Book Review: Fragments by Dan Wells

Book: Fragments by Dan Wells
Genre: YA Dystopian
Rating: ★★★★★
For: Fun and to support (ex) local authors! :)
From: Bought from Amazon

I was so very excited to read this book, part 2 of Partials. When I started I was a bit distracted by so many other things that needed reading, and so I couldn't concentrate. And then, it seemed a bit of a slow start. I mean, I needed and wanted Samm, and after the first chapter, he was not there! (I flipped through the pages and knew he was coming again, but wow, I was anxious!)

Anyway, so this past weekend, I decided to bag all other reading projects and stick with this book, and then it grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I was glued. And finally Samm came back and that made it much easier too! (Does that make me shallow? Whatever! He is such a cool character!)

We got one chapter from Samm's POV, and then after that it was just flipping back and forth from Kira and Marcus, who were both having their own adventures. And even though Samm did come back into the story, finally, we never got things from his POV again, which was kind of sad. Anyway, then as the story continued to go back and forth, I was always wanting Kira and Samm's story, and didn't really care much what was happening to Marcus, though that part of the plot was pretty crazy too.

Wait, summary? But beware spoilers for the first book!

So you'll remember from the first book that there's a last remaining human settlement in Long Island. They are close to discovering the cure for the disease that kills all the babies. If they don't .. end of the humans! There are more Partials currently alive, but they have an expiration date and they will soon be history too if that's not figured out.

So Kira is off searching for clues in the rubble that is Manhattan, trying to find the ParaGen offices and perhaps learn who is behind the whole crazy mess. While there, she finds a guy who has been living there on his own ever since the world ended, and she feels like this guy is going to be a big help to solve the mystery. But he also has some major issues.

Meanwhile, Marcus is fighting a new war that has started, when the Partials have invaded, mostly wanting to  find Kira, because they think she is a key to helping them and they want to experiment on her. I think. Some of the plot bits, I may have missed. The plot is a complicated one! I need to talk this book over with someone who's read it so I can see if I understood anything at all! But anyway, Marcus discovers some pretty crazy things too regarding Kira and her friends and her past.

And Samm? I'm not sure what he was doing at first, but he ends up with Kira and another girl (whose name I already forgot!) and they all end up trekking across the country (a really wasted country it is too) in search of the answers that Kira needs, and that he needs too, actually.

The crazy stuff they go through, and the crazy stuff they eventually learn?! Oh my. I was dying. THEY were dying! I loved that I could picture right where they were, having just recently driven across the country myself. That was awesome. I loved that I just read another dystopian novel that described our decaying cities and it was fun to see the differences and similarities between these two authors' visions for our future! Let's just say it's pretty much a given that Chicago will be flooded!

Then there were the moral questions brought up in this book. If you can only save one race of people, which should it be? If you need  to sacrifice a small group or one or two for hundreds and thousands, should you do it? When do you give yourself up and when do you fight for your life? Just because you have been biologically engineered, does that make you any less a person? (Did I even say that right? Let's just say if you've been created by anything other than the normal way!)

Heavy, yes?

It was awesome. I loved it. I even loved that I needed patience for the relationship part of the story. Lots of patience! It made things all the more worth it! But then.... THEN! Gah! Now we wait another whole year? Seriously?

Oh, and did I mention there were talking dogs? Creepy!!

Bottom line: LOVED it!

Other Reviews:

Fragments is a long and very detailed installment that answers many questions about the Partials and Kira's origin but leaves room for more speculation. From Little Library Muse

I can't really say more about the plot -- because it's just that good and you need to experience it first hand. From Annette's Book Spot

Elements brought in during Fragments makes the world bigger, more complicated and exceedingly more interesting. From Working for the Mandroid

We see the return of all the familiar characters from Partials, true identities are revealed and the ending? Well, it certainly sets the scene for an explosive finale! From Midnight Reads

And the very cool book trailer for Fragments that looks so eerily real:

 

 And the one for Partials in case you missed it, and haven't read IT yet, this should make you want to: