First Impressions 2/22/14: Starters was an interesting book. I enjoyed a lot of the beginning and then I think I got frustrated about halfway through... I wonder if it felt too long or I was just getting restless with the plot...? Anyway, I did enjoy the book and I had a couple THEORIES about the mysterious stuff. One theory actually didn't pan out which I was kind of disappointed BUT it popped up in a different way at the VERY end so that was exciting!

Review 3/17/14: I had been meaning to read STARTERS for a really long time and then finally decided to dig in just recently! After a dystopian overload (self-induced. I was obsessed for a looong time), I took an unofficial break and started to come back to some of the dystopian books I had been putting off. I’m glad I got back around to STARTERS because it was actually quite different from what I had expected!

To be honest, STARTERS was kind of back and forth, up and down for me. I was really impressed with the beginning — the writing, the plot, the characters — all things I was really enjoying! Then about halfway through, the little things started to get on my nerves. I think it’s just a personal preference, but I’m starting to really tire of the younger sibling that the older sibling needs to save, and I really don’t like younger siblings under the age of 11 or 12. It seems arbitrary, but I think it really brings the tone of the book down and I don’t like listening to characters lying to one another to “protect” each other and this happens a LOT with younger siblings. I also don’t like the voice it brings to the book because the very young children always seem so unintelligent. I mean, it’s hard to gauge what a seven or eight-year-old really knows and can handle but I feel like it’s a lot more than you’d anticipate. Extreme naïveté tends to get on my nerves and I just don’t like how childish a lot of the young children in YA books are portrayed.

Anyway! That pet peeve aside, there was another part where I felt like the book strayed just a bit and I wasn’t sure where it was going, but STARTERS started to pick back up for me a little after halfway. The action picked up and plot started to come back together. One that I really didn’t anticipated were the little (or BIG) surprises! For whatever reason, I just didn’t expect them so I was happy to see Lissa Price throw in a few curveballs! There was one hunch I had since the beginning that I thought wasn’t going to touched upon BUT it showed up at the VERY VERY END. Neither confirmed nor denied, but let the door open and that left me excited for the second book, as well as a few other twists towards the end.

The romance in this book was interesting as well. Personally, I was a Michael fan. I love the best friend and protector so right from the start, I was hoping for a romance between the two of them. What I got was sort of a love triangle but really not because Michael and Callie were separated almost the entire book. I didn’t entirely mind, though I was wondering how things would wrap up and let’s just say… you won’t believe it.

I’m not 100% sold on the plausibility factor of the book, but it definitely makes for a creepy, futuristic topic and brings a lot of questions of morality and rights into play. At times, I would have liked for a few more reveals and others, I would have appreciated less detail. Either way, it was really enjoyable and I’ll probably be searching out the sequel to see what happens next!

For a full review including character break-down, rating, and recommendations, please visit my blog at The Book Addict's Guide!