Partials: The Partials Sequence, Book 1

Given its post-apocalyptic setting, Partials is appropriately violent without becoming unnecessarily graphic. As Kira and the survivors on Long Island seek a cure for the RM virus, they get involved in various firefights, hand-to-hand combat, and a riot. A captured Partial is tortured, but the act isn't directly described.

Because the survivors desperately want to repopulate the human race, they mandate that all women over the age of 18 be impregnated, either naturally or by artifical insemination, as often as their bodies will allow. Kira and her friends spend a lot of time debating the Hope Act, which establishes this breeding program. The young characters seem to marry early but rarely mention premarital sex. Kira and her boyfriend Marcus intend to marry someday, and they sometimes behave flirtatiously around each other, but their physical relationship is barely hinted at.

The characters occasionally use swear words like "damn," "hell," "jackass," "a--hole" and "bastard," usually while under extreme stress.

No mention of smoking or the use of recreational drugs. A young supporting character, frustrated and scared at the thought of being forced to become pregnant, gets drunk in one short scene.

Parents need to know that Partials is the action-packed first installment of a science fiction series with a strong female protagonist. Set in a post-apocalyptic New York in which 99 percent of the human popular has been killed by a weaponized virus, it features a fair amount of violence, some language, and much discussion of the Hope Act, which mandates that all women over 18 become pregnant as soon as possible. But actual sexual content isn't particularly graphic.