Starters is certainly a unique concept of sci-fi/paranormal, and while it did manage to keep me interested, unfortunately it wasn’t as good as I had been hoping it would be going into it.
My problem with the book is that it just didn’t get into depth with really anything and so many questions are left unanswered. The history of the war that killed so many, the characters, the relationships, even the reasoning behind the whole concept of “borrowing” a body. It just felt shallow and while the world is interesting, it was also confusing. It felt halfway normal at times with parties and cars. Then we would have children living in abandoned buildings and hologram phone calls. It was such a mismatch of different things.
Then there’s the “romance”, which just felt abrupt and unrealistic. I really wasn’t falling for it at all and I couldn’t feel the connection between Callie and her love interest. After going out for one date she asks him to do this huge favor for her and he obliges telling her that “he would do anything for her”…when he just met her. This about sums up their romance. Unrealistic.
Where the story was interesting though is really in the whole concept. There were times where my skin would literally crawl with how disturbing the situation was. Also just how callous and uncaring most of the people (or Enders) were about taking over another person’s body. Truly creeptastic. So that was really fascinating.
But then the story ends so strangely. I know there’s at least one more book (I think just one more), but I was so confused by the ending and how easy it was that after closing the book I had that moment of “okay, what just happened” going on.
So essentially I probably wouldn’t recommend this book. It still held my interest, but I think mostly because I kept hoping for more of an explanation of anything going on. Everything is confusing and the world and characters are very one-dimensional. The book ends as if it could be a standalone with a few mysteries hanging so I’m not entirely sure if I’ll read the next one. Maybe out of morbid curiosity to see if more things are explained, but I don’t know.
Read more reviews & Buy it up! 
Leave a Reply