Partials
Dan Wells. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99 (480p) ISBN 978-0-06-207104-0
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.)
Details
Reviewed on: 01/30/2012
Genre: Children's
Downloadable Audio - 978-0-06-213274-1
Downloadable Audio - 978-0-06-220976-4
Hardcover - 576 pages - 978-2-253-18363-1
Hardcover - 544 pages - 978-2-01-012031-2
Other - 978-0-00-752486-0
Other - 528 pages - 978-0-06-207106-4
Paperback - 528 pages - 978-0-06-207105-7
Paperback - 470 pages - 978-0-00-746522-4
Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-61545-837-0