Review: Starters

Starters (Starters #1)
by Lissa Price
Published March 2012
368 pages


Description from Goodreads:

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. . .

Review:

I am loving that there are so many dystopian novels out there!  Starters is a story about with the allure of eternal youth. When I saw this on Netgalley it immediately grabbed my attention. The main character, Callie, is living in a world where the Spore Wars have killed everyone from age 20 to 60. Teens like Callie are pretty desperate having lost their parents and have no one else to help them. Enter a business where the youth (Starters) can rent their bodies to the elderly (Enders) for a huge sum. For Callie the money is too great to pass up because she is trying to take care of her little brother. Callie is supposed to be in a deep sleep while an Ender “rents” her body, unaware of the activities taking place. But something goes wrong and Callie wakes up in the middle of the rental. She learns that the Ender renting her body is planning on murdering someone. While trying to figure out how to stop her renter from committing murder while in her body Callie learns some shocking truths.

As a whole I enjoyed the story. The characters were well developed and the story was fast paced with a shocking twist at the end.  I do wish there was better world building. I was left with a lot of questions, like what caused the Spore Wars, or why the elderly live to like 150 years old. Even with these questions running through my mind I was still able to enjoy Starters. The concept is different from any other dystopian novel that I have read it definitely had a high creepy factor.

So what’s the bottom line?

If you love dystopian type books I would give this book a try.  Overall Starters is an enjoyable read with some unexpected twists.

♥ ♥ ♥ = really liked it