Starters (edition 2012)

Eu não detestei mais também não amei. O começo do livro é bem parado, senti falta de detalhes ao longo da estória. Mais tive uma surpresa, o final é ótimo e valeu pelo livro todo. Estou muito ansiosa para ler a sequência. E espero que o segundo livro não tenha os mesmos erros do primeiro. ( )

Price has created a truly original concept that is beautifully creepy. I mean imagine someone older than you that doesn't want you to work but is just fine with using your body, so they can feel younger. Jeez! Callie, doesn't agree with it either but she's doing it for her little brother Tyler.She is three rentals away from a nice home and food for them both. All she has to do is survive until then, but not everything goes as smooth as the Enders at Prime make it out to be, something has changed. Someone is out for blood, and Callie's finger may be the one to pull the trigger. This story is well written and the characters are wonderful. Callie has such fire and heart, and the Old Man makes for a mysterious and devious antagonist. I have my theories about him, but I'm not going to tell. There were two male interests for Callie, though I was much more intrigued by the interaction between her, Helena(the renter) and the Enders.This book will make you wonder, what if this was the future for our world. It's the young versus the old, but what about the people in between? I'm curious because all of them can't be gone.Fast-paced, intriguingly suspenseful...this is a must read! ( )

Not a good book for students who are not strong readers. Set in the future when a young person can rent their body out to an older person. ( )

"When hawks cry, time to fly."
—Callie

I first saw this book on my local library, and you see, the Indonesian version of it really has a nice and eye catching cover, really like a movie poster or something.

So when I read the blurb and became totally hooked by its unique and fresh concept, I decided to give it a try. And, well, I have to say I haven't read a great dystopian book such as this for a while.

Starters took place in the dystopian world destroyed by a Spores War, where people lived for almost two centuries, and that the old people—called Enders—could rent the body of a fresh young people—called Starters—with money.
Callie Woodland was an orphan when her mother was killed on the Spores war, and her father was arrested and never to be heard again months later. Living with little food and taking shelter illegally on an abandoned building, Callie's life a constant circle of hunger and escape again and again.
Until she find out about Prime Destination, the organization where Starters could be paid by renting their body to the wealthy Enders.
Money and living on was the only thing Callie thought about when she applied to become a donor of Prime. What she didn't know, though, was that her last renter happened to be a murderous woman with a plan that could get them both killed. That her chip was malfunctioning and Callie could fully control her body—which had never happened with any other donor before.
And that the Prime Destination might not be as real as they claimed to be, at all.

The pacing of this book, I think, was perfectly fitting for this kind of story. It was fast-paced, with new things being thrown every here and there, and the details and the world-building was described as the story goes.
And I also love Lisa's writing style, where she used not a straightforward method for telling us about the strange things—such as the Spores—that were practically flying around everywhere on a dystopian novel, but rather giving us a main idea as the the story proceed, throwing bits of information here and there, and made us understand about what it could do and what it had done, not just plainly what it could do.

Callie Woodland, as our main character, was an exceptionally strong character.
The story began as Callie volunteered to become a body donor because of economical problem, and she was more than willing to do anything to keep herself and her brother alive.
But when her third renter was unpredictably planning a murder and Callie's chip began to malfunction we get to see her life as she faked herself every single day, acting that her body still belong to the renter, when, in fact, it didn't.
What especially stood out from Callie was her distinct voice. I love how her dialog could be easily recognized without the 'she said', and that when she was happy or terrified, I could totally feel that as well.
Her personality was also strong, likable, yet at the same time still realistic and—my favorite part ever, this one—very well-flawed.
I love how her background, as an orphan, really reflected on her everyday behavior and that she would always take a rational decision, not an imaginary decision we reader would love her to take. And boy, I love her for that.
Helena Winterhill, Callie's renter as well as our other main character, however, was not as brilliant as Callie herself. Sure, she did have some nice past and background story and quite an objective, but that was it.
There was no something totally 'Helena' that I could find on this book, and that made her fell on the same places as the other secondary character, when, in fact, she was not.
The same goes to the other important secondary character as well, such as Tinnenbaum, Blake, and the other character I couldn't even remember their names.
Blake, Callie's love interest with a complicated position as the grandson of Helena's enemy, had that flat syndrome as well. And what made me dislike him even more was that his insta-love with Callie. Hello, cliche.
I mean, later on the story, I finally understood the purpose behind their beautiful insta-love or whatever it was, but then again, readers read from cover-to-cover, and no, they won't know why it happened when they read the insta-love. And then, they might not be able to sympathize at all with Callie and Blake's relationship.
I do love love love the twist about Blake and some other characters on the ending tough. Really brilliant, Lissa Price.

One thing that I thought was a bit lacking from this book was its ending. Not that I hate it, of course. I personally think that the ending wrapped THIS book quite nicely, tying all the loose cord together and left the reader feeling satisfied.
But that exactly what the problem was.
All the loose cord of the plot was tied way too perfectly it made no question, and therefore made this book felt more like a standalone rather than a first book of a series. It also made the reader way too satisfied, they didn't feel that something was left hanging and unsolved, therefore not leaving them questioning it and dying to read the next book.

Overall if you love to read dystopian book, and would love to try a fresh read with a strong world building, strong culture, and unique concept, I definitely recommend this book for you. For those of you who loves Collin's Hunger Games, Roth's Divergent, or Rossi's Under the Never Sky, this book will definitely appeal to you. ( )

So disappointed. I loved the concept and the start of this book. I thought it would be great. Alas it got to be ridiculous far too soon.
The way the main person behaved was not they way a normal person would. Very unbelievable. I tried to go on but I decided to call it quits.

Maybe I will pick it up one day. ( )