ARC Review: Enders by Lissa Price

* This review may contain spoilers for the previous book, Starters. *

Enders (Starters #2)
By Lissa Price
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Format: eBook
Source: Author’s Publicist/NetGalley
Publication Date: January 7, 2014

To Sum It Up: Callie Woodland may have helped shut down Prime Destinations, the creepy business operation that allowed elderly Enders to relive their youth by renting the bodies of young Starters who desperately needed the money, but Prime’s mastermind, the Old Man, is still after Callie. Not only can he speak to her via the chip still implanted in her head, but he also won’t hesitate to hurt those she cares about to get to her. Callie’s chip is unique, and the Old Man has plans for it. With her nemesis closing in on her fast, Callie races to find a way to stop him.

Review: With its creeptastic plot centered around teens renting out their bodies to the elderly so the latter could experience being young all over again, Starters was quite a novel read for me. Factor in its protagonist, Callie, unexpectedly regaining consciousness during the time an Ender was supposed to be inhabiting her body, and the book was all the more intriguing to read. Starters concluded with Callie watching the demolition of Prime Destinations, the body rental bank founded by the shadowy figure known only as the Old Man, who can still communicate directly with Callie through her chip implant. And so Enders begins with the Old Man as determined as ever to find Callie.

Whereas Starters grabbed me from the outset because of how different the premise was compared to other dystopians I'd read, I thought the plot of Enders took a little while to get moving. To me, it didn’t have quite the same sense of urgency that Starters did, where Callie woke up during the rental and was going to assassinate a senator if she didn’t thwart her renter, Helena, in time. It’s not that Enders is short on action; there’s more than an adequate supply of it, some of it literally explosive. But the shift of focus to Callie and her companions trying to aid their fellow Metals, other Starters who were body donors for Prime, while staying one step ahead of the Old Man just didn’t carry the same oomph for me as Callie’s experiences in the first book did.

Initially I was surprised that a character who featured prominently in Starters barely figured into the story here. That gets explained toward the end of the book, though, and I thought it was a very clever twist. We’re also introduced to a new character named Hyden, who proves to be a technical genius. His trustworthiness is another question, however, and one of the highlights of the book was trying to figure him out.

Once again, Callie is a steady heroine with a solid head on her shoulders. She’ll do anything to protect her younger brother, Tyler, and she doesn’t want to see any harm come to her fellow Metals, who are also being targeted by the Old Man. He’s just as diabolical in Enders as he was in Starters; every time he talks to Callie in her mind, it’s absolutely chilling.

Although I enjoyed reading Starters just a tad more, Enders is still a solid follow-up with some eye-opening twists of its own. Lissa Price excels at catching you off guard, and I look forward to many more of those moments in her future works.

All in All: If you liked Starters, you should find Enders to be a satisfying sequel and conclusion to Callie’s story.

Review: Starters by Lissa Price

Starters (Starters #1)
By Lissa Price
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

To Sum It Up: Biological warfare has destroyed the adult population, leaving only those under the age of twenty and those over the age of sixty alive. Callie Woodland is struggling to survive on the streets along with her sickly younger brother, Tyler, and their friend, Michael. To earn some money, Callie goes to Prime Destinations, a facility that enables the elderly to relive their youth by renting the bodies of the young. Callie becomes a donor, and at first everything goes smoothly. She does not recall a thing when she wakes up at the end of the rental period, which is how the rental is supposed to work. When Callie regains consciousness in the middle of a rental, she assumes that the chip that has been implanted in her head has stopped functioning properly. What Callie does not know yet is that she is a key part of her renter’s plan to uncover the truth about what really goes on at Prime Destinations.

Review: If, like me, you find the cover of this book creepy, it’s nothing compared to the actual story. Starters is a chilling tale in which seniors (“Enders”) can literally feel young again by renting the bodies of teenagers (“Starters”). The Enders sign a contract in which they agree not to damage their rental bodies, but still, this is one scary idea when you’re the Starter who’s unconscious for days or even weeks inside of Prime Destinations, the company that arranges the rentals, while the renter gallivants around town in your body. This unique premise made me really excited to read Starters, and I was not disappointed.

I hadn’t come across a YA book in which seniors are featured so prominently until I read Starters. In this particular dystopian world, the Enders are completely in charge; legislation in place before the Spore Wars that killed everyone between the ages of 20 and 60 prohibits Starters from working and voting. I thought that putting the spotlight on the elderly was very refreshing, and I especially liked how some of the seniors banded together to expose the shady business being conducted at Prime Destinations.

I have to give the heroine, Callie, a lot of credit for even considering becoming a donor, let alone actually going through with it. She’s been driven to this last resort by the living situation in which, she, her brother, Tyler, and their friend, Michael, find themselves. The trio is squatting in an abandoned building, trying to avoid being seen by the authorities, who place any unclaimed Starters in orphanages where the living conditions are worse than those on the streets. Callie’s decision to rent her body is also heavily influenced by her brother’s fragile health and her desire to see him much more comfortably settled. I admired her selflessness and the courage that it took to agree to become a renter. She also remains pretty level-headed when her third rental goes awry. In that situation, making rash decisions amid panic would have been all too easy (and that would have very likely been my reaction), but Callie keeps her wits about her and stays focused on her goals.

The foundation of the dystopian world of Starters is a little shaky. I would have liked some more details about the Spore Wars, specifically what caused them in the first place. Considering that the wars wiped out a huge portion of the population, I had expected a slightly fuller explanation of what happened. The plot, however, proved to be too riveting to dwell on how this world came into existence, and the twists toward the end of the book really took me by surprise. While the ending definitely leaves you eager for the sequel, there’s also a nice bit of closure. Anyone looking for a different take on dystopian novels should check out Starters.

All in All: Starters features a very original concept that is at once both intriguing and disturbing. The premise alone was enough to convince me to read it. And, come on, you know that the cover has made you at least a little curious about the book!