The Tale of Two Second Books In Fabulous Series

I generally avoid series because I really have no patience, and waiting a year or two for the next book is just pure torture for me.  But the premise of each of these book's series was too fascinating to not read, nor could I wait until the series were finished to start the whole sequence.  And, oh, it was lovely to go back to these characters and these worlds, even if both are filled with strife.  And traveling.  One of my esteemed co-workers once said that second books in a series are always about walking, which made me laugh at the time, but I have to say, these two books certainly fit that description quite well.  Not that that is a problem, but it's just kind of fascinating to me. (Geek alert!  Geek alert!)  Anyway:

Fuse by Julianna Baggott is the second book in the "Pure Trilogy".  This book pics up where Pure left off.  The fight for making the current days better and to ultimately fix the division of the remaining world so that they all might survive.  But trying to unite Dome dwellers (the Pures) and the Wretches (those who were outside when the detonations, living with massive injuries from that and from the ongoing radiation).   But two teens-:Partridge, the son the leader of the Pures and Pressia, who has no memory before the detonations but wants a better life for herself and others; are working together on a plan that would bring their worlds together.  Their plan works slowly forward, and, of course, very dramatic and game changing things happen at the very end of the book, making me grind my teeth about waiting another whole year to find out what happens.

Fragments by Dan Wells is book two in the "Partials Sequence" (Partials being the first book), and is technically a YA novel, but I would completely call it a crossover that adults would love just as much.  The premise is that some time ago, America created "Partials", part human, part android/humanoid, to fight a war.  And they did.  But after the war, they were not treated as nicely nor given the same rights as the humans, and a civil war broke out between the Partials and the Humans, reducing the number of humans to about 35,000, while millions of Partials where still alive (they were designed to be extremely difficult to kill).  Until just the end of the first book, when it was discovered that Partials have expiration dates, and most now have less than 2 years to live.  And the human's have their own troubles--they cannot keep their babies alive.  Within 3 days, they die of a disease called RM.  But it turns out that the Partials have a pheromone that can stop the disease.  Can the humans and the Partials work together to solve their problems together and save both of their species (for want of a better word)?  That's what this book is working on.  Also, part of this book takes place in Denver, Arvada and the Rock Flat's Preserve, which Dan Wells, when he was last visiting Tattered Cover, actually apologized about what he's done to these cities/areas in his book (they are all sites near TC stores).  There is a lot of soldiering, science, and examination of ethics in these books, which is one of the reasons I consider it a crossover book.  Once again, I'll be pacing the floors waiting for the next installment.

But sometimes that's the price we have to pay for really, really good stories.

--Jackie