Starters

Starters by Lissa Price

So, a summary to get my bearings.

Our heroine is Callie (16) who lives in a post apocalyptic world where the 'spore wars' have killed everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty; including her parents. They manage to vaccinate the surviving population. She survives with her little brother Tyler (7) and friendly Michael (16ish). When I say survive, I mean survive. They're constantly moving from abandoned building to abandoned building in an effort to escape the Marshalls. Marshalls are the law enforcement that bring in unclaimed minors (minors are anyone younger than 19) and put them in institutions where they're used for work. Institutions are essentially giant prisons for minors. Moving on.

Because of the spore war the people have essentially been split into two groups; the young and the enders. I don't know why they don't just call them elders, but perhaps it's because they can allegedly live until they're at least 250 years old.

So the story starts with Callie desperately trying to find a way to procure money as her brother, Tyler is sick. Something is wrong with his lungs. It leads her to Prime Destinations; a place where she can rent out her body. SOUNDS CREEPY. It is. But it's not prostitution. So, what happens is they place a chip in your brain, and your brain goes to sleep while someone else controls your body. Usually that someone else is an ender whose own body is falling apart with age or really, they're just not physically able to go swimming, mountain biking, partying, or whatever. There is a bunch of policies the renters have to follow to avoid injury to the body and what not, but they still do a bunch of crap they're not supposed to and pay the fee if they get caught.

This all sounds well and good, as the donors are paid large sums of money to donate their bodies, but it gets quite twisted. It doesn't get creepy with the body renting thing after you get a little used to the idea, and if you're concerned, it's against the rules for the renters to have sex in the bodies. There are very few qualms I have with the book, that they're not worth going into detail about.

I was deeply surprised and delighted as the story took on a more political and menacing aspect that took it much farther than I expected it to go. I am sincerely hoping for a sequel as I found Callie's character to be witty, courageous, and unashamed to be scared. She wasn't too stupid to die and kind of stomped down her own fears and did what she knew she had to do. The only thing I could wish for at this point, would be more book! I sincerely hope there is a sequel and would love to get my hands on it.

Also, this is the only not spoiler yet spoiler thing I will say, the last chapter really threw me for a loop and sent chills down my spine. It filled me with questions that I'm desperate to have answered in the next novel.