Fragments

by Dan Wells
564 pgs  (The Partials series #2)

Dan Wells ended Partials with Kira successfully stealing a dose of the cure for RM, the genetically engineered disease that had killed 99% of the people on earth, along with every baby born since it was released 12 years ago. But along with finding a cure, she also discovered something about herself: she is a Partial.

Now her quest for answers has taken on even more meaning. Raised believing she was a human, she cares deeply about the fate of the human race and believes it's up to her to discover the secrets behind RM's cure so that it can be replicated. Knowing now that she's a Partial herself, she also needs to figure out whether the expiration date genetically encoded into the Partials' DNA which kills them at the age of twenty can be turned off. She believes she can discover the answers to her own origin as well as the keys to saving both races at ParaGen's headquarters.

Her journey, which takes her to Lower Manhattan and then across the toxic, post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Midwest, all the way to Denver, is where this book really shines. Wells's strength is in describing the conditions of the cities and country following the devastation of the ongoing war against the Partials. Where he doesn't shine is in his pacing. The book is fairly long, especially for one written primarily for younger readers. Wells alternates back and forth between following Kira's journey west and providing updates on what's happening with those she left behind, who are still fighting the Partials and trying to replicate the cure. The latter story arc got a little tedious and seemed unnecessary to the story. Nothing significant took place back in New York, and every time Wells switched to that story arc, I tended to lose interest in the story.

Overall it's a good book and serves the purpose of the middle book in a trilogy: it gets you ready for its conclusion.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆