Review: Starters

Author: Lissa Price
Release Date: March 13, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Pages: 
Series: Starters #1
Source: Net Galley
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Summary:  HER WORLD IS CHANGED FOREVER 
Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man. 

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. 

My Favorite Line(s): Did Cinderella ever consider fessing up to the prince, that night she was enjoying herself in the fancy ball gown? Did she even think of telling him, oh, by the way, Prince, the coach isn’t mine, I’m really a filthy little barefoot servant on borrowed time? No. She took her moment. And then went quietly away after midnight.

He had the face of a floating astronaut who had lost his tether and had only one chance to grab a lifeline or forever drift away into endless black.  I knew that feeling, the sense of panic that stretched time, turning seconds into years, and the deep pain that came from being hurt by not one person but many, a gang of bullies that expanded into a neighborhood and then into a community, until you questioned the whole world.

Why I Loved It:  That ending killed me.  Seriously killed me.  I screamed at my Nook.  I couldn’t help it.  It was this loud resonating NOOOO.  My mom got a worried look on her face and told me that I really get too involved in my books.  Seriously though, there was no way to avoid getting totally involved in this futuristic post-war world that Lissa Price created.  When I went to sleep last night, I dreamed I was in Callie’s world.  It was a little scary.  I didn’t really want to be there, but it was SO intense that I didn’t want to leave either.

I felt that the world was really very creative, and Lissa Price was very inventive in the liberties she took with the time.  She undertook a fear that many people have about where the world will end up as technology improves and conflicts arise.  The world that she created could be easily believed to be a result (YIKES) of such “progress”.  I have to say that I prefer thinking of elderly people like my grandma.  You know, the smell of chocolate chip cookies and lotion.  Some of the elderly people in Starters were slightly creepy.  So she created a believable story, an intriguing world, and some characters that I could relate to.  Any problems?  Well I had one.

The main issue I had with the book is that through a lot of the story, Callie is separated from her brother.  In the very beginning of the book, Callie reveals how hard living on the streets is.  And yet through much of the book, I wanted to feel more of her worry.  If I had left my brother, my sick brother, in a place that was incredibly difficult to survive in, it would be constantly on my mind.  I kept waiting for it to keep coming up, but it didn’t.  Also I thought Michael deserved better. 

Why You Should Read It:  Despite that flaw in the make-up of a pretty fabulous book, I’d encourage everyone to read it.  It was a pretty phenomenal science fiction novel.  I read the book in two sittings because of two things: a) it’s not a hard read which is a plus and b) I didn’t want to pull myself away.  According to Goodreads, the book hits the shelves March 13^th.  I think it may already be out though.  So go buy it!  She is coming out with some books (sort of like Meg Cabot’s Princess diaries half books) before Enders comes out in December.