 17-year-old medic-in-training. With the acuteness of youth, she realizes that only drastic measures can prevent extinction. To begin her uphill fight, she urgently needs allies.... (P.S. Author Dan Wells knows how to sustain our interest. His novel I Am Not a Serial Killer gained strong reader reports.)
— Brian Monahan
Publishers Weekly
Long Island, N.Y., is the last outpost of humanity in adult author Wells’s (the John Cleaver series) YA debut. Wells prefers immediate impact to consistent world-building (for instance, the skin of corpses in a rat- and rot-infested apartment building has somehow been preserved), but it’s an intriguing world nonetheless. Weakened by war with an engineered life form, the Partials, humanity was knocked out by RM, a virus that the few survivors have been unable to cure or breed an immunity to. Every baby born since “the Break” has died, and a desperate government has mandated reproduction, hoping for a miracle. Kira, a 16-year-old medic, is tired of death and terrified of forced fertility. When her friend Maddy conceives, Kira concocts a plan to capture a Partial and use its biological material to find a cure. She’s not prepared for the shocking humanity of her target, Samm, or for what she learns about herself. Though long on historical description and political debates, readers who enjoy SF-oriented postapocalyptic stories will relish this one. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger Inc. (Mar.)
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Wells creates a compelling, fantastically complex post-apocalyptic landscape, adding thought-provoking twists to a classic story of humanity creating its own doom...With broad cross-genre appeal and an engaging balance of thematic depth and rip-roaring action, this winner will leave readers clamoring for sequels.
Wall Street Journal
Mr. Wells has recombined familiar dystopian elements, added original ones and thrown in dashes of dry wit to create a sprawling, action-packed medical thriller full of big ideas and exciting reversals.
Los Angeles Times
Readers who enjoy headstrong feminist leads making their way . . . in the not-too-distant future will find plenty to like in Partials.
Pittacus Lore
A thrilling sci-fi adrenaline rush, with one of the most compelling and frightening visions of Earth’s future I’ve seen yet. I couldn’t put it down.
The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books
“Wells creates a compelling, fantastically complex post-apocalyptic landscape, adding thought-provoking twists to a classic story of humanity creating its own doom...With broad cross-genre appeal and an engaging balance of thematic depth and rip-roaring action, this winner will leave readers clamoring for sequels.
Kirkus Reviews
Teens battle human extinction in a post-apocalyptic thriller. In the year 2076, Kira Walker's one of the last humans. Eleven years prior, a war against genetically engineered humanoid weapons called Partials abruptly ended with the release of a weaponized virus that killed most humans. Kira is a medic intern working in the maternity ward, where, despite the doctors' best efforts, there has yet to be a single infant born with its parents' immunity. While the Senate attempts to prevent extinction through the Hope Act--legislation commanding all girls 18 or older to be pregnant or trying to conceive--quantity has not yielded a surviving infant, and the oppressive rule births a resistance movement, threatening their small civilization. Kira's determination to discover a way to save her species is intensified through her adopted sister's pregnancy. But with all human aspects of the virus thoroughly studied, Kira and a small band turn to a less orthodox way of gaining biological information--the immune Partials. Their covert mission starts a chain reaction, uncovering secrets revealed through political dealings, medical pathology and paramilitary action sequences. The rollercoaster plot takes precedence over character at times, and the generally realistic world occasionally strains credibility. The rushed ending promises a sequel, progressing the story enough that readers are certain to return. A dark, wild ride. (Science fiction. 14 & up)
