Starters Review

TITLE: Starters
AUTHOR: Lissa Price
PAGES: 350 (eBook)
RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2012
PUBLISHER: Random House Children's Books
READ: February 14, 2012 - February 16, 2012
BUY THIS BOOK AT: Amazon / Chapters.Indigo 

SYNOPSIS 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. . . .

I was very excited for this novel, the premise intrigued me and the cover is absolutely stunning.  As they say, never judge a book by its cover!  It started out with promise,  Lissa Price did a great job of showing the tough, gritty life that Callie and her loved ones were facing everyday post war.  But then the flaws just started flowing, heavily! My first question was why are there all of these "unclaimed minors"? Sure, following the spore wars everyone between the ages of 20-60 died due to limited vaccines and the government prioritising the most at-risk (people under 20 and over 60) but why weren't any of these kids claimed?  The author created a world where only rich grandparents cared about their grandchildren and all the middle-lower class kids were abandoned and left to become bottom feeding alley dwellers.  Seriously, think about it? How many people don't have someone in their family over 60? I would say not too many.  

The relationships were also heavily flawed.  The connection between Blake & Callie held no merit from the very beginning, which is kind of explained in the end, but it was never believable to begin with.  The character of Micheal was never explored enough for us to build a connection to what he and Callie could possibly have between them. I feel like that was a big overstep because he clearly cared about her and her little brother, so there could have been real emotion there.  

In the end, there was a few twists that did take me by surprise.  No one was as they seemed, but it just wasn't enough to leave me asking for more.  This is a book that I will not be recommending to anyone looking for a good read.

***Synopsis & book covers are taken from GoodReads***