Publisher: Delacorte
Pages: 368
Goodreads Synopsis: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 Review:
This was definitely an interesting concept for a book and I was really excited to read it. This book started out really well. There was a good amount of action throughout the book, and I even found some of the book to be kind of creepy and weird.
I really enjoyed Callie, she was a strong character whose motives for going into Prime Destinations were very selfless. I enjoy that she fights for what she believes is right, and does anything to keep her brother safe. I really enjoyed the whole story is told from her perspective, and as you read along you find things with Callie instead of before her.
What I didn't really like about the story was the love interest of Callie. I felt that it was just added in, this is more a story about Callie and the starters, I felt like that aspect of the story was too forced. I didn't understand why Blake needed to be there, it just seemed like another character just so that there was a love story added in.
This is definitely a great dystopian, I really enjoyed Lissa's descriptions of everything around Callie, it made picturing everything really easy, and I found I could find myself right in Callie's place. The storyline was interesting, I really enjoy that Callie is able to wake up living the renter's life and getting to find out more about Prime Destinations. I also liked that the villain is actually more than just one person, it's whole company.
There were definitely a lot of twists and turns to this story which I really enjoyed. I found myself continually guessing at what would happen next. The ending was definitely a big surprise (I'm still not sure how I felt about some of the things that came out at the end, to be honest). I'm still definitely wrapping my head around some of the things that were revealed (I do enjoy a book that makes me think about it after I have read it).
I will definitely continue this series to see where Lissa Price will take Callie next.
I did not really enjoy Starters and I'm dreading the moment when I need to sit down and write up my review. I didn't buy the world-building and the whole "we'll give the vaccine to the most clueless + useless people only - the elders and the kids" - where's the logic in that?! -_-' I also thought that the writing style was.. well, a little bit childish (a 14-yo-girl-writing-a-ya-sort-of-thing). Like you pointed out, the love interest was.. well, forced and out of place. I also thought that the whole HUGE twist at the end didn't really make sense (if Blake was..YOU-KNOW-WHO, why did he threw himself in front of a bullet to protect the senator?)... I get that, he didn't really care about the body, but, I dunno, it just felt very iffy.
ReplyDeleteI really like your review, tho! You pointed out some important things, thanks! <3