PennyG

I am so glad I gave this series a second look! This series is actually a lot smarter than I remember it being. Although, yeah, it's this book, Fragments, that really brings something new to the Oh-noes-we-can't-make-babiez-cuz-there-is-a-cray-cray-disease-and-now-civilization-rests-on-the-shoulders-of-a-group-of-scrappy-teenagers-with-a-can-do-attitude table.

There are a lot of dystopian books about the subject of forced procreation, and I could never force myself to read any of them. But the premise of Partials, book #1, is just different enough, smart enough, that it caught my attention. I remember that while it wasn't my favorite, not even close, I did seem to like it well enough that I planned on reading the next book in the series.

Fast-forward to this past week: I was in the middle of forcing myself to finish reading Fused (Pure, book #2), thinking that YA dystopia/post-apacalyptic books are probably the soul-sucking worst. I needed something else to read so I switched to reading...another post-apocalyptic book: Fragments. Don't get me wrong, I was mentally kicking myself, thinking Dan Wells probably was going to take the few truly likable and original aspects in the first book and ruin them, because that's what writers of this genre tend to do.

All that said, I have to admit Dan Wells proved me wrong.

Not only did he keep all the good bits from the first book but he somehow improved them.

The characters? I liked them so much more this time around. The premise? So much more believable and interesting. And I absolutely love how Wells poses some very interesting, not necessarily easy to answer questions. I love when authors challenge their readers to think in-depth about important subjects.

And sure, I've got a few issues with Fragments, like the story is suddenly being told by multiple points of view instead of just the one, as it is in the first book. Though, admittedly, all of my gripes are so minor that I really cannot remember any of them now, except for the POV thing and the overuse of the word 'kudzu'.

Overall Fragments is a very satisfying read. Highly recommend. 4-stars.