Starters (Starters, #1) in Geekquality Reading Group

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Oct 15, 2011 NotoriousGOT rated it liked it

Shelves: dystopian, random-buzzers, 2012-read, advance-copies, young-adult, kindle

In the post-apocalyptic future, everyone between the ages of 20-60 have died and new technology has allowed teenagers to rent their bodies to rich old folks who want to relive their youth – think a YA version of that show Dollhouse.

The first 50 pages sucked me in, I was immediately drawn to this tense, hectic world and felt Callie’s plight to find a way to live for herself and her sick 7 year old brother. The idea of Prime Destinations, the place where Callie goes to rent her body for money (it In the post-apocalyptic future, everyone between the ages of 20-60 have died and new technology has allowed teenagers to rent their bodies to rich old folks who want to relive their youth – think a YA version of that show Dollhouse.

The first 50 pages sucked me in, I was immediately drawn to this tense, hectic world and felt Callie’s plight to find a way to live for herself and her sick 7 year old brother. The idea of Prime Destinations, the place where Callie goes to rent her body for money (it’s not as hookerish as it sounds), is creepy in its stark, clean and perfect depiction. I like that Prime Destinations is in stark contrast to Callie’s life, and most teenagers’ lives in Los Angeles during this book.

After the first 50 pages, around the time when Callie’s body goes on it’s second rental, is when things tend to slow down for me. The mystery is still there, but all the action and dystopian plotlines are overshadowed by a romance. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a good romance and I absolutely LOVE what the author, Lissa Price, does with this romance at the end, but I really felt that certain parts in the middle of this story got to be too girly and too chick lit. I personally would have dialed back all the times Callie talks about her new looks courtesy of Prime Desitnations and I would definitely have skipped that one random “Cinderella” scene where she goes to a ball.

Instead, I would have played up more of Callie’s real strengths, and less of her superficial strengths like her beauty. For instance, she’s an impeccably good shot with a gun, any gun and that to me is really intriguing, I would have loved for that part of her to come out more or perhaps highlight the skills she’s picked up while living on the streets. Instead, Callie only uses to her advantage the tools her body’s renter has given her like fancy cars, nice clothes and lots of money.

But this book really redeems itself towards the end. There’s a turning point in the plot and when that happens the action really picks up as well as the suspense and the pacing. The ending was creepy and definitely gave us plenty of cliffhangers to keep us asking questions until the sequel, Enders, comes out later in the year.

This is certainly a book for dystopian fans, but in my opinion, it is a little too girly for those of you who like your dystopia gritty and slightly depressing; however, this is definitely a unique addition to an otherwise played out genre that you should read!
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Feb 29, 2012 Erin Subramanian marked it as to-read

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