Dan Wells

I don't know what it says about me that a book about a teenage psychopath and serial killer demons gives me so much joy, but I also don't care!

Even though the first book in this series only received 3.5 stars from me, I enjoyed it very much. The main reason for that rating came down to (as Dan Wells often speaks about on his podcast Writing Excuses, where I first heard about these books) the lack of foreshadowing (or as Dan puts it, the initial promise made to the reader). Because of this, I show more was caught off guard by the antagonist and the conflict. I like a good genre bend, but it wasn't as seamless as it maybe could have been, which brought down an otherwise extremely entertaining read.

Everything that was less than perfect in the first novel was absent in the second. And everything that made the first good were even better in this installment.

The audiobook narrator for this is insanely talented at sounding like a hormonal, emotional, psychopathic teenage boy who is in the middle of a lot of shit. The fights John has with his mom make me feel like the kid at the slumber party who tries to tip toe into the kitchen for a glass of water while people are screaming in the living room.

The demon in this book is way better than the first and John's stake in the conflict, toeing the line between soon-to-be serial killer and mentally ill kid trying his best, and the ever shifting state of his reputation in his hometown all became that much more pressing in the second novel.

As completely awful as a lot of John’s thoughts are, his determination to be better, hard fought self-reliance, and disciplined approach to being a good person in the face of his own psychopathy made me feel so unbelievably strongly for him. The fact that John struggles so hard against his own mind and his own nature to be a good person is the type of crazy twist on the accidental hero architype that hits you like a stray golf ball when you realize just how well done it is. Bravo Dan Wells for making me feel such sympathy for a character who has to remind himself not to kill animals or his loved ones!

If you want a novel with a lot of internal conflict, this is the book for you. You do have to be okay with being inside the head of a character who embodies two of the most emotionally volatile types of people—teenagers and psychopaths. So, yeah, proceed with caution. This boy can definitely do dark. show less

For all you peeps missing a Serial Killer gone Good, or at least good-ish, or even just mildly tiptoeing the very broad definition of monsterhood, I'd recommend this series.

John's 17 years old, has lost almost everything, but he's done the right thing and joined the "good guys" to hunt down demons. John still doesn't give a flying rat's ass about whether anyone lives or dies and he still likes to take home a rack of meat to stab viciously in his off hours, but at least he has the show more intellectual stimulation of hunting down monsters that have been alive for ten thousand years and pins all his hopes on giving himself that one gift he lives for.

The thrill of the kill.

It's all gravy that the peeps he's running with are a morass of grey areas and are hardly any better than the monsters he hunts. Maybe he'll have a chance at an open smorgasbord? lol

The writing is smooth, the characters compelling, and John is constantly straddling that line that makes us readers squirm and squirm and squirm.

I think this might be the best of the books so far. I know I had a great time. :) show less

I am not particularly shy when it comes to my general dislike of dystopian fiction. I tend to get angry when I read it, and since I read primarily for enjoyment and entertainment it makes little sense for me to seek out stories that do not provide those things. (There is also the fact that so much of the dystopian fiction I have read has strained my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point...that does not exactly recommend the genre to me.)

So with that in mind, based on the way people show more have shelved and tagged Partials on Goodreads and other book sites, I shouldn't like it. The thing is, while there are definite dystopian elements to this book, I would not classify it as dystopian fiction. It is much more a post-apocalyptic survival story, and that is how it is presented from the start. The dystopian elements are not the front and center focus of the story, and with that I find I can care about the characters. I think it not being in first person also helps with this.

Now I just need to find a print (or ebook) copy of the sequel to borrow. show less

Fifteen-year-old John Wayne Cleaver, despite his inauspicious name, is not a serial killer. But he could be. He has all the hallmarks, up to and including a semi-official diagnosis as a sociopath, and he's pretty sure he'd really, really enjoy it. But even though his understanding that killing is wrong is only an intellectual one, he has decided that a killer is not who he wants to be. So he has rules -- quite reasonable and effective ones -- for diverting his thoughts and behaviors away show more from dangerously obsessive and violent channels. Until, that is, someone -- or something -- else starts killing people in the sleepy little town where lives, and he has to face the possibility of letting out his inner demons in order to fight an external one.

This is one of those books that I strongly suspect is, objectively, not nearly as good as I think it is. Because, yes, John's discussions of his internal states sometimes have something of a tell-don't-show quality to them, and, yes, it never quite reaches the intense heights of disturbing creepiness that it might have aspired to. But I really don't care, because the premise hooked me in very effectively, and I found John's psychology, his rules, and his choices genuinely fascinating. I also quite enjoyed the plot. It does feature some supernatural elements that, at first, felt very out of place to me, but I think what the author does with them ultimately works extremely well.

Apparently there are sequels forthcoming, which I will definitely be interested in reading. show less