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Alice Belikov and myself (Tammy K. not to be confused with the other Tammy).
Are starting a buddy read for The Partials by Dan Wells (Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ author) tonight, April 23, 2012.
I believe all are welcome to join in.
Please note that I am on Pacific Coast Time zone. I am a night owl.
I do not mind spoilers, but that is totally up to Alice (and anyone who joins).

I wish I could join in but Alice is currently reading it so I have to wait until she finishes. :)

Character list
Kira Walker: age 16 intern medic @ hospital. Indian heritage. (Protagonist)
Marcus Valencio: 16 years old, Medic, Kiras' romantic interest.
Madison (Mads) Sato: 17 soon to be 18. She is Kiras' close friend and wife of Haro Sato. Sister to Sergeant Jayden.
Haro Sato: former Defense grid Soldier, now in civil service. Husband to Madison. Of Japanese heritage.
Sergeant second class Jayden Van Rijn: brother of Madison. Defense grid Soldier in charge of Salvage runs.
Private Shaylon Brown: Teenage male Defense grid Soldier.
Yoon-Ji Bak: Teenage Female Defense grid Soldier.
Gabriel Vasicek: Male Defense Grid Soldier.
Nick: Male Defense Grid Soldier aka Scruffy.
Steve: Male Defense Grid Soldier aka Skinny.
Dr. Skousen: The Senate representative for the hospital. Kira's boss.
Gianna Cantrell: civilian, computer science expert approx. age, 35.
Owen Tovar: Salesman, drifter, former US Marine, age unknown but older.
Dolly: Owen Tovars' pet camel.
Isolde: age 17, female, friend to Madison, Kira & Xochi. Light-skin, pale, golden-hair. Intern at the Senate as personal assistant to senator Hobbs.
Nandita Merchant: older surviving female, nanny (foster mother) to Madison, Kira, & Isolde.
Xochi Kessler: female, 16 years old, friend of Madison, Isolde, & Kira. Mexican or Aztec heritage. Adopted mother senator Erin Kessler.
Mr. Mkele: 35 years old African American. Head of intelligence.
Saladin: 13 soon to be 14 years old. He is said to be the youngest human being on the planet.

Samm: Partial soldier Approx age 18-19 (?). Brown hair, Brown eyes. Company D
Heron: Female Partial Special Ops Soldier, Company D
Dr. Morgan: Female Partial Doctor, Company D

Other groups/organizations:
The voice of the People aka 'The voice': rebellion, accused terrorists.
The senate: rulers of East Meadow.
Secret Service: Elite military division under Mr. Mkele command.
Partials: soldiers 'built' to battle (and win) the Isolation War, blamed for the spread of RM Virus.
ParaGen: Research and Development facility that built the Partials
Company D: Partial Fraction that Samm belongs too. Located in Greenwich.
The Trust: Senior command of the Partials (advanced genetic Partials).
Other important information.
Isolation War: a war between China and USA that ended 5 years before the release of RM, with the USA the victors.
East Meadow: the last city-town, guarded by the Defense, ruled by the Senate. Population 40,000.
RM: A Virus that killed the mass majority of the worlds population. The remaining survivors have an immunity to RM. However, the survivors are unable to reproduce, due to the fact that once born, the babies succumb to the still active RM virus.
The Hope Act: passed by the senate, it dictates that females must, by a certain age, have as many babies as possible, in 'the hope' that a baby will be born with resistance to the RM virus.

Setting: Post-apocalypse Long Island, New York (United States) in the year of 2076, 11 Years after a virus known as RM was released.

Side note: This is book one of a ongoing series, Fragments (Partials #2) expected to be published in 2013.

I am on page 27. Not far into the book, but I have found the rush of character information and history to be a bit dizzying.
Whenever I start a new book, I make a list of who I think the main characters will be. There ages, physical descriptions, occupations. I do this to help me visualize the authors world.
We do not know much about the physical appearance of the main character with the exception of Jayden who was described, by Kira, as on of the most attractive human beings left on the planet.
I am hopeful more character descriptions will follow.

I was thinking the same, they really don't give much description on the main character Kira but I guess we can look at the cover and assume that's her but the cover doesn't even show a face :/

Hey do you think we should use spoilers?
I have more notes but need to wait til I am home Around 4:30pm.
Best quote from last nights reading goes to Marcus, for using his humor to defuse an awkward moment.
"If I'm going to spend the whole night waiting for you guys to stop flirting and shoot each other, I want to at least be entertained. " pg 52

We can do spoilers, I don't mind. I laughed out loud on that part, I think Marcus is ny favorite character so far.

I updated the character list as much as I think I can.

What strikes me about the book so far is that the descriptions of the setting are pretty good. I find it easy to visualize the locations (the veterinarian clinic and its smells, dust. The decaying corpse in the car.)
.....But there is an serious lack of character description. I find myself having to create hair colors, skin tones, body shapes for each character so I can visualize them.
If this continues I will likely subtract a star in my final rating. As I feel it is the authors duty to offer these things so the reader can mentally see and relate to his people.

As for the pace, it started off solid, got a little slow but picked right back up. So far I say it is a good pace.

So far the author is good at foreshadowing. I like that in a book. Helps me feel connected, and pulls me into the story. Yet as with all things there is such thing as too much foreshadowing, but not to worry about that so far (IMO).

So tell me what do you think about Gianna Cantrell?
I am starting to think she might be a member of the voice.

Lol I thought so too when she started the argument with Jayden, she is alittle too opinionated for my liking. I love how brave Kira is but I still wish I knew what she looked like! I am disappointed in Marcus for not being on the same page as Kira on finding a cure for RM, I thought he was gonna be right by her side the whole book but guess not :(

Marcus is being a real jerk.(pg 130).
Didn't get far tonight with my reading.
I am glad that some character descriptions have been offered.
Did you catch any that I missed? Pg 96 offers the only hint to a physical description of Madison (and jayden by default) with Isolde being described as...the lone light-skinned outlier in Nandita's makeshift foster home.
The way the Senate is ruling is more like a tyrannical government.
The secret service being their oppressive and controlling agents.
I wonder of her friends, whom will remain faithful to kira and who will sell out to the Senate.
It's almost 3 AM. I'm off to bed. Should have more reading time tomorrow.

What do you think about the Partial they captured? I think I'm liking him so far!

Yes, I like Samm too. He is more humane the the humans.

I read a fair chunk tonight. Stopping at chapter 30.

General thoughts about the book:
I love the details in the author's settings. As I read the part about Manhattan (aka animalhatten) it was like I was there walking through the overgrown smelly city. Awesome. I love getting pulled into the story like that.
The pace of the story is extremely gratifying. The battle scenes had my heart racing, flipping the pages and growling at the phone for ringing and interrupting me.
Thankfully, the author calms things down every couple chapters to develop (expand) the plot and give my heartbeat a chance to return to normal.

I wanted to ring Haros neck the way he treated Samm. It's a good thing he is fictional. LOL. But at the same time I could understand why he behaved so badly. He loves Madison, and their unborn baby and is desperate to save them.

That is something else about this book, you really get to feel for the characters even if you don't like them. The times are hard for them. A greater majority of them were too young at the time of The Break (out) to be able to deal with their losses. The remaining surviving adult humans were unable to adapt to the needs of the children, and their own losses (families, comforts of life, securities of living in a well formed civilization) at the same time.
All of that explains why they (as a group) are so insecure, gullible enough to believe the senate, with flairs of anger towards each other, and at times paranoia. In short, all the survivors are in need of some serious therapy. :P

I have a like-hate bond for Mr. Mkele right now. Yet I do understand why he is such an ***. It is his role to look out after the remaining survivors, but wow, he can be a one tracked thinker, not open to much discussion.

I have to say that I like the way Marcus turned around, but he sure can be jealous and insecure. Yet that is teen love for ya.

I got a little lump in my throat when Madison talked about how she loved her unborn daughter, Arwen. How she and her daughter were 'sharing a joke just between them' ... awe! I'm gonna bawl if the baby doesn't live, mark my words.

As for Isolde, I had my doubts she would remain loyal to Kira but so far she has saved Kira's bacon a couple times.

Xochi, wow! I love her sassy, brassy attitude. She has no problem saying what the other characters are too chicken to think about, let alone say. I want her on my team if ever I decide to overthrow an oppressive government.

Then there is Jayden, he is a good guy and a devoted brother to do all he has for Madison and her unborn baby. :)

Ok, I should finish with tomorrow nights read.

How are you progressing?
Anything jump out at you?

Well I finished. Here are my final thoughts. I will write a review and post a link to it here later.

So now we see the other side, the partials.

First we see just how much the partials are like the humans. Their 'leadership' structure, their need to find a way to keep themselves alive.
I have to say that I was pretty ticked off at Samm. Then I started to think about how he did not know if he could trust Kira and her friends before they left for his 'home'. And that he had been harshly treated while in East Meadow. But still man, Grr.

The Partial doctor seems a lot like Dr Skousen. I guess it takes a certain amount of cold heartedness and single minded thinking to rise to the top?

Now for the twist (Kira), I seen it coming, but it was still good. (view spoiler)[ I think we had a fair amount of hints but I was really suspicious when she could hear the partials inside the building (when they got Samm) and none of the other team members could. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ While I am pleased that baby Arwen lived, I am deeply saddened that Jayden died. (hide spoiler)]

I feel the book ended with enough resolution to settle me down for now, but look forward to the sequel.
Will Kira find the answers to the unresolved questions regarding ParaGen and her past?
Who left that photo of her and her family beside her bed. (view spoiler)[ (I think it was Mr. Mkele). (hide spoiler)] These things will have to wait until Fragments is released in 2013.

What did you think of the book?

Here is a link to my final book review.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Been busy this week but I had time to finish it up last night. It was GREAT! Though I must say in the middle of the book I was thinking to myself.... When is this story going to pick up? I know you feel a different way Tammy but I felt like it was pretty boring on most parts. As I got towards the end of the book it really started to pick up quickly and i was literally on the edge of my seat or my bed i should say lol becuase everything was kind of happening at once. I don't really pay too much attention on foreshadowing in books because I like to not think to much into a book and just read and see what happens with the character like I did with Kira,(view spoiler)[ so I totally forgot she was supposed to be a partial (hide spoiler)] until she found out when Samms team capture Kira. I loved everything about the ending, it preps and amps you up for the sequel which I'm anxiously waiting on for now. I don't think (view spoiler)[ Mkele (hide spoiler)] left the picture, I think (view spoiler)[ nandita (hide spoiler)] did before she dissapeared and I hope they follow up on Nandita and Kira finds out where she came from which I know she will.

Thanks Tammy for buddy reading with me it was quite fun and hope we do it again sometime. :)

Been busy this week but I had time to finish it up last night. It was GREAT! Though I must say in the middle of the book I was thinking to myself.... When is this story going to pick up? I know you feel a different way Tammy but I felt like it was pretty boring on most parts. As I got towards the end of the book it really started to pick up quickly and i was literally on the edge of my seat or my bed i should say lol becuase everything was kind of happening at once. I don't really pay too much attention on foreshadowing in books because I like to not think to much into a book and just read and see what happens with the character like I did with Kira,(view spoiler)[ so I totally forgot she was supposed to be a partial (hide spoiler)] until she found out when Samms team capture Kira. I loved everything about the ending, it preps and amps you up for the sequel which I'm anxiously waiting on for now. I don't think (view spoiler)[ Mkele (hide spoiler)] left the picture, I think (view spoiler)[ nandita (hide spoiler)] did before she dissapeared and I hope they follow up on Nandita and Kira finds out where she came from which I know she will.

Thanks Tammy for buddy reading with me it was quite fun and hope we do it again sometime. :)

Hi Alice
It was helpful for me to have a reading buddy t it kept me motivated to read.
I felt this first 1/3 moved steady but slow. Other then the bomb there wasn't much action it was mostly the introduction of characters and the development of the plot.
I also felt that there was an overwhelming amount of characters thrown at us at once.
i know this was needed to start the series out right but it did get distracting and made that third go slow (for me)) .
I live for action in tbe books i read. So when they went to 'get ' samm I was super ready for some action.

Oops hit the wrong part on my kindle.
when they got back from getting samm, it slowed again while the characters reaction and behaviors are explored. Again it needed to slow the pace for a bit.
The last part of part 2 all the way to the end went fast for me.
Now as for nandita, I am not sure what happens to her. Does she 'disappear ' because of the secret service or does she just chooses to leave? either way why didn't she come back or get released?

I know! I don't know, hopefully they touch a lot on where Nandita is and why did she just disappear. I'm anxious to see Kira and Samm reunite, even though it didn't seem like a love triangle I felt like there secretly was. There is something between Kira and Samm but I know she loves Marcus but I think her connection to Samm is much stronger, so I'm excited to see what plays out between the three of them. The ending was FANTASTIC!!! But I'm so sad Jayden had to die :( his personality was handsome lol I say that because the author didn't give much description on what he really looked like! So I just made up my own and I thought he was HOTT! I was going to give the book a high four stars but I was torn between that and five stars because It was a really good book but boring on most parts, but I guess the ending made it all come together because after I wrote my review I ended up giving it five stars :)

Thanks for reading with me Tammy, It was fun!