I'm pretty sure this was another book I saw a recommendation for on EW. If I remember correctly, the author talked about how she only planned on doing two books to tell this story--a duology. I thought this was really cool because it seems like all you find these days are trilogies. It's hard to even find a good stand-alone book. Hooray for Price for deciding to be different. Here's my summary of Starters:
In a dystopian future, all that's left after the genocide spore are those who were vaccinated--the old and the young. Basically, everyone between 20 and 60 was killed by the virus. Medical advances allow those that are over 60 to live past the century mark. They're referred to as "Enders." Callie, her brother Tyler, and her best friend Michael--all "Starters," have no grandparents to claim them so they spend their days as squatters trying to find food and stay alive. When Callie hears about a company offering a lot of money to teens willing to rent their bodies to enders for a short time period, allowing those enders to get to be young again, she eagerly accepts. This will be her chance to get medicine for her brother and a real home for all three of them. Callie agrees to have a chip implanted in her brain and rent her body to an old lady. But the chip malfunctions and Callie wakes up living in the rich lady's home, driving her car, hanging out with her other ender friends in rented bodies, and even dating the grandson of the Senator. Then Callie discovers something horrific--the old lady wants to use her body to commit murder. And that's not all--the company and the man in charge of the renting has chilling secrets that no one could ever have dreamed anyone capable of. And just when things couldn't possibly get any worse--a renter turns up in a body Callie never expected.
**This book hooked me from page one and didn't let me go until I finished. Fast paced and full of weird science and set in a scary future, I loved Callie's story. Her voice was just what you'd expect from a 16-year-old girl who has no family except a little brother. The lengths she goes to to keep them safe is impressive. I loved the friendship between Callie and Michael and had high hopes it would turn into something more. But then when Callie starts dating Blake, the Senator's grandson, I kinda ended up liking him too. The twists and turns and revelations this book had were always unexpected and often had me gasping in surprise. The ending completely shocked me. I can't wait to read the conclusion to Callie's story when Enders comes out next year.
Thanks for stopping by. Let me know what you think in the comments below and if you have a book suggestion, I'd love to hear it!
I wanted to wait until I finished the final installment before I reviewed these books. Let me just start by saying how much I love this trilogy. It probably ranks up top in my list of favorite books (a list I have yet to compile but when I do, these will be up there). Here's a summary of Matched, Reached, and Crossed:
Cassia lives in the Society. They control everything--what you eat, what you learn in school, and even who you'll marry, your "match." You're only supposed to be shown one match on your computer screen but somehow, Cassia is shown two. Her best friend Xander and another, more mysterious childhood friend, Ky. Cassia is torn. She's always believed in the Society but after the "glitch" of seeing Ky and some mysterious words from her grandfather at his Final Banquet, Cassia isn't so sure of the Society's perfection. And the more time she spends with Ky, the more she learns about herself and what she wants. Then suddenly Ky is taken away by the Officials. Cassia has no choice but to break all the rules and try to find him. But that means leaving everyone behind, including Xander. Cassia is unsure how she feels about Xander. He's the perfect guy and he obviously loves her. He helps Cassia escape hoping she will find what she is looking for and come back and choose him. So Cassia travels across the Society to places she never knew existed, all to find Ky. She learns just how corrupt and secretive the Society really is. She even learns about the Rising--a faction that wants to take the Society down. Cassia's reunion with Ky is heart-aching and brief. The Rising needs their help. They want both Cassia and Ky to infiltrate the Society and help take it down. So who will Cassia choose? What is the Society hiding? Will the Rising succeed? And most importantly: Will they all survive?
Sometimes I wonder if young people read poetry anymore. Then someone like Ally Condie comes along and I realize that poetry isn't limited to rhymes and stanzas and outdated words we don't understand. It can be found in YA literature. The Matched trilogy is poetry done in a whole new way for a whole new generation. The novels are lyrical; a slow dance of words in your head. They flow so naturally and organically that you find yourself having just read 100 pages and not even noticing. There would be times that I would read a line and stop and say: "Wow, that's beautiful." My sister (a junior high teacher) often shows her students passages from Condie's work as illustrations of metaphors done brilliantly.
Thanks Ally Condie for giving us another reason to enjoy reading!
