Ruins - Review

Ruins (Partials, # 3)

By: Dan Wells

Expected Publication: March 11th 2014 by Balzer + Bray

352 pages

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian

( Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

*Note: The above links to Amazon, The Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Kira, Samm, and Marcus fight to prevent a final war between Partials and humans in the gripping final installment of the blockbuster Partials Sequence.

Our time is almost up.

As the clock ticks closer and closer to the final Partial expiration date, humans and Partials stand on the brink of war. Caught in the middle, thousands of miles apart, are Samm and Kira: Samm, who is trapped on the far side of the continent beyond the vast toxic wasteland of the American Midwest; and Kira, now in the hands of Dr. Morgan, who is hell-bent on saving what's left of the Partials, even if she has to destroy Kira to do it.

The only hope lies in the hands of the scattered people of both races who seek a way to prevent the rapidly escalating conflict. But in their midst appears a mysterious figure, neither human nor Partial, with solemn warnings of the new apocalypse-one that none of them may be able to avert.

The last book in the Partials Sequence is a thrill ride of epic proportions, as the last remnants of life on our planet fight to determine its final fate.

I started Ruins 4!!!! years ago. I read 10% and put it down. I'd finished Fragments over a year before that. The more time that went by between finishing Fragments and starting Ruins the harder it was to pick back up. The series is heavy on details, but my favorite part (the relationships) aren't driving the story.

That leads me to my first point about Ruins...Samm and Kira are separated for the majority of the book. As a matter of fact, I felt like there were really too many narrators because of the separation between all of the major characters.

Speaking of the characters, I had a harder time keeping up with all of the characters in Ruins. Considering there really aren't a large number of new characters in this book that haven't been in the prior books I'd say this is probably my own fault for letting nearly 5 years go by since finishing book 2. And the number of narrators was a bit distracting even though they all served a purpose. Marcus wasn't quite as funny in Ruins to me as he has been in the prior books.

I think this series likely has some "hidden" commentary on racism (or more how things should be) and how we all need each other no matter our background. But I'll save that for the reader to get out of it what they will. Even though this normally really bugs me, the commentary wasn't obnoxious so I didn't feel as if the author was trying so hard to preach at me or push an agenda which can often happen.

Truthfully I'm disappointed in myself for not doing a better job on this review. I feel like this book and the series ending deserved better from me as far as my attention goes. I truly blame myself for letting so much time go by between books. Unfortunately this definitely affected my overall feelings and enjoyment of Ruins.

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this quote. I'll share it with you while I ponder on it a little longer:

-You don’t apologize for this, Samm. It’s love, and love doesn’t weigh its options and pick the best one—love just wants things, and it doesn’t know why, and it doesn’t matter why, because love is the only explanation love needs."

Ruins gets 3.5 Stars. I feel like it deserves better but the length of time between books caused me to forget too much of the prior story and thus lessened my experience of the story. That isn't Ruins fault, but it also doesn't change how I enjoyed the book. I was overall happy with the ending of the series, and I'm glad to finally be able to mark this series as complete. Have you read Ruins? What did you think? Let me know!

Fragments - Review

Fragments (Partials, # 2)

By: Dan Wells

Published: February 26th 2013 by Balzer + Bray

564 pages

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

*Note: The above links to Amazon, Book Depsitory, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is only just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues as to who she is. That the Partials themselves hold the cure for RM in their blood cannot be a coincidence—it must be part of a larger plan, a plan that Kira knows she is a part of, a plan that could save both races. Her allies are Afa Demoux, an unhinged drifter and former employee of ParaGen, and Samm and Heron, the Partials who betrayed her and saved her life, the only ones who know her secret. But can she trust them?

Meanwhile, back on Long Island, what’s left of humanity is gearing up for war with the Partials, and Marcus knows his only hope is to delay them until Kira returns. But Kira’s journey will take her deep into the overgrown wasteland of postapocalyptic America, and they will both discover that their greatest enemy may be one they didn’t even know existed.

I feel like I've accomplished something after finishing Fragments. Fragments isn't the longest book I've ever read and it's not even the longest book that I'll read this year, but it was lengthy. It also felt a little slow to me. Don't get me wrong, the length and the pacing don't really affect the quality of this book--it's still pretty fantastic--but it did affect my overall experience with the book.

Fragments is actually told from multiple POVs. It's been over a year since I've read Partials, but I don't remember it being told from multiple POVs--I could totally be wrong about that. Kira and Marcus are the two main narrators of Fragments but we also have a couple of short narrations from Samm and even including sections from Ariel and Haru. Sometimes I find myself frustrated with multiple POVs where the narrators are in completely different parts of the world and experiencing vastly different circumstances, but Marcus's sections were usually fairly short so I knew we would be coming back to Kira soon which helped me to not feel so abandoned and bounced around.

Marcus's sections were essential to carrying on the story, furthering the plot, and uncovering information that Kira couldn't possibly have uncovered under the same circumstances. Marcus comes into his own in Fragments and really steps up into a necessary role. He fights, he does his medic things, he even serves as diplomat and mediator--all while being extremely afraid, but determined to push through his fear. As with Partials, Marcus brings the comedy with his one-liners here and there. I love the addition that he brings to this story.

I can't discuss Marcus without discussing his relationship with Kira. They haven't seen each other since the end of Partials, but they try to maintain communication via radio whenever possible. In my review of Partials, I discussed how I wasn't attached to Marcus and Kira's relationship. They're boyfriend/girlfriend, but there seems to be a missing spark. I always had thoughts about how this would play out and how Kira really feels, but I've really enjoyed seeing my predictions worked into Fragments. But don't be fooled, the romance plays second fiddle to the main plot about saving their broken world.

Fragments is packed full of information that Kira uncovers about this wonderful world that Dan Wells has created. She learns who the Trust is (at least most of the members). She learns what their plan was for the partials, for RM, for the partial expiration date. She learns about herself and the world beyond New York. The information trickles in over the course of the book but the last 20% or so really produces the most information and ties everything we've learned together proving that Dan Wells is indeed brilliant.

The secondary characters shine and I loved the addition of Afa. I had trouble understanding his character in the beginning, but as time went by, I almost felt like I was just as protective of him as Kira becomes. Dan Wells handles him in a way that I don't even know how to describe. That one part where Mr. Wells just puts it out there point-blank well...that part hurt. I can't go into detail...spoilers you know. Heron was just as annoying in Fragments as in Partials. At times I wanted to like her and she wasn't one of those characters that I cringed reading about, but she definitely brought frustration with her. So many other characters that we meet--some completely new, some we've heard about but never met.

Samm is one of my favorite characters in the cast. He's so different from what you typically expect from a leading male because he just doesn't have any clue how to express himself. He's a Partial. He's not human. While we learn just how deeply Partials can experience human emotion--Kira being a prime example--it was interesting to watch how he struggles with showing his emotions. His trust in Kira is unflinching and unwavering to the point of following her across a wasteland on a mission that doesn't have any guarantee of the answers they're looking for. Samm gives us a look into the Partials that we don't get anywhere else. While Kira and Heron are both Partials, they're both different models from Samm and the majority of the Partials still alive.

I loved the decisions that Dan Wells made throughout this book. Kira doesn't follow the pattern of the self-sacrificing leading ladies that so much of YA literature does while still being self-sacrificing. She makes some really hard--impossible really--decisions along the way. These decisions even result in the deaths of others. And while it hurts her to make them, she knows that she's going to make a difference, redeem herself, and make those deaths mean something by completing her mission. Mr. Wells throws some impossible situations, complex questions, and ethical impossibilities in the mix of this broken and struggling world.

Fragments, though a slow read for me, still packs a powerful punch. The characters and the plot make up for any negatives that the pacing causes. Fragments gets 4 stars from me, and I can't wait to get started reading Ruins whenever it releases. Have you read Fragments? What did you think? Let me know!

Waiting on Ruins

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Ruins (Partials, # 3)

By: Dan Wells

Expected Publication: March 11th 2014 by Balzer + Bray

352 pages

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian

( Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

*Note: The above links to Amazon, The Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Kira, Samm, and Marcus fight to prevent a final war between Partials and humans in the gripping final installment of the blockbuster Partials Sequence.

Our time is almost up.

As the clock ticks closer and closer to the final Partial expiration date, humans and Partials stand on the brink of war. Caught in the middle, thousands of miles apart, are Samm and Kira: Samm, who is trapped on the far side of the continent beyond the vast toxic wasteland of the American Midwest; and Kira, now in the hands of Dr. Morgan, who is hell-bent on saving what's left of the Partials, even if she has to destroy Kira to do it.

The only hope lies in the hands of the scattered people of both races who seek a way to prevent the rapidly escalating conflict. But in their midst appears a mysterious figure, neither human nor Partial, with solemn warnings of the new apocalypse-one that none of them may be able to avert.

The last book in the Partials Sequence is a thrill ride of epic proportions, as the last remnants of life on our planet fight to determine its final fate.

What are you waiting on this week? Let me know!

Partials - Review

Partials (Partials, # 1)

By: Dan Wells

Published:February 28th 2012 by Balzer + Bray

468 Pages

Source: Won in a giveaway hosted by ReadingDiva's Blog

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian

(Goodreads | Amazon)

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description—Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the world’s population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. The threat of the partials is stillimminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to the disease in over a decade. Humanity’s time is running out.

When sixteen-year old Kira learns of her best friend’s pregnancy, she’s determined to find a solution. Then one rash decision forces Kira to flee her community with the unlikeliest of allies. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that the survival of both humans and partials rest in her attempts to answer questions of the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.

Combining the fast-paced action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Battlestar Galactica. Partials is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our sense of humanity is both our greatest liability and our only hope for survival.

When does book 2 come out? Anyone know? HA! Going to have to wait a bit for book 2 since this one hasn’t been out very long. But I guess you can tell that I liked it.

At the beginning of Partials, Kira and Marcus are already together. On the one hand, it was a different experience to jump into a book with an already established relationship. And you know me, I like different. I revel in different. And perhaps under different circumstances I might have loved jumping into the middle of their relationship. However, I just kind of didn’t. I’m not sure if it was the building of the relationship that was really missing or the fact that for a large chunk of the book Marcus is MIA, but overall, I felt a general lack of attachment to his character’s relationship with Kira. It could be that had I been able to experience the beginning of their relationship—where they initially fall in love—I would have felt more attached to him and thus them as a couple. But instead Kira and Marcus have one of those relationships that has been for just about always—at least for about as long as they’ve known each other. And we all know how sometimes those relationships need a good stir. Sometimes they need to be reminded of why they love each other, and sometimes they need to realize that there’s so much more out there than what they have. It could have also been that we just don’t get to spend enough one on one time with Marcus and Kira, I’m not sure. And while Kira and Marcus repeatedly declare their love for one another, I’m left…well…unconvinced. I’ve got questions in my head about where this is headed and how it’s going to turn out, but I’ll let you read it and raise your own questions.

Partials is not a “funny” book by any means, but Marcus still made me actually laugh out loud—a rarity but I do so love when that happens. I won’t spoil that for you either, but I will say that it involves maintaining control over his bladder functions. –“YAY” for him and “YAY” for Dan Wells.

I enjoyed Kira’s character. Kira desperately wants a better future for her world. She’s willing to do whatever is in her power to effect change in her world. She creates the change she wishes to see in her world. Yet another strong, independent, capable female lead. She’s a medic. She goes on scavenger trips. She decides she’s personally responsible for finding a cure to this awful virus plaguing their newborn babies and their world. She breaks the law. She carries a rifle (and uses it). She’s not scared to attack and hopefully capture the enemy and thus perform lab tests and experiments upon him for the sole purpose of finding this cure. She forces herself to run on a recently burned leg. She breaks into places and breaks out of places. She’s smart, brave, purpose-driven, and compassionate. And this is only the beginning. Never a victim, Kira repeats over and over to herself that she is stronger than her trials. (If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s the victim mentality.) Kudos Kira!

And yet I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of Partials. It’s a highly suggested read. 4.5 Stars. Check it out!

Updated: July 7, 2018