Starters by Lissa Price – Advance Review

Book Jacket:

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. . . .

You can read an excerpt here.

Review:

This story has a great hook, and I really enjoyed its Bourne Identity moments – but in the end, it just didn’t quite deliver on all fronts. I tore through it to find out what would happen next, but the world building was a bit hollow, the bad guys a bit too broad, and the solution a bit too easy. Still, the ending blindsided me with a fantastic twist, and overall I’d definitely put this book in the positive column – it just wasn’t a perfect read. 

First off, what a phenomenal premise this book has. I just loved Price’s take on body rental (and yes, it is different from Dollhouse, if you were wondering), and how she really brings home the sheer creepy factor inherent in giving up your body for someone else to use. I downright loved how Callie came to the idea of being a rental suspiciously and unwillingly, and how she only undertook the procedure because she had no other choice – she’s no fool, our Callie – and I absolutely freaking loved the ways in which Callie’s rental went so very, very wrong. I don’t want to spoil anything, because there is a mystery element, but watching Callie try to piece together exactly what happened to her when she wasn’t in her body’s driver’s seat was just fantastic and utterly compelling. And the fact that Callie was smart and careful with how she went about dealing with it all really made me happy.

As for the world building, I really enjoyed the broad strokes of Price’s concept. A world wrecked by biological war is a familiar dystopian premise, but in Price’s world, the only ones who died were the middle swathe of ages – the children and the very wealthy (who in this society, are also the very old – their life expectancy spans centuries, not decades, which is why they’re known as Enders) all survived. And so suddenly you have a world where the Baby Boomers never have to retire, where upward mobility is frozen, which means the Enders have a virtual lock on political power. Which is why suddenly you have legislation passed that states no child can be employed until they reach the age of 19 (the Enders have to protect their own livelihoods, after all), and how before 19 no child has any legal standing unless claimed by an adult – which leaves the sea of orphans the war left behind, now known as Starters, with no means to provide for themselves and no legal recourse. In other words, this is a world teeming with an underage population of illegals ripe for exploitation, which made it absolutely believable that kids would be desperate enough to rent out their bodies for money. Generally I very, very much liked the framework, and the plot moves along at such a breakneck speed it’s easy to go along for the ride, but all in all this story never really develops on its foundation. There was so much to be explored – about Starters, Enders, and what they must think of each other, about the prejudices and misconceptions they both must have –  and it just never came up. And without it, honestly the Enders ended up feeling a little cartoony, both on the Bad Guy and Good Guy side, and I never particularly understood the motives of either camp. Overall, this is a story with fine bones, but there just wasn’t enough meat on them.

Another thing about this story that twigged me was how all the relationships felt very, very reminiscent of the Hunger Games. Callie of course is a tough, independent, resourceful girl who will do anything to protect her younger sibling. Then there’s Love Interest #1, the boy who lives in her world, who helps her look after her sibling, and together they help each other survive. Callie then has to leave Love Interest #1 behind to do The Dangerous Thing, and while she’s off doing The Dangerous Thing, she meets Love Interest #2, who is sweet and idealistic. She then develops real feelings for him, and comes to depend on him, though of course her feelings are all tangled up with what she feels for Love Interest #1, and at the end she finds herself very, very conflicted. Sounds familiar, no?

Still, in the end, this book does have a lot going for it – a killer concept, frenetic pacing, and an interesting puzzle to solve about what’s really going on – and it makes for a very fun and very compelling read. And though I do wish this story had a bit more depth to it overall, I still honestly couldn’t put it down. I’m definitely in for the next book.

Byrt Grade: A- / B+

As Levar Burton used to say – you don’t have to take my word for it…

Kirkus Reviews says:

Some exposition is clumsily dropped in through dialogue, and some plot aspects don’t hold up to scrutiny, but the twists and turns come so fast that readers will stay hooked. Constantly rising stakes keep this debut intense.

The Intergalactic Academy says:

…the ultimate villain is undeniably creepy; the book moves quickly, propelled by Callie’s young and chatty narration. But it’s just not a very deep novel. It’s not as if a book can’t be both playful and complex. Megan McCafferty’s Bumped, for example, is a tongue-in-cheek social satire which successfully explores meaningful ethical questions – all without losing its sense of humor. Meanwhile, Starters succeeds in the fun department, but it fails to do anything more.

Novel Novice says:

Dystopian fiction is everywhere these days, especially on the YA shelves. But when it’s done well, it deserves to be given a major shout-out to help it stand out from the crowd — and that’s certainly the case with Starters by Lissa Price.