This book was read in 2012. I just got around to writing a review for it.

Maddie lives in a world where everything is done on the computer. Whether it’s to go to school or on a date, people don’t venture out of their home. There’s really no need. For the most part, Maddie’s okay with the solitary, digital life—until she meets Justin. Justin likes being with people. He enjoys the physical closeness of face-to-face interactions. People aren’t meant to be alone, he tells her.

Suddenly, Maddie feels something awakening inside her—a feeling that maybe there is a different, better way to live. But with society and her parents telling her otherwise, Maddie is going to have to learn to stand up for herself if she wants to change the path her life is taking.

In this not-so-brave new world, two young people struggle to carve out their own space. (image and synopsis from Goodreads)

I liked this book to a point. Some elements on the novel didn’t really make sense to me while the other elements were well done. I really liked how Kate Kacvinsky presented the people who were always connected as distant. The characterization of some of the characters was spot on, but others seemed all over the place. The novel is set in the year 2060, but from the synopsis you wouldn’t be able to tell. If it were for Maddie telling the reader the year and the authors describing  souped up cars and extravagant computers, I wouldn’t have known what time period it was. I guess that is why I was shocked to see that in the middle of the novel a bunch of futuristic technologies and cars popped up.

However, the plot (though slow in some places) was really good and kept me engaged. I liked Maddie as a character, but there are times when I thought she was too trustworthy with Justin, the love interest in the book. Like I said before, some part of the book are really slow and I am sure she could have cut out a few scenes that were overtly repetitive. Despite several shortcomings Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky is a really exceptional read.

This book was read in 2012. I am just now getting around to writing the review for it!

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie’s only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie’s head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator’s grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations’ plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . .(synopsis and image from Goodreads)

When I began reading Starters, I was kind of put off my the way things started out. For starters (no pun intended) I thought the conversation and descriptions where really short and to the point. T me everything sounded robotic and scripted. Things didn’t really flow too well when it came to the conversations between characters. In all honesty I felt like the author was telling us everything we need to know rather than showing us. However, a little more than halfway through reading I was hooked!

The premise behind the story is a little creepy if you ask me, but it definitely makes for a good story. I was most intrigued by how the whole “adults are dead” thing got started, but alas that was not something that was fully explained in the book. Being able to see what life was like before the Spore wars did give me some of the knowledge based satisfaction I was looking for. There are also several short e-book that the author has put out that tell stories of other characters in the book. Add that to the next book in the series, Enders, which is supposed to be coming out next year and I am sure that a lot of my questions will be answered.