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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
3.5 stars. I know it was science fiction but this was so far stretched that I had trouble with some of it. It was a good story though. Just had trouble with parts of it.
An ingenious concept and a well-told story. A true dystopian delight!!
The Hunger Games meets Gamer in this thrilling debut. Callie lives in a post-apocalyptic America where she is forced to live on the streets, fighting for scraps, squatting in abandoned buildings and running from the marshals. After the Spore War, all the adults between the age of 20 and 60 were wiped out, there were just the Starters and the Enders. Callie is a 16 year-old Starter desperate to protect her sick brother Tyler from the cruel world they have been thrown into after the devastation. She contracts with a body bank called Prime Destinations. A rich Ender with enough money can "rent" her body to relive their glory days. Callie and her 3rd renter Helena uncover a sinister plot by the Old Man, the man behind the body bank, that will forever change the lives of Callie and the many unclaimed Starters. There are many twists and turns to circumvent in this exhilarating story of bravery, loss, greed, sacrifice and struggle to protect those that have no one. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and the ending will leave you wondering what will happen in Enders, the sequel. If you like dystopian, sci-fi/fantasy, this will be a good one to try.
Starters by Lissa Price is set in a dystopian society where a virus has killed everyone over the age of 20 and under the age of 60. Children who do not have grandparents live like fugitives running from the marshals who want to lock them up in institutions. Callie, in order to make money to care for her little brother sells herself to Prime Destinations, a company that rents the bodies of young people to the elderly, allowing someone else to control her body. While on her last rental Callie wakes up and finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy worse than anything she could have imagined.
I loved this book. The dystopia was well crafted with a fairly logical explanation. Callie's journey is exciting and filled with twists and turns. The characters were all well written and I found myself caring for even very small characters. I was engrossed by the story, finished it quickly and can't wait till the sequel.
Appropriateness: There is no adult content in this book. It is interesting enough that it will appeal to the entire YA audience. I would recommend the book to readers 13+
I loved this book. The dystopia was well crafted with a fairly logical explanation. Callie's journey is exciting and filled with twists and turns. The characters were all well written and I found myself caring for even very small characters. I was engrossed by the story, finished it quickly and can't wait till the sequel.
Appropriateness: There is no adult content in this book. It is interesting enough that it will appeal to the entire YA audience. I would recommend the book to readers 13+
A great book for the "I've read Hunger Games, now what?" crowd. In the future, after a biological war has killed all adults between 20 and 60, teenager Callie signs up for a secret experiment where her body is "rented" by an "Ender" (someone over the age of 60) so that they can experience life again as a young healthy person. Their brain waves take over her body, while she merely sleeps and awakens with no memory of anything having happened. (Just pay me the money and I'm outta here) But something goes wrong: during one rental, Callie wakes up and the Ender's brain is still in her body! She can hear her voice! And she finds out that this oldster wants her body not to go out dancing or skydiving or to do other fun stuff, but to have her commit a murder! Great suspense, intriguing premise, good dystopian failure-of-government stuff.
http://nrgitha.blogspot.com/2013/11/resensi-starters.html
slow-paced
Starters has been receiving a fair amount of hype coming up to its release, and because of this I was a tad wary of how it would turn out.
But I was so impressed with a dystopian that includes some fresh ideas, ones that distinguish it from all the other dystopian books next to it on the bookshelves!
Reasons to Read:
1.There is no purely "black versus white" battle:
I really, really appreciated that Lissa didn't stick to typical dystopian themes with some super duper evil force out there, that just has to be overcome via revolution in some way. She carefully blends the two together, and you come to realize that the people Callie meets aren't quite as good (or as bad) as they first seem; this was truly refreshing and unexpected in a new YA dystopian riding the current trend.
2.A subtle kind of creepy:
The premise of Starters is extremely disturbing, but one that I found really became creeper the more I thought about it. You have old people... taking over young bodies... and the young people won't have any clue what they were doing while this happened. That is freaky. And that you have no idea who the person you're talking to really is, and wondering what other secrets Prime Destinations is keeping... because if they're doing weird stuff like this, you just know there's worse stuff coming.
3.A Cinderella-esque feel:
Okay, I mentioned this on Twitter and most people had no clue what I was talking about so maybe it's just me. But there really is a very subtle, yet distinct, Cinderella flavour to this story. It isn't a retelling at all- but I did pick up on what I saw was some influence on the story. I think people who liked Cinder may also enjoy Starters in a similar way, even though they're very different stories with different writing styles. But still, dystopian tales with rags to riches heroines and a fancy ball where they leave behind a shoe. Plus, they don't have parents.
4.A mystery vibe:
I also liked reading about Callie as she tried to put the pieces together and solve whatever it was that was going on; between trying to figure out the plans that Prime had, and exactly what it was Helena was trying to accomplish and why, Callie easily had lots of work for her to do.
But I also kind of felt that parts of the story were far slower than I would have liked; the flow wasn't entirely as smooth as it could have been, and it took a while for things to actually start happening. And the plot definitely has a few holes (it doesn't surprise me, and I don't expect flawless dystopian mysteries either) but overall it was extremely well done and the praise is well-deserved! I enjoyed this one far more than I expected to and I'm looking forward to its sequel.
E-galley received from publisher via Net Galley for review.
But I was so impressed with a dystopian that includes some fresh ideas, ones that distinguish it from all the other dystopian books next to it on the bookshelves!
Reasons to Read:
1.There is no purely "black versus white" battle:
I really, really appreciated that Lissa didn't stick to typical dystopian themes with some super duper evil force out there, that just has to be overcome via revolution in some way. She carefully blends the two together, and you come to realize that the people Callie meets aren't quite as good (or as bad) as they first seem; this was truly refreshing and unexpected in a new YA dystopian riding the current trend.
2.A subtle kind of creepy:
The premise of Starters is extremely disturbing, but one that I found really became creeper the more I thought about it. You have old people... taking over young bodies... and the young people won't have any clue what they were doing while this happened. That is freaky. And that you have no idea who the person you're talking to really is, and wondering what other secrets Prime Destinations is keeping... because if they're doing weird stuff like this, you just know there's worse stuff coming.
3.A Cinderella-esque feel:
Okay, I mentioned this on Twitter and most people had no clue what I was talking about so maybe it's just me. But there really is a very subtle, yet distinct, Cinderella flavour to this story. It isn't a retelling at all- but I did pick up on what I saw was some influence on the story. I think people who liked Cinder may also enjoy Starters in a similar way, even though they're very different stories with different writing styles. But still, dystopian tales with rags to riches heroines and a fancy ball where they leave behind a shoe. Plus, they don't have parents.
4.A mystery vibe:
I also liked reading about Callie as she tried to put the pieces together and solve whatever it was that was going on; between trying to figure out the plans that Prime had, and exactly what it was Helena was trying to accomplish and why, Callie easily had lots of work for her to do.
But I also kind of felt that parts of the story were far slower than I would have liked; the flow wasn't entirely as smooth as it could have been, and it took a while for things to actually start happening. And the plot definitely has a few holes (it doesn't surprise me, and I don't expect flawless dystopian mysteries either) but overall it was extremely well done and the praise is well-deserved! I enjoyed this one far more than I expected to and I'm looking forward to its sequel.
E-galley received from publisher via Net Galley for review.
the topic in this book was so interesting and i definitely want to read the 2nd one but sone things felt a little weird to me