Starters by Lissa Price

In Nancy Farmer's House of the Scorpion adults, especially one elderly person who wishes to live forever, clones himself and uses the clones for replacement body parts. Most of the clones are believed to be brainless. In Lissa Price's book microchips implanted in teens known as starters and very elderly folks known as enders live a sort of virtual life through body sharing. Enders can perhaps even take over the body of the young person forever. The teen would never be allowed to experience his/her own life and grow up. "The Old Man" Prime Destinations' ceo has worked out the how, does the recruiting of volunteer starters, surgeries, and the connections and monitoring. Its a very secret organization for very wealthy enders. It prefers to use unclaimed minors. These are teens with no relatives so they won't be missed should the ender decide to keep a body forever. Only, starters, with relatives, want the makeover plastic surgeries that make volunteers beautiful and sneak into the program. Some have disappeared. Callie enters the program for the promised money that will help her get medicine and food for her and her little brother. They are unclaimed minors who have been squatting in various abandoned buildings and running from marshalls. Callie knows just how awful the institutions in which captured kids are housed. She has seen the kids being driven to slave labor in mines and fields and so on. All of this is happening because of a war in which biological weapons were used on America. This caused all adults roughly under the age of 90 to perish, leaving only elderly and kids, many of whom had no known elderly relatives. Helena,the ender who chooses Callie's body has a mission, to find her missing granddaughter. She has the microchips altered to allow her to assassinate the originator of the horrible body sharing program and end it before more kids give up their lives to enders. Something goes oddly wrong and Callie and Helena can communicate with each other in Callie's head. Callie becomes convinced that Helena is right about needing to stop the program just as her little brother disappears. She is on a mission to both find her brother and bring down Prime Destinations. This makes the story not just dystopia but also a mystery story. Its hard to understand how Callie chose who to trust. Also, with all the tracking going on, its hard to understand her continued use of Helena's car and home even after Helena disappears and is presumed dead. Situations had to be carefully set up to make this story work. But its a fast and mostly exciting read with a possibility of a sequel.

When the Wind Blows by James Patterson

This book, although intended for adult audiences with adult themes, was added to the young adult collection due to the popularity of the Maximum Ride series. The main character in the series, Maximum, was first introduced in this novel and it's sequel, The Lake House. However, the character in When the Wind Blows and it's sequel are slightly different than the Max in the Maximum Ride series and supporting characters are changed, but it is still interesting to see where the idea of the character originated.

In the novel, FBI agent Kit Harrison is investigating a series of murders of prominent doctors who seem to be hiding something. One murdered doctor was the husband of Frannie O'Neill, a local veterinarian who suddenly stumbles upon a strange sight in the woods - a young girl with wings. This girl, named Max, escaped from a place called "The School" where she and her brother had been raised as lab rats and recently escaped. The people who ran The School don't want any witnesses to the experimentations that they've done and are now out to destroy the problems that have arisen with Max's escape. With the help of Kit and Frannie, though, Max tries to free her friends from The School and expose the secrets of some sick scientists trying to play God.

I find this book fascinating because of the idea of what science might become. Although this book is 12 years old, the ideas are still mind-blowing. It is an intricately woven plot and with intriguing characters that draw you in from the beginning. Each character has his/her own back story and you want the good guys to succeed and the bad guys to fail. The book has amazing twists and keeps you gripped from page one. It is, however, definitely intended for adult audiences. Some of the science is very complicated and heavy to sort through. There are also adult themes (violent/graphic deaths and just a little bit of sex - not that teens aren't already exposed to these themes). A lot of the novel focuses more on the adults and their investigation of The School and the associated murders. Even when Max comes front and center, it's about exposing The School and it's evils.

I haven't read the Maximum Ride series so I don't know how much actual appeal this novel will have for those fans since the only similarities I know between the books are a girl with wings who can fly named Max and the fact that she was created at a place called "The School." It is, though, a really good book, especially for teens who are looking for a fast paced, thrilling book that will challenge their reading.
MMK