Starters

The vaccine was given to the most vulnerable - the very old (Enders) and the very young (Starters). Everyone else died. But that was a year ago. Now Callie, not only a Starter but an unclaimed minor with no Enders to look out for her, is desperate for money to pay for her brother's medical care. The easiest way to get that kind of cash is to go to the body bank, to let an Ender control her body for a day, a week, a month.

Starters was creepy and unsettling from the beginning and constantly kept me (and Callie) off-balance. Who can Callie trust? What is really going on? Who is real and who is a "renter" riding someone else's body? The idea isn't new, but Price puts it into a new context and does an excellent job at it. Many things are show more unclear up until the end of the book, leaving a clear setup for a sequel I will be eager to read. show less

Originally reviewed here link goes live 3/12/12

Straight up, you can’t trust the elderly, this is an important life lesson I learned from Lissa Price’s exciting debut Starters. Like, I hate to compare books, but I feel like Starters might be 2012′s Divergent. The two books aren’t alike plot wise, but they both have that up all night quality. I mean, I read Starters mostly during the week and was ITCHING to get out of work so I could read more of it.

Imagine a future where humanity is wiped out except for the very young and the very old, traditionally society’s most vulnerable people. This is Callie’s reality. You see all of the healthy adults were pretty much wiped out in the Spore Wars, essentially orphaning a generation. If show more you don’t have grandparents, suffice to say, you are screwed and likely living on the streets. Price creates a terrifying world in Starters where it is a LEGIT hard knock life and you have to fight for everything you have. Callie has a series of tough decisions to make as she signs on at Prime Destinations, a company that hires young people, the starters, to rent their bodies out to the older generation, the Enders. The starters can make a boat load of money doing this, but as you discerning readers know, Prime Destinations is MAD SKETCHY YOU GUYS OH MY GOD. First clue, it’s run by a guy who has no name but is called the old man!

Holy intensity mother lover. So every other chapter my actual reaction was GASP OH NO SHE DIDN’T! SHE DID! SHE TOTALLY DID! NOO! Because there are twists and turns and plot wrenches and a righteous anger on behalf of the starters. You see, the youngsters are totally an under class and taken advantage of and MAN did I want Callie to triumph. Like, whenever a large group of people are an underclass in the books I read, like the skaa in Mistborn, I just want them to rise up and take their oppressors down, just so I can pump my fist a little while reading. And you guys, you may have to rein your fists in while reading Starters by Lissa Price, because there’s a ton of awesome action-y, thrilling scenes.

As I said, I almost ALWAYS root for the underdog. The odds are stacked against Callie. She’s a powerless orphan with a sickly little brother. Yet she keeps going despite all of this and is actually kick ass in the I’m a survivor gonna keep on surviving way. I love this. VERY MUCH. Like, I just love her devotion to her little brother. I love that she is willing to make sacrifices along the way. I like that her sacrifices aren’t pretend stakes but VERY REAL as in MAYBE HER LIFE YOU GUYS. I just think Callie is such a likable character and I can’t help but feel so much emotion for her as she goes from being into the dark pertaining to Prime Destinations, to enlightenment about those sketchy mo fos. It’s very compelling.

The weak link in Starters, however, is the romance. I wasn’t feeling either of Callie’s options. There’s Blake who is the senator’s son and who is totally charming to Callie. Then there is Michael, her friend, the boy who protects Callie’s little brother while she’s renting out her body. I mean, maybe if you try super hard, you will swoon over one of the boys, but there’s no real XXX or anything. If you are anything like me, you’ll be too cued into the action and what comes next to care about who Callie locks lips with.

Look, if you want to read a book where you will have REACTIONS and heart palpitations and feel righteous indignation, then obviously Starters by Lissa Price will be your jam. And okay, you guys all know how much I love sexytimes, well I was able to look past the lack of sexytimes with Starters because SO MUCH AWESOME is happening. And I know smarter people will be all like ethics and deeper meaning. But straight up, I just loved the action and all of the surface things and I suppose that if I had stopped to think analytically about Starters while reading it, I could point out themes and such, but no guys, just take it from me if you like a good underdog story, just read Starters. show less

Starters was a brilliant book that managed to capture my attention from the very first page and hold it until the very last page. I was really drawn into this world that Price has created and wanted to know more all the time. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this one. The cover is a bit creepy and the description sounded even creepier. It turned out to be a riveting read with many unsettling themes throughout!

Callie's parents are dead and now it's just her and her little brother, Tyler. Tyler isn't well and Callie needs money so she can get them proper living arrangements. She decides to rent her body to an ''Ender'' (i.e elderly person) in exchange for a lot of money. I was so freaked out by this idea! It really sucked that show more Callie felt she had no choice but to do this and I thought she faced it with bravery. You could tell that her brother meant everything to her and that she would do whatever necessary to give him a better life.

Unfortunately, the renting does not go as planned and Callie is stuck pretending to be the person who rented her body! She keeps hearing a voice in the back of her head and things start taking a tasty and weird turn. With every day that passes, Callie learns more and more about what her renter was really up to. I thought it was all dealt with really well and while I thought it might be confusing, it definitely wasn't! I was so scared for Callie throughout this book and she's an incredibly strong character and I found it easy to like her.

Starters is a wonderful dystopian novel that I'm sure fans of the genre will enjoy it. The events that occurred towards the end really took me by surprise and left me eager for more! show less

When I first picked up Starters, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I'm the worst kind of reader, in that, I tend to read a book based on the cover art. Starters' cover art was especially eye catching. After a quick skim of the summary I proceeded to read, and let me tell you, I was hooked. It was disturbing, but in a good way. From the first scene when Callie enters Prime Destinations--apprehensive and bedraggled against the sterile aesthetic and overly smiley staff--my skin crawled. I felt as if I was there too.

It seemed that all the other scenes to follow were just as descriptive. I also enjoyed that the "Enders" or old people that rented the bodies, were actually old. I like to believe that when I reach the spry age of 90 that show more I'll still be as feisty and cognitive as the older people portrayed in this novel.

The one thing that needed a little work was the character development. Not a whole lot, just a little tweaking. I liked the chemistry between Callie and Michael, found the dynamic between her brother Tyler a little played out and the scenes with Blake were awkward. Michael was like the doesn't-know-he's-hot hometown hero, a personal favorite in character types.

Tyler was a little too helpless for my liking. I understand that Callie needed a strong enough conviction to go through with all of this, but I would have preferred if he was just young and not sick. As for Blake, their courtship was way too fast especially under such strange circumstances. If they had gotten to where they were at the end of this book, at some point in the middle of the next book I would've been more pleased. However, I still immensely enjoyed Starters and would definitely recommend it for those of you that enjoy sci-fi.. I'm eagerly await the second book in the series!

**Review done by Tegan** show less

I got through this book a lot quicker than I thought I would. Starters is a true page-turner. You of course want to know the whole time what exactly Prime Destinations plans are and what Callie will do about becoming entangled with them. But more than that, there are tons of smaller plot points from chapter to chapter that keep you on the edge of your seat to see what happens next. I would have read the book all at one time if I could have.

I was always coming up my own predictions as to what would happen involving several of the different threads, and was delightedly shocked by the end as each thread came to its conclusion- there were so many twists I had never thought of! These twists are definitely one of my favorite parts about show more Starters.

I love the POV we get from Callie because it places us in the same boat as her, trying to connect all the pieces and separate out what is truth and who to trust. I also like how throughout the book you can see Callie's journey of trying to figure out what her identity is post spore wars. She knows she is changed and she becomes more and more so throughout the novel, but as she rents out her body, shares her head with her renter, and is placed in an unique position to be the one who could potentially unravel Prime Destinations, she faces constant challenges to her identity.

Starters has become one of my favorite books and it's set up for its sequel, Enders, has me still on the edge of my seat and ready to read more. show less

Price does a good job of starting this story at a fast clip, and eventually fills in the details about a near future America where a malignant "spore" attack killed many/most adults (20-60 yrs old), and has left the population filled with "Starters" -children, and "Enders"- older adults, groups who had been inoculated against just such a biological attack. Callie, and her little brother Tyler, having lost both their parents, are living "on the street" after they had to flee their safe suburban home: minors who are discovered w/out legal guardians are rounded up and often sent to dreaded "asylums", holding facilities to tuck away all these marginalized orphans, either to slowly die, or perform drudge work. Callie, worried about Tyler's show more weakened state (he's undernourished and ill) determines to contract herself out to a whispered (and semi illegal but tolerated) "renter" corporation, Prime Destinations. With the huge payout she believes she'll receive, she can find a permenant home for herself and her brother, and their street friend Michael. Due to advances in brain science/computer tech, Prime Destinations can recruit teens, who are then prepped to be their most beautiful perfect version of a 16-19 yr old , then submit to a computer chip inserted in their brainstem. Put to sleep, they are hooked up to an "Ender's" brain, and suddenly the Ender has control of this youthful body for a day, or a week or even longer. Callie's first two rentals go as planned, but when her third rental involves a monthlong commitment she balks, but realizes her contract must be honored. But this time when she re-awakens, she's not in the recovery room at the Prime Destination's hdqtrs; she's in a noisy night club, and realizes to her shock that she's very aware & in control of her own body - and her "Ender" renter has somehow only in her brain. Why is her "Ender" leasor (Helena) so insistent she avoid returning to Prime? Who is the shadowy CEO of Prime Destinations? Should she trust a young man she meets at the club, whose grandfather turns out to be an important politician? How will she keep Tyler safe?
Throughout the plot's twists and turns, there's a real Cinderalla subplot going on: oh darn, Callie has to go Helena's millionare mansion and hang out w/rich Enders who are "renting" gorgeous young bodies, and eat anything she wants, drive hot cars, and basically be part of the rich Ender class that she and the other Starters are never allowed to even dream of. And of course she eventually is determined (with the help of Helena and other more conscientious Enders) to bring down Prime Destinations... in spite of the strange conditions of this futuristic society, Price writes these characters with quick strokes, and keeps a brisk pace, so we're rooting for Callie throughout - a fun sci-fi romp that does provide some thought provoking futurism details - what would it be like if only the aged and the very young remain, and what might the aged do to maintain their economic/cultural/political powers? show less

Callie Woodland and her younger brother, Tyler, are vaccinated survivors of the Spore Wars. The Spore Wars wiped out the middle-aged generation leaving behind a class of mostly orphaned youngsters (Starters) struggling to survive and class of wealthy and privileged elderly (Enders) who have become the ruling class of Price’s dystopian world. In a world where she’s not allowed to have a job or own a home, Callie’s only option to care for her sick younger brother is to go to work for Prime Destinations, a body bank where the wealthiest Enders can rent the body of Starter and relive their youth. For Callie, it’s a simple matter of going to sleep while her body goes on its own adventure, that is, until she wakes up in the middle of show more one of her rentals and finds herself tangled in her renter’s web of intrigue. Who can she trust and why is the voice in her head begging her not to return to Prime Destinations?

Starters is a fast-paced dystopian thriller with no shortage of secrets and plot twists. Price conjures a main character whose first-person narration is realistic and relatable. Callie’s desperation to provide for her brother, and her conflict between caring for her brother and uncovering the evil motives at Prime Destinations is palpable. There are evil villains, unwitting accomplices, and, of course, unexpected love interests which Price weaves together into a compelling story.

Unfortunately, where Starters fails is in its world building. The Spore Wars are barely explained. Reasons for why the young generation is so widely loathed and exploited by the privileged class of Enders are never discussed. Readers are left to wonder why the elderly are not only so without compassion for the younger generation but also often downright evil. The mystery of the book was enough to overcome these failings and keep me reading, but the lack of depth to Price’s world left me just the slightest bit unsatisfied. show less