Renegades, also known as Unfriendlies, are the teens who will take anything from anyone, including (and especially) other desperate Starters.Ĭallie has heard of a way out and is desperate to try anything as it gets harder to survive, and her brother has a serious lung condition that they can’t afford to treat. Friendlies are those Starters like Callie, Tyler, and Michael who live in harmony with other teens and help each other when they can. Many of them are swept up by the marshals to be held in institutions where they live in abysmal conditions and do manual labor with no end in sight or hope for a better future.įor the teens resourceful enough to survive, like Callie, they have forged alliances as either Friendlies or Renegades. Teenagers are forbidden from working or owning anything themselves, and therefore, it is quite challenging for unclaimed minors to survive. The only young people who retain stability are those with grandparents because Enders, or elderly people, rule the society, hold the jobs, and control the money. Like many Starters, or young people, her parents died during the Spore Wars, which were conflicts in the Pacific that led to the release of giant dandelion spores that polluted California with a biological weapon that wiped out most of the middle-aged population because unlike the elderly and youth, they were not vaccinated in time. The only problem is Callie is an unclaimed minor barely surviving on the streets and ducking the marshals at every turn as she and her makeshift family scrap for shelter and resources. She wrote Starters, Enders, and short stories set around the Spore Wars.Ĭallie Woodland is a 16-year-old Starter from Southern California who wants to live in a safe, stable environment with her younger brother, Tyler, and her friend, Michael.

Lissa Price is an author based in Southern California. This guide refers to the first edition Ember paperback novel. The novel contains graphic violence, gore, fighting, mild sexual physicality, disturbing imagery, and dystopian environments. The book explores the complex nature of identity and many themes around survival and status. As a result, teens hide from the authorities and avoid the marshals by squatting in empty buildings and living life on the run, like Callie, her younger brother, Tyler, and her friend, Michael. This led to teens being rounded up to do manual labor in institutions without pay or hope for a better future. Starters without grandparents were barred from essentially every type of work. As a result, many teens were left without families, and the elderly feared for their place in society. Lissa Price’s Starters is a young adult science fiction novel set in the near future after the Spore Wars, during which biological weapons were used against the United States and wiped out much of the unvaccinated middle-aged population.

Lissa price