Partials by Dan Wells

Summary: 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.

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Partials takes place in a futuristic world where humans are near extinction after the Partials -engineered beings that look like us, but have 10 times the strength and stamina- turned on their human creators by releasing a deadly virus. The remaining survivors are unable to create a new generation as babies die after a few days of life. Kira, a sixteen year old medic in training decides to make it her mission to find a cure.

Kira is a smart and resourceful mc who despite carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders manages to hold a sense of humour. Being a medic and seeing the RM virus kill new born babies first hand is harsh, but it fuels her determination to find the cure. Kira's strength is admirable, she is faced with an emotional journey, but she never ones backs down and that places her at the top of my favourite heroines list.

Something that there's not much of in YA and I wish there was more of is diversity. Wells has created a brilliant mix of diverse characters, from Kira who's Indian to Marcus (her boyfriend) who's Mexican. 

I loved all the characters, but was especially fascinated by Samm, a Partial who we meet later in the novel. I can't say much about him as it it would probably spoil the plot, but I will say that he had me glued to the pages, eager to discover more about him.

Kira was constantly questioning things and I found myself doing the same. Just how far are we willing to go to save the human race? The scientific explanation littered throughout the book could have been dull, but Wells does a fantastic job keeping things interesting.

The ending is a perfect set up for book two, there are lots of unanswered questions that I can't wait to discover the answers to in the sequel.

Overall, I really enjoyed Partials, it was a thrilling read that left me breathless. 

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