Hope has always been rooted in the future. Each generation hopes that the ones who come after them will safeguard humanity and make things even better. So what happens to hope when there is no next generation?
In Partials, Dan Wells shows us a future in which hope is dying. In the aftermath of war, there is a virus that infects every newborn at birth, and none survive more than a few days. What remains of the government is a group called the Senate, and they have created The Hope Act, which requires all females age 18 or above to become pregnant in order to try and save the human race. But more babies are not the answer…finding a cure is. 16 year-old Kira is a trained medic who works on the maternity floor of the hospital. She sees babies die every day and watches young mothers grieve loss after loss. When her best friend becomes pregnant, Kira decides to try something radical—to capture and study one of the “partials.” Partials are genetically engineered beings that were created to protect and serve humans but later rebelled, launched a war, and attacked with the virus. Partials are the enemy, and the Senate officials will not condone such a mission; therefore Kira and a select group decide to strike out in secret. What Kira finds outside of the boundaries of East Meadow is not what she expected, and she learns that truth depends entirely upon who you ask.
Wells is the author of the thrilling John Cleaver series (I am not a Serial Killer, Mr. Monster.) He has been nominated for both the Hugo and the Campbell Award. Great writing seems to run in the family, as his younger brother Robison Wells is the author of the teen chiller Variant. Dan Wells’ first teen novel, Partials, is a smart post-apocalyptic thriller with great teen/adult crossover potential that will appeal to fans of medical thrillers, and dystopian and science fiction.
