Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the world’s population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. The threat of the partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to the disease in over a decade. Humanity’s time is running out.
When sixteen-year-old Kira learns of her best friend’s pregnancy, she’s determined to find a solution. Then one rash decision forces Kira to flee her community with the unlikeliest of allies. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that the survival of both humans and partials rests in her attempts to answer questions of the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.
Since Dystopias are largely my area of interest and are somewhat of an expertise for me, I have to say that Partials is everything a traditional dystopia would be. Technological advancement and dystopias tend to go hand in hand, and man’s need to succeed in that field leads to the abuse of technology and its subsequent power over humanity. Dystopias are also seen, in current years, as a way of social commentary for readers to learn lessons and important values that could affect the future of humanity.
That being said, Partials is an extremely well-constructed science fiction and dystopian blend.
I’m going to beat John Gardner into everyone’s mind, but if the author writes the story world convincingly enough then the reader will believe that the world exists. Wells does an excellent job of providing the reader with enough details concerning the outbreak of RM and the development of Partial technology and the rift between the surviving humans and the man-made Partials.
Kira, as a heroine, is intelligent and strong, but she is not without her flaws. She is impetuous and stubborn, which leads to problems throughout her story. Wells does an excellent job creating a main character that readers can relate to, because she is flawed. Marcus, and the other secondary characters, all serve the story importantly and they provide Kira with a strong group to fall back on when the dictatorial government will not support her attempts to find a cure to RM.
For me, the characters, other than Kira and possibly Samm, were somewhat lackluster, but the plot and the narrative arc are what stood out to me.
Not only does Partials provide a look about what it really means to be human and what acts are truly inhumane, but it provides commentary on certain unalienable rights. Currently in the press there has been an uproar about the idea of birth control being regulated and the new law in some states requiring a woman to have an intra-vaginal ultrasound prior to having an abortion. Partials, however, examines the other side of that argument. How would society react if the government was requiring teens as young as 16 to get pregnant and get pregnant as frequently as possible?
There are so many themes running rampant through this text that would be fun for a literary critic to play with and examine, and I think that Wells has a real winner with this series. (I would love to look at this novel through a feminist lens and discuss the implications of turning women into nothing more than breeders) The twist at the end was unexpected, but it fit so well with Kira’s story.
The only negative thing I can say about this story is that the narrative starts off a little slow and tends to be bogged down with information in some places. However, I think that since the story is from Kira’s point of view this is tolerable because she has such an analytic and scientific mind (she is a 16-year-old medic, by the way).
4.5 Bards to Wells’ novel.
Moving! 
I am really interested in reading this book. This was a very thoughtful review – thank you!
I really want to read this book. I think this is the first review that I've read that's made the hunger for this book almost unbearable!