Review: Starters by Lissa Price (Starters #1)

Title: Starters
Author: Lissa Price
Publication date: March 13th 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopia
Cover rating: 3/5
Content rating: 4/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

HER WORLD IS CHANGED FOREVER 
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. . .

My thoughts:


Starters was a brilliant book that managed to capture my attention from the very first page and hold it until the very last page. I was really drawn into this world that Price has created and wanted to know more all the time. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this one. The cover is a bit creepy and the description sounded even creepier. It turned out to be a riveting read with many unsettling themes throughout!

Callie's parents are dead and now it's just her and her little brother, Tyler. Tyler isn't well and Callie needs money so she can get them proper living arrangements. She decides to rent her body to an ''Ender'' (i.e elderly person) in exchange for a lot of money. I was so freaked out by this idea! It really sucked that Callie felt she had no choice but to do this and I thought she faced it with bravery. You could tell that her brother meant everything to her and that she would do whatever necessary to give him a better life.

Unfortunately, the renting does not go as planned and Callie is stuck pretending to be the person who rented her body! She keeps hearing a voice in the back of her head and things start taking a tasty and weird turn. With every day that passes, Callie learns more and more about what her renter was really up to. I thought it was all dealt with really well and while I thought it might be confusing, it definitely wasn't! I was so scared for Callie throughout this book and she's an incredibly strong character and I found it easy to like her.

Starters is a wonderful dystopian novel that I'm sure fans of the genre will enjoy it. The events that occurred towards the end really took me by surprise and left me eager for more!