By Dan Wells, published by Harper Collins.

Kira Walker lives in the world of the 2060’s: where there are only 36,000 people left on the planet. The artificial humans, the Partials, were meant to just win the Isolation war… but they got out of the US’s control and wiped out 99.96% of the planet’s population with the RM virus. Now, the remnants of the human race are all residing on one island, but the youngest citizen is fourteen. Babies only last three days before dying, as they are not born immune, but in a desperate plan to revive the human race women are forced to have one baby a year, in the hope that one might be born with instant immunity to the RM virus, Admist all of the attacks by the terrorists who go by the name of ‘The Voice’, Kira is a sixteen year old medic who is getting more heartbroken by the day watching babies die in the maternity ward. When her best friend falls pregnant, she knows she must save Madison’s baby, along with the rest- she can’t stand any more deaths. An epic adventure follows, for Kira and her friends… but can she really find a cure for the virus, when the enemy is holding the secret to it?

I noticed that the sequel to Partials would be out soon, and realized that I still haven’t gotten round to reading this, Partials,  I picked it up straightaway. I wasn’t all too sure what I was in for, but I was drawn in right from the first page. The death of a non-immune baby on the first page really shocked me, and created instant questions in my head- Why did he die? What happened? I was totally engrossed throughout, too! The plot was cleverly written with some great and unpredictable twists- especially the Partials involvement in the RM virus. Also, I loved the medical detail and accuracy in this book- I’d normally get lightheaded at a slight mention of blood, but the author has made Kira’s medical-breakthrough scenes really, really interesting. In fact, the medical elements made this story scarily realistic!

Kira was a very bold and confident protagonist. I absolutely loved her personality and her determination right from the start, and understood all of the choices she made, especially the one about her relationship with Marcus at the end (Although I was almost crying at that point. Gosh, it was so heart-breaking!). She was well-developed, with realistic and believable emotions. I also loved the characters of her friends- Haru and the others who went all the way to Manhattan to get a Partial with her, as well as Madison, whose pregnancy was the thing that made Kira decide she would be the one to cure RM. Also, the character of Isolde was pregnant at the end, but she seemed to get forgotten about. I want to know if her baby was immunized or not, so I hope that’s shown in the sequel.

Partials was, in all, a brilliant read. I loved all of the characters, and even had a soft spot for the Partial they captured- Samm. The plot was scary and with some great dystopian elements… Dan Wells has created one of the most terrifying apocalyptic visions of the world I have ever seen, and I can’t wait to read more, in the sequel (Fragments), and the e-Book novella!