From the Publisher
"Pure, adrenaline-fueled plot...Fans of Starters will gobble this up." - Booklist"Delightfully disturbing...a solid conclusion that will repay readers." - Kirkus Reviews
Enders
by Lissa PriceView All Available Formats & Editions
The riveting conclusion to the sci-fi thriller STARTERS!
Someone is after Starters like Callie and Michael—teens with chips in their brains. They want to experiment on anyone left over from Prime Destinations—Starters who can be controlled and manipulated. With the body bank destroyed, Callie no longer has to rent herself out to creepy Enders.
Overview
The riveting conclusion to the sci-fi thriller STARTERS!
Someone is after Starters like Callie and Michael—teens with chips in their brains. They want to experiment on anyone left over from Prime Destinations—Starters who can be controlled and manipulated. With the body bank destroyed, Callie no longer has to rent herself out to creepy Enders. But Enders can still get inside her mind and make her do things she doesn't want to do. Like hurt someone she loves. Having the chip removed could save her life—but it could also silence the voice in her head that might belong to her father. Callie has flashes of her ex-renter Helena's memories, too . . . and the Old Man is back, filling her with fear. Who is real and who is masquerading in a teen body?
No one is ever who they appear to be, not even the Old Man. Determined to find out who he really is and grasping at the hope of a normal life for herself and her younger brother, Callie is ready to fight for the truth. Even if it kills her.
“Adrenaline-fueled . . . Fans of Starters will gobble this up.”—Booklist
“Delightfully disturbing.”—Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Reviews
"Delightfully disturbing...a solid conclusion that will repay readers." - Kirkus Reviews
VOYA, February 2014 (Vol. 36, No. 6) - Lynne Farrell Stover
Teenager Callie Woodland lives in a world where the human population is either very young or very old; the “Spores Wars” has annihilated those in the middle. The story begins with Callie and her little brother safe and sound in the house she inherited from the generous Ender, Helena. Callie quickly relates an intriguing backstory of struggle and sacrifice to the reader who may not have read the first book, Starters (Random House, 2012/Voya December 2012). She then proceeds on a reckless quest to rid herself of the chip in her head that allows others to take possession of her body. In the process, she encounters much danger, uncovers a nefarious international scheme, and interacts with people who are not who she thinks they are. The promising premise of a world attempting to reestablish social order after losing a large segment of its population is never fulfilled. The plot is predictable. Other than a strong female protagonist, the characters are two-dimensional and tedious. The world the author endeavors to build is not well defined, interesting, or exceptional. Attempts to address the technology in this futuristic society are basically the renaming of existing terminologies; Zing, Zip Taser, and z-lift—the author seems to have a fondness for the letter “Z.” However, the interwoven social commentary concerning the disparity between the haves and have-nots and the desire for physical perfection no matter what the cost is thought-provoking. Fans of dystopian literature may find this book interesting. Reviewer: Lynne Farrell Stover; Ages 12 to 18.Children's Literature - Magi Evans
Callie and Michael thought they were safe when they brought about the closure of Prime Destinations, a high tech facility that paid teenage “Starters” to rent out their bodies to “Enders” (elderly adults) looking for a temporary thrill. But Callie is stuck with a chip in her head that unfortunately allows evil, unscrupulous people to occupy her body and control her actions. Her distinction is that she is the only “Metal” who remains conscious of the other person when she is being occupied, and the only one whose chip has been altered to allow her to kill someone while being occupied. Now Callie, Michael, and Hyden, another Metal and the son of the original Prime creator, are on the run from renegade leftover employees of Prime. One of whom plans to sell Callie to the highest bidder, who may use her to assassinate enemies. When Callie learns that her father just might be alive and a captive of Brockman, she is more determined than ever to get into the fortress where Brockman is holding all the other Metals. Betrayed and trapped at every turn, Callie, Michael, and Hyden nevertheless manage to break in. What they find there is even worse than they anticipated. In order to prevail, Callie will have to overcome Brockman’s hold on her body, and determine whether Hyden is a friend or an enemy. It is important to read the first book, Starters, to understand the back-story and the relationships of all the characters. The two books together comprise a thrilling post-apocalyptic story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish. Reviewer: Magi Evans; Ages 14 up.School Library Journal
03/01/2014Gr 7 Up—Callie successfully brought down Prime Destinations, but that wasn't the end. While she and her family are at the mall, another Starter with a chip in her head has her body hijacked and is turned into a living bomb-all while the Old Man addresses Callie directly through her mind. The protagonist is determined to take him down once and for all and to regain control of her mind and body for good. Price's writing is functional at best and clichéd at worst, too frequently leaning on crutches (like emotion flashing in a character's eyes), but the point here is the story, not its telling. While the first half of Enders drags, especially after the pervasive tension in Starters (Delacorte, 2012), things pick up once Callie is kidnapped by Hyden, the Old Man's son, who opposes his father's work. Her attraction to Hyden feels forced and tacked-on. In the end, all questions are answered and all conflicts resolved (some rather quickly and a little too perfectly), and the book's hopeful ending points toward society's eventual recovery from the effects of the Spore Wars and the generational conflict it caused. Recommended strictly for hard-core fans of the first book who can overlook this sequel's flaws.—Gretchen Kolderup, New York Public Library
Kirkus Reviews
2013-10-23Teenagers with microchips that enable people to borrow their bodies evade those who would use them. Using an inheritance from Helena, the elderly woman who rented Callie's body in Starters (2012), Callie's carved out a life and safety for herself, her younger brother and her best friend, Michael. Then the first book's main villain, the Old Man, reaches out to her to demonstrate the deadly danger the chips pose if the chip-implanted teenagers, Metals, don't obey him. He commands Callie to meet him, but she's intercepted and rescued by a boy claiming to be the Old Man's son. Genius Hyden, who helped develop the chips, explains how to block the signals his father uses to track and control Metals. The developing romance stays in the background, as Callie and Hyden set about keeping the Metals from his father in the slow first half. Predictably, there is a raid, and all except Callie, Hyden and Michael are conveniently captured, launching an action-oriented rescue storyline and a series of plot twists. Some glossed-over twists stretch believability, though the threat (and villain's secret plan), smaller-scale than in Starters, is personal in a creepy way. Metals can be controlled remotely, and Callie's modified chip keeps her awake and aware, leading to a delightfully disturbing climax. It's not as intense as Starters, but it offers some answers and a solid conclusion that will repay readers. (Science fiction. 12-18)
Product Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9780385742504
- Publisher:
- Random House Children's Books
- Publication date:
- 01/06/2015
- Pages:
- 288
- Sales rank:
- 131,755
- Product dimensions:
- 5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)
- Lexile:
- HL510L (what's this?)
- Age Range:
- 12 Years
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