Monday, December 3, 2012

Starters, by Lissa Price

Starters is a dystopian novel about a war-torn society in which unclaimed minors struggle to survive without getting caught by marshals, who want to institutionalize them. Because most of the middle-aged citizens were wiped out in the spore wars, the society consists of minors and the elderly. A power-hungry entrepreneur has developed a company called Prime Destinations at which impoverished minors, also called starters, can make money by renting their bodies out to elderly folks referred to as enders. Callie, desperate to help her sick younger brother, becomes a renter when things go wrong. The person renting her body pulls her into an investigation of Prime Destinations and she gets caught in the crossfire where she can't always tell who her friends are.

There were a lot of things I loved about this book. I loved the concept, and thought Price did an excellent job making the technology believable. Other areas weren't quite as believable, in my opinion, and at times I felt like some of the language describing emotional scenes was a bit heavy-handed, but the logistics of switching bodies was well presented. The plot was also compelling. There was never a dull moment.

Overall, I would recommend this story and look forward to the sequel.