Starters

“It had been a long time since I’d been happy. A long time since life was just lip gloss and music and silly girlfriends. A long time since my biggest concerns were whether there would be a test or if I’d forgotten my homework. I was aiming for more like safe, free, and alive.”

Callie’s harsh reality as unhoused barely getting by on the streets has put the idea of happiness far out of her mind. She has been so consumed with survival that she hasn’t had time to worry about things she considers trivial like lip gloss and happiness. The fact that Callie sees happiness as something of the past shows how little hope she has for the future, the exact mindset that makes her vulnerable to agreeing to have a microchip implanted in her head at Prime Destinations.

“I’m guessing the process goes a lot smoother if you have a cooperative donor. But I won’t be feeling very cooperative if I can’t speak to my brother first.”

Though Callie lacks confidence in herself and doesn’t have much to bargain with, she uses what she does have to get what she wants. She learned how to be a fierce negotiator and take her time to weigh her options from her father, and the threat of not cooperating is enough to make Prime give her what she wants.

“If I was imagining it, I was doing a great job, because it sounded so very real.”

Callie’s reaction to the Voice in her head shows how shocking and realistic this experience is for her. She can’t discern whether the Voice is real or not, but it feels as though it is. Through this comical statement, Price shows how invasive the chip is from a new angle through the idea that Callie can’t separate reality from imagination (or that things that should only be possible in imagination are a reality with Prime’s technology, like being mind-linked with another human).

“Trying to pass—that was exactly what I was trying to do, only the other way around. I wanted to leave her convinced I was a renter, like her.”

The notion of wanting to be accepted by a group plagues both the Starters and the Enders, and Callie is in a unique position where she is having to obscure her identity through multiple lenses. She’s not only pretending to be someone else; she is pretending to be someone else (Helena) pretending to be her (Callie). It’s an extremely complex situation, and she is having to filter everything through the idea of being an extremely old wealthy woman acting like a normal teenager.

“I put away last night’s clothes and made the bed. Then I realized that Mrs. Winterhill probably didn’t ever make her bed. She had that housekeeper. So I messed it up.”

Callie is as resourceful as she is responsible. Though Callie is normally someone who takes care of her own messes, she is smart enough to realize that her renter isn’t someone who would do that. To maintain her cover, she mimics her renter’s behavior, and Callie’s anticipation of Helena’s nature makes her so good at faking her identity throughout the novel.

“Did Cinderella ever consider fessing up to the prince, that night she was enjoying herself in the fancy ball gown? Did she even think of telling him, oh, by the way, Prince, the coach isn’t mine, I’m really a filthy little barefoot servant on borrowed time? No. She took her moment. And then went quietly away after midnight.”

The allusion to Cinderella shows how Callie is romanticizing her situation because she sees herself as so far beneath others due to her socioeconomic circumstances. Due to her fixation on her flaws and feelings of unworthiness, she idealizes Blake and is unable to see him for who he really is. This moment also foreshadows the scene at the awards ceremony when Callie loses her shoe as she’s running away, and Blake picks it up.

“She bore a resemblance to her grandmother, the same strong jawline, same willful expression. She had the confident, relaxed air of a rich girl, although she was not rental beautiful. Her skin was vibrant, but her proud nose was just a bit too long.”

This description of Emma serves to give a character who is off-the-page for the entire novel a concrete visual, so as her presence (or rather, absence) looms large over the story, readers have something concrete to imagine. This description also hints at Emma’s weak point: her insecurity about her appearance, an insecurity which ultimately leads her to Prime and her disappearance.

. “What a great appetite suppressant, finding out your renter is an assassin. And that you’ll probably be killed too.”

When Callie lived on the streets, food was hard to come by, and as a result, she and everyone she was close with were skinny. When she is first presented with food at Prime, she practically inhales it. Now, this revelation is so shocking to her (and perhaps she’s so used to the availability of food now) that she turns it up, which highlights how strongly she doesn’t want to kill anyone and how easy it is to become conditioned to circumstances.

“Blake looked into the distance, toward the city below. ‘I think you’ve been hiding something, Callie.’ He turned to me. ‘Something important.’ I felt my mouth open, but nothing came out. ‘That’s true, isn’t it’ His eyes searched me. ‘I can see it in your face.’ My heart was like a hummingbird trapped in my chest. ‘You’re sick, aren’t you?’”

Blake’s accusation is at once terrifying and relieving for Callie, as she is guilty about the secret she’s hiding from him but also scared for him to find out. The Old Man in Blake’s body is toying with her because he knows the truth about her and, by pretending he doesn’t, he is working to build more trust and cause her to question and feel badly about herself more than him. Price’s simile comparing Callie’s heart to a hummingbird shows how much she longs for freedom but is trapped and frantic as a result.

“When I came to, I had an assault rifle pressed against my cheek, my eye aiming down the scope. My finger started to squeeze the trigger, pulling it in slow motion. I was leaning against a wall, by an open window, aiming at a crowd of people below.”

Suddenly putting readers in Callie’s position with their eye to a gun and no orientation as to how or why she got there helps create the fragmented way Callie is experiencing reality as Helena sporadically takes over. The stakes are also immediately increased by the presence of a life-threatening weapon and doubly so since Callie desperately doesn’t want to use it.

“A modern square fountain dominated the center, making a calming bubbling sound that covered the bustling downtown noise. I walked to the edge of the terrace and peeked through the potted palms bordering the railing. It was clear why the trees were there. Boarded-up, crumpling buildings surrounded this oasis. Some were completely demolished, as if smashed by a giant monster.”

The juxtaposition of the luxurious fountain with the dilapidated city streets outside embodies how many of the wealthy continue to live extravagant lives and actively choose to ignore the plight of others around them. The simile of the “giant monster” captures the destructive impact the war had on this area of California.

“‘You are perfect.’ He picked up both my hands and examined the backs. ‘Not a single scar, mole, or cut.’ He looked back at my face. ‘Not even the memory of a pimple.’ His lip curled. He moved even closer, his face so near I could smell the residue of bitter cigar smoke on his breath. ‘I know what you are.’ He gripped my arm. I tried to pull away, but he held on too hard. ‘Why are you here? Did Tinnenbaum send you?’”

Calling someone perfect in most situations would have a positive connotation, but here, even before Callie knows why, Senator Harrison’s comment comes across as sinister, especially when paired with his facial expression and action tags. In this case, being perfect is a marker of being used by Prime, and the entire context of the word changes the tenor of the conversation. This is also a great example of foreshadowing because Senator Harrison is irritated that Prime is there because Prime is the one threatening his grandson.

“Emma was headstrong and determined. Maybe all sixteen-year-olds are, but she was especially defiant. Knew what she wanted. It was hard for me, trying to take over raising her after the war. I couldn’t be her mother or her father. And she was angry about all that. Who could blame her? You remind me of her, a little.”

This tender moment shared between Helena and Callie solidifies their bond. By comparing Callie to Emma, Helena suggests Callie is like family, a notion further reinforced by the fact that Helena loved the donor who let her use their body so much (in this case, Callie) that she left her half of her estate. Instead of demonizing the Enders as the bad guys in control of everything, Price gives Helena’s point of view to show how difficult it must be for them to have lost their children and trying to raise grandchildren in such a broken world.

“I realized she couldn’t have chased after Michael because Tyler would have been alone. I felt like a jerk for being so cool to her before.”

Callie is not only learning about the world and others through her experiences but also about herself. She is willing to recognize flaws in her thinking, like the one here about Florina, and self-reflect enough to want to change her mindset. Even though she feels like she is competing with Florina for Michael’s affection, she failed to see how much Florina was doing to take care of her brother.

“I turned in the doorway and got one last glimpse of Sara’s fragile little body. Bits of pink fuzz stuck to her white blouse, a sad reminder of what might have been.”

The image of the fuzz from the pink sweater sticking to Sara’s plain clothes shows just how fragile happiness can be. The cashmere sweater was the first gift anyone had ever given her, and the pure joy she felt at having something special to call her own was taken even faster than it was given, though the memory of it, like the fuzz, remains. Sara remembers Callie’s kindness later and returns it tenfold by sacrificing herself for Callie.

“Did Blake hate me? I scanned his face as if I could get the answer. Then I noticed it. His tie clip. It was the whale clip ornament from my shoe. He’d removed it from the shoe I dropped at the Music Center and was using it as a tie clip. That meant whatever he knew—or didn’t know—he wasn’t mad at me.”

On their first date, Callie mentions (very enthusiastically) that whales are her favorite animals. Blake remembers this when helping her pick an outfit for the awards ceremony, and the symbol of the whale ornament stands as a recognition of the bond between them. This makes Callie feel more secure that Blake likes her, even though she doesn’t know the truth yet.

“‘When you put it that way…it sounds like kidnapping.’ ‘It’s worse than that.’ I picked up my bag. ‘It’s murder.’”

Rhiannon is using Madison’s body, and though she is a kind person, she hasn’t fully considered the implications of her behavior. When Callie brings it up to her, she is shocked by how terrible Prime’s plan is to use the unclaimed minors for permanency. Although Rhiannon is a flawed character, her willingness to hear a new point of view and her genuine emotional reaction to it makes her a dynamic character and an ally to the protagonist.

“But I can’t remove it. They embedded it in you in a complex webbing pattern so that if anyone tried to take it out, it would self-destruct. You would almost certainly hemorrhage at the least and be blown to bits at the worst. Think of it as a tiny bomb in your head.”

Redmond’s dialogue characterizes him as an eccentric scientist as he so matter-of-factly states the fatal predicament Callie is facing. Comparing the chip to a bomb also increases the stakes and makes the process feel more invasive and threatening.

“Fit Enders on blades held trays above their heads, carrying burgers and shakes and banana splits to your car, while quaint rock ‘n’ roll played from speakers. Outdoor airscreens played movies from the 1950s without sound, adding to the true sensa-round retro experience.”

This twist on the familiar image of teens on roller skates serving food by replacing them with the elderly showcases how this world has shifted since the Spore Wars. By taking the reader’s expectation and flipping it in a familiar setting, Price makes the setting of the world eerily like yet markedly different from the real world.

“He kissed me goodbye. It wasn’t like before. It carried the burden of my lies, which separated our lips like a layer of wax.”

The simile of comparing Callie and Blake’s kiss to a layer of wax shows how greasy and mechanical the dynamic between them is, and there is intentional irony in this moment looking back because Callie thinks she’s the only one lying. In actuality, the Old Man using Blake’s body is lying too.

“I had to shoot, but I didn’t want to. I imagined the bullet piercing flesh, ripping it apart, the skin curling back in flower-petal shapes as blood spurted like a fountain, flooding the room. My finger quivered, and pulled. It was like I was trying to let go, let the trigger come back to position, but of course that didn’t work, so I shot him. I guess I did want to.”

Since Callie learned of Helena’s plan, she has resisted enacting it. She wants to avoid violence at all costs, yet in this moment, she does the very thing she didn’t want to most, which shows just how high the stakes have become for her. Even though she immediately feels badly about it, Callie is honest with herself and admits that, though morally she didn’t want to, she wanted to for the greater good deep down.

“Sara was the one bright light in my day; the rest of it was agonizing. I lay on the cold floor thinking about Tyler, wondering where he could be and whether he was getting worse. I could handle this, no blanket and all, but he couldn’t. Was he locked up in an institution like this one? Or was he with the Old Man?”

By offering insight into Callie’s thought process, Price allows readers to understand both her stakes and motivation while building tension. Callie’s living conditions in Institution 37 are abysmal, but her love for her brother and Sara’s kindness keep her going. She once again believes she can handle more than everyone else, and her fear for her brother makes her motivated to push through her circumstances and act.

“I heard the Old Man’s footsteps coming closer, but he didn’t speak. Was he next to me? There was no sound of breathing. Then it hit me. He had faked the footsteps. They were electronic, synthesized sounds, like his voice. This was a man who played with illusions; he wasn’t walking toward me.”

Through Callie’s evolving interpretation of the sensory details around her, she figures out that the Old Man has tricked her. Price uses sound and perception to force the reader into this illusion as well.