Review - Starters (Starters #1) by Lissa Price

Title: Starters

Author: Lissa Price

Series: 1st

Pages: 368

Published: March 13th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers 

ISBN: 9780385742375

Source: Netgalley

 

Description: 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. . .  

I Give This ...

 

I think my expectation for this book ran a little rampant.  For the longest time all we had was this creepy cover and a really vague description.  Enough to peek my interest to the extreme.  I jumped at the chance to read it.  

I have to admit I was a little disappointed at first.  The story seemed a little slow.  I was just going with the flow.  I liked Callie.  I understood her reasons for doing something so desperate to guarantee some sort of future for herself and her brother.  I liked that she hesitated on working with Prime Destinations.  If it sounds to good to be true it usually is.  But, she becomes desperate.  I liked how she handled the situation when she realized she was back in control of her own body but living her renters life.  Especially as she learns more about her renter.

I thought the idea of the Enders being able to rent teenage bodies was just appalling.  Sure, they try to make the teens feel like their are rules, but who really had the control here?  And the money?  I was completely not surprised that the people behind Prime had a darker alternative motive for wanting to get the program off the ground.  I kept reading because that's the part of the story that intrigued me the most.  That there were all these teens running around, and how could you be sure who was really in the body.

I think the idea of this dystopian world was harder to grasp.   It seems like a lot more time had passed in books like this.  A year just doesn't seem like enough for the world to have entered into a society such as this.  Maybe I'm wrong though.  I just didn't feel the world.

I liked it enough to round up and give it a 4 and I will be reading the next in the series!