Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
I had no idea what this was about when I went into it and I was so pleasantly surprised. It was such an interesting and unique premise and was done so very well. The characters were endearing (my little baby Sara!!) and it was like nothing I've read before. I need the next book! I need to see where this goes, especially since almost everything seems wrapped up.
I had no idea what this was about when I went into it and I was so pleasantly surprised. It was such an interesting and unique premise and was done so very well. The characters were endearing (my little baby Sara!!) and it was like nothing I've read before. I need the next book! I need to see where this goes, especially since almost everything seems wrapped up.
So this is the second time I started this book, the first time I just read one chapter and I just got a book I really wanted to read. So I decided to put this book aside because it didn’t grip me right away.
So after reading a lot of other books I decided to pick this one up again and I’m glad I did. Although the story really had to grow on me in the end I just couldn’t stop reading. It became a thrilling and scary story.
The characters of the story really grew on me and I think the fact that this book had to win me over made it one of the best books I’ve read this year.
I can honestly say that I wasn’t a fan at first but this story really won me over and now I can’t wait to read the second one!
So after reading a lot of other books I decided to pick this one up again and I’m glad I did. Although the story really had to grow on me in the end I just couldn’t stop reading. It became a thrilling and scary story.
The characters of the story really grew on me and I think the fact that this book had to win me over made it one of the best books I’ve read this year.
I can honestly say that I wasn’t a fan at first but this story really won me over and now I can’t wait to read the second one!
I initially had 4 stars but I'm now reading the second book & thinking about the world building from the first book some more and it's irritating me a lot, so I've reduced this rating to 3 stars.
Yeah it took me a couple years to finish lol. I had to give my friend back her copy and I just never picked it up again till recently. The beginning was fantastic, so intriguing and unique. But towards the end their were just some things that didn’t make sense and some stupid decisions and some werirddddd circumstance. Like what the heck. Enjoyable read, not bad.
The premise is good and, honestly, could easily provide a thought provoking dystopian novel that the YA audience would be talking about. Unfortunately, it also suffers from the dreaded “tries too hard” that is so common these days. The beginning is slow and plodding but this does pick up as the story moves on. By about midway through the novel almost seems to change completely and it becomes non-stop action packed which will appeal to reluctant readers (but they have to get past the slow part first which most will not do and give up early on). The characters are likeable enough but not particularly engaging…just so-so, not at all memorable. The biggest problem, though, is the pointless middle section of the book where a series of “scenes” just seem to be added for filler. It seems so much like filler that I honestly wondered if this was a short story that the author has attempted to lengthen into novel form for the sake of publication. Overall, I had high expectations for this book and was unfortunately let down by the novel.
ARC Galley Proof
ARC Galley Proof
This book wasn't great. The world building wasn't strong so i kind of just pictured what i would imagine any city would look like if it was pretty much run by kids and squatters.
However, the twist at the end made the whole book worth it. I had wondered at one point if that person was the "old man" but I was wrong in a sense. I really liked that twist, it was really disappointing but in a good kind of emotional way!
So i would recommend this book in the way that the twist kind of takes you by surprise :)
However, the twist at the end made the whole book worth it. I had wondered at one point if that person was the "old man" but I was wrong in a sense. I really liked that twist, it was really disappointing but in a good kind of emotional way!
So i would recommend this book in the way that the twist kind of takes you by surprise :)
This is a very good book and I could see this happening in the future. Hopefully there won't be an epidemic where the middle-agers die and only the young and elderly are left. If your grandparents are left you have a home and money. The story is about Callie who has neither and must find a way to help her sickly younger brother. A company has developed a way to insert a computer terminal into the brain. For money the teenagers who have nothing can allow this company to insert the terminal. After being inserted the rich elderly people pay to use the body of the teens to have the fun they remember.
I have to admit, I have had the hardest time writing the review for this book. It’s not because I didn’t like the book or there was anything wrong with it. I just couldn’t get the words to flow the way I wanted them to. I have started and then re-started this review probably ten times. Each time I deleted it and started over. I was having my own version of writer’s block, I guess. It makes me glad that I only read the books, not write them. I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must be to get stuck when writing an actual book. My heart goes out to all of those authors who struggle to make a story flow flawlessly. You guys make it look so easy. Anyway, on to the review.
Starters is a fascinating look at a very scary future. Because everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty has died, teens without family—grandparents or great-grandparents that is—are forced to live in horrifying conditions, fighting for every scrap of food and a place to lay their heads at night. Desperation forces some of them to become renters—selling the use of their bodies to the Enders for a lot of cash. This is where the reader finds Callie, contemplating renting herself out in order to help her brother and their friend Michael survive. But when Callie wakes up still in the body of the Ender who rented her, everything she thought she believed begins to unravel around her.
I really enjoyed Starters. I am a huge fan of the young adult dystopian genre, so I always enjoy a book that can bring some originality to a part of the genre that is rapidly being overrun with similar story lines. It did remind me a little bit of the Bruce Willis movie Surrogates or the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall. Not the actual story, but the idea of using someone else’s body or memories as your own. But all in all, it is a well-written story with a lot of twists and turns that keep you guessing.
I really only had two issues with this book. First, there are a lot of characters to keep straight. Perhaps the most difficult part was keeping straight whether the character is an Ender who is renting or a Starter (a real teen). Price definitely knows how to keep the reader on their toes and engaged in the story. You need to pay attention to what is happening in this book, don’t let your mind drift or you might miss something important, especially when it comes to the characters. Second, Starters had one of those “never-ending” endings. It just seemed to go on and on. I felt like Price was trying to wrap up several loose ends, or set the reader up for the next book, and she just didn’t quite know how to finish it up. I found myself rolling my eyes and saying “Really” when I turned the page and the book was still not done. That is a pet peeve of mine though, the inability to just end a book (or a movie--*cough* third Lord of the Rings *cough*) without adding a bunch of stuff and fluff to the end.
I did like Starters. It is expected to be a two-book project and I am looking forward to the next book. Price is a very imaginative writer with a bright future. I am sure she will continue to bring us great reads. I will be recommending this to my girls, I think they’ll like it.
Starters is a fascinating look at a very scary future. Because everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty has died, teens without family—grandparents or great-grandparents that is—are forced to live in horrifying conditions, fighting for every scrap of food and a place to lay their heads at night. Desperation forces some of them to become renters—selling the use of their bodies to the Enders for a lot of cash. This is where the reader finds Callie, contemplating renting herself out in order to help her brother and their friend Michael survive. But when Callie wakes up still in the body of the Ender who rented her, everything she thought she believed begins to unravel around her.
I really enjoyed Starters. I am a huge fan of the young adult dystopian genre, so I always enjoy a book that can bring some originality to a part of the genre that is rapidly being overrun with similar story lines. It did remind me a little bit of the Bruce Willis movie Surrogates or the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall. Not the actual story, but the idea of using someone else’s body or memories as your own. But all in all, it is a well-written story with a lot of twists and turns that keep you guessing.
I really only had two issues with this book. First, there are a lot of characters to keep straight. Perhaps the most difficult part was keeping straight whether the character is an Ender who is renting or a Starter (a real teen). Price definitely knows how to keep the reader on their toes and engaged in the story. You need to pay attention to what is happening in this book, don’t let your mind drift or you might miss something important, especially when it comes to the characters. Second, Starters had one of those “never-ending” endings. It just seemed to go on and on. I felt like Price was trying to wrap up several loose ends, or set the reader up for the next book, and she just didn’t quite know how to finish it up. I found myself rolling my eyes and saying “Really” when I turned the page and the book was still not done. That is a pet peeve of mine though, the inability to just end a book (or a movie--*cough* third Lord of the Rings *cough*) without adding a bunch of stuff and fluff to the end.
I did like Starters. It is expected to be a two-book project and I am looking forward to the next book. Price is a very imaginative writer with a bright future. I am sure she will continue to bring us great reads. I will be recommending this to my girls, I think they’ll like it.
"“I need you to go talk to a girl who may have some information about Emma."
"Where is she?"
"Someplace you're not going to want to go."
(...)
"I give up. Where?"
"Institution 37."
I felt a hitch in my breathing. I leaned back against the wall.
"Could I pick hell instead?”"
"Starters" eine Dystopie, bei der es einem kalt den Rücken herunter läuft. Mit dem heutigen, immer schneller werdenden Fortschritt in der Technologie ist es nicht unvorstellbar, dass es irgendwann möglich sein wird, dass ein Mensch einen anderen Menschen durch einen kleinen Computerchip fernsteuern kann.
Genau zu diesem Zweck gibt es in Callies Welt eine "Body Bank". Aber mal von Anfang: Callie ist ein "Starter". In ihrer Welt gibt es nur noch "Starters" und "Enders". Enders sind ganz alte Menschen, und Starters sind junge Kinder. Die ganze Generation dazwischen wurde während eines Krieges durch einen Virus ausgerottet. (Auch das kommt einem nicht unmöglich vor, da doch gerade zuletzt erst ein tödlicher Virus entdeckt wurde, über den heiß debattiert wird, da man ihn als Waffe einsetzen könnte wenn er in die falschen Hände gerät)
Die Enders können mittlerweile über 200 Jahre alt werden, dank neuer Technologien. Ein Hoch auf den Fortschritt, denn in dieser Welt vermietet die "Body Bank" die jungen Körper der Starters an die alten Ender. Dabei wird das Bewusstsein der Jungen eine Weile abgeschaltet und die Alten übernehmen die Kontrolle. Aber Callie erwacht bei einem dieser Jobs viel zu früh, nur um festzustellen, dass ihre Mieterin sie benutzen will um einen Mord zu verüben.
"Starters" ist dabei Spannung pur, ich konnte es kaum aus der Hand legen. Die ganzen Möglichkeiten, die Technologie in dieser Welt eröffnet hat, sind dabei schon ziemlich beängstigend. Callie ist eine richtig starke Hauptfigur. Ich möchte nicht behaupten, dass ich mich in sie hineinversetzen kann, ihre Situation ist dafür viel zu einzigartig. Aber es war unheimlich spannend, durch ihre Augen zu schauen und Mäuschen spielen zu dürfen. Lissa Price ist es gelungen, einige starke Charaktere zu kreieren: nicht nur die Heldin Callie, die nie aufzugeben scheint, sondern auch die Fieslinge der "Body Bank". Vor allem nach dem aufregenden "Ende" bleibt einem das Bild des "Old Man" in Alpträumen noch lange erhalten.
"Ende" habe ich in Anführungszeichen gesetzt, da es bald einen zweiten Teil gibt: "Enders", der nach der Schlussszene von "Starters" viel Spannung verspricht.
Einen Stern Abzug gibt es von mir, da manche Szenen mir zwischendurch etwas langatmig vorkamen, ansonsten ist "Starters" auf jeden Fall lesenswert!
“Did Cinderella ever consider fessing up to the prince, that night she was enjoying herself in the fancy ball gown? Did she even think of telling him, oh, by the way, Prince, the coach isn’t mine, I’m really a filthy little barefoot servant on borrowed time? No. She took her moment. And then went quietly away after midnight.”
"Where is she?"
"Someplace you're not going to want to go."
(...)
"I give up. Where?"
"Institution 37."
I felt a hitch in my breathing. I leaned back against the wall.
"Could I pick hell instead?”"
"Starters" eine Dystopie, bei der es einem kalt den Rücken herunter läuft. Mit dem heutigen, immer schneller werdenden Fortschritt in der Technologie ist es nicht unvorstellbar, dass es irgendwann möglich sein wird, dass ein Mensch einen anderen Menschen durch einen kleinen Computerchip fernsteuern kann.
Genau zu diesem Zweck gibt es in Callies Welt eine "Body Bank". Aber mal von Anfang: Callie ist ein "Starter". In ihrer Welt gibt es nur noch "Starters" und "Enders". Enders sind ganz alte Menschen, und Starters sind junge Kinder. Die ganze Generation dazwischen wurde während eines Krieges durch einen Virus ausgerottet. (Auch das kommt einem nicht unmöglich vor, da doch gerade zuletzt erst ein tödlicher Virus entdeckt wurde, über den heiß debattiert wird, da man ihn als Waffe einsetzen könnte wenn er in die falschen Hände gerät)
Die Enders können mittlerweile über 200 Jahre alt werden, dank neuer Technologien. Ein Hoch auf den Fortschritt, denn in dieser Welt vermietet die "Body Bank" die jungen Körper der Starters an die alten Ender. Dabei wird das Bewusstsein der Jungen eine Weile abgeschaltet und die Alten übernehmen die Kontrolle. Aber Callie erwacht bei einem dieser Jobs viel zu früh, nur um festzustellen, dass ihre Mieterin sie benutzen will um einen Mord zu verüben.
"Starters" ist dabei Spannung pur, ich konnte es kaum aus der Hand legen. Die ganzen Möglichkeiten, die Technologie in dieser Welt eröffnet hat, sind dabei schon ziemlich beängstigend. Callie ist eine richtig starke Hauptfigur. Ich möchte nicht behaupten, dass ich mich in sie hineinversetzen kann, ihre Situation ist dafür viel zu einzigartig. Aber es war unheimlich spannend, durch ihre Augen zu schauen und Mäuschen spielen zu dürfen. Lissa Price ist es gelungen, einige starke Charaktere zu kreieren: nicht nur die Heldin Callie, die nie aufzugeben scheint, sondern auch die Fieslinge der "Body Bank". Vor allem nach dem aufregenden "Ende" bleibt einem das Bild des "Old Man" in Alpträumen noch lange erhalten.
"Ende" habe ich in Anführungszeichen gesetzt, da es bald einen zweiten Teil gibt: "Enders", der nach der Schlussszene von "Starters" viel Spannung verspricht.
Einen Stern Abzug gibt es von mir, da manche Szenen mir zwischendurch etwas langatmig vorkamen, ansonsten ist "Starters" auf jeden Fall lesenswert!
“Did Cinderella ever consider fessing up to the prince, that night she was enjoying herself in the fancy ball gown? Did she even think of telling him, oh, by the way, Prince, the coach isn’t mine, I’m really a filthy little barefoot servant on borrowed time? No. She took her moment. And then went quietly away after midnight.”