Starters by Lissa Price-Book Review

Hi everyone!

 What is up with the weather in London?!!! Anyway here is my latest review. Today it is of Lissa Price's new book Starters.


Brief outline of story

16-year-old Callie’s world has been turned upside down by the’ Spore Wars’ a deadly virus is released as a weapon to the general public. The young and elderly are vaccinated however the virus spreads too quickly and adults die. This leaves children (Starters) and the elderly (Enders) in charge of the world. New technological advancements mean that you can now live to the ripe old age of 200! In the ruined streets of America, Callie discovers Prime Destinations known as the Body Bank. At the Body Bank, Starters can sell their bodies so that Enders can experience youth again and participate in all kinds of activities. A large sum of cash is available and Callie desperately needs the money to ensure her and her seven-year-old brother, Tyler, have a safe place to sleep at night. However after renting out her body Callie discovers her renter wants more than just to party in Callie’s young body- she intends to murder. Can Callie fight hard enough to gain control of herself and her body?

Starters by Lissa Price photographed with similar books; Bumped and Thumped by Megan McCafferty, Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien and Matched by Ally Condie

I first heard about Starters when I went to the cinema to see The Hunger Games for my friends party (I would totally go and see it, it is AMAZING!) There was a trailer for it and my friend and I both looked at each other and got very excited. So when I saw it in the bookshop 3 weeks ago I practically screamed. I knew I had to buy it and every day when I see it on my bookshelf it makes me smile.

Starters is a post-disaster novel, which after reading it, I would recommend to 13-16 year olds. However it still is fun to read if older. This book has all the qualities of a great novel; romance, friendship, love, adventure and a lot of dramatic action. If you enjoy reading all genres then this book is definitely for you.

I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but this cover is perhaps one of the best I have seen. As you can tell by the picture, it features a girl with a brown eye and one blue eye- this has no relevance to the story itself. When you download the free Starters Book app from the App store or Android Marketplace and point your device at the front, the image comes to life.

Each character you can easily relate to especially Callie, however I would have liked more interaction with her brother and friend Michael. The honesty is this book is very realistic and even though some of the activities that Callie participates in aren’t necessarily 100% good, you cannot help but like and pity her character. My favourite aspect of this book is the contrast between the world Callie lives in and how she deals with it. Some of the events would freak people out, however Callie remains calm throughout. Even though this isn’t perhaps a realistic reactions I think readers accept and admire it.

I think my favourite part in Starters would have to be when Callie ditches her reservations and gets some spunk. She holds a gun to a man’s head and confidently orders him to start talking. When reading this I nearly caught myself yelling ‘Go Callie’!

However there were some down sides to this book. Like most books, the ending didn’t live up to my expectations. I felt it was a bit rushed and not very descriptive. Without giving anything away, there were a few curveballs thrown which made the ending rushed. In addition, Lissa Price introduced a few new characters in quick succession which made it hard to follow the storyline. Another slightly annoying thing is that in Starters there were several sub plots and these were quite vague, for example one involving another teenage girl. These hopefully will be clarified in Lissa’s second book, Enders which is released this winter.

In conclusion, Starters is a great book which has some negative aspects however these can hardly be helped since the book covers so many topics.

To find out more about Lissa Price and Starters visit http://www.lissaprice.com/