The Starving Years – Jordan Castillo Price

The chemistry between these three men is undeniable, but is it enough to save New York?

Imagine a world without hunger.-

In 1960, a superfood was invented that made starvation a thing of the past. Manna, the cheaply manufactured staple food, is now as ubiquitous as salt in the world’s cupboards, pantries and larders.

Nelson Oliver knows plenty about manna. He’s a food scientist—according to his diploma, that is. Lately, he’s been running the register at the local video rental dive to scrape together the cash for his outrageously priced migraine medication.

In a job fair gone bad, Nelson hooks up with copywriter Javier and his computer-geek pal Tim, who whisks them away from the worst of the fiasco in his repurposed moving truck. At least, Nelson thinks those two are acquainted, but they’re acting so evasive about it, he’s not sure how they know each other, exactly. Javier is impervious to Nelson’s flirting, and Tim’s name could appear in the dictionary under the entry for “awkward.” And with a riot raging through Manhattan and yet another headache coming on, it doesn’t seem like Nelson will get an answer anytime soon.

One thing’s for sure, the tension between the three of them is thick enough to cut with a knife…even one of those dull plastic dealies that come in the package with Mannariffic EZ-Mealz.

The Starving Years is a must-read for fans of dystopian romance looking for scorching M/M/M chemistry in a fast-paced, page-turning adventure.

I remember my Austrian cousin visiting our hometown with her baby. While here, she fed her child boiled fresh squash or potatoes rather than the instant baby food local mothers typically buy.

And I thought how ironic. Here we are, an agricultural country, so brainwashed by multinational corporate ads that we keep feeding our families artificial foods when we could easily pick organic vegetables growing wild in our backyards.

The Starving Years by Jordan Castillo Price has a brilliant premise that reminded me of that. A superfood, manna, is produced by corporations and distributed worldwide. This is a very convenient food supply that can be heated and eaten. The superfood mimics the flavors of most foods or is as close as chemically possible.

Some countries, usually those considered backward, still have their traditional foods. The immigrants of New York also insist on their traditional foods. The general population looks upon this with askance since preparing these usually takes time, effort, and money.

Then, our MCs discovered that the food corporations substituted a certain protein in the formula. The more people ate, the more hungry they became. Children are most affected. They became so hungry they started eating each other. It’s up to our heroes to reveal the truth before the powers that be catch them.

The story is in three POVs. It opens with Nelson Oliver bored out of his mind at a job fair. You wouldn’t know it if you look at him, shabby clothes and long hair, but the man has a double master’s and a Ph D in food science. He’s a genius, really, but is currently working the register at a video rental shop.

Nelson, our boy, is the ray of sunshine in the chaos and mayhem. Equal parts easy-going and cynical, he’s also a shameless flirt, an enthusiastic vers, a doting father, a resourceful patcher of wounds, and the best friend any woman could have. He’s a serial do-gooder with a matter-of-fact way of handling things that takes the awkwardness out of any situation.

Javier De La Rosa is the eye-patched undercover reporter Nelson met at the job fair. Our boy was hell-bent on getting Javier’s number. When chaos descended upon the job fair, they were stuck together, along with two other applicants, Mary Anne and Randy.

Javier is the most enigmatic character here. He used his connections and resources to help their cause. Little is known about him because the man hardly speaks about himself. Dominant and hella toppy, he can easily command a room. Later, we learn that he came from a wealthy Cuban family and is divorced. He has a 6-year-old daughter but is estranged from his family for running away to the Middle East with a man.

Tim Foster is the blogger behind Voice of Reason. His secret identity is tightly guarded since he’s blogging about the corruption of the big food corporations. His posts were highly incendiary. Javier got in touch with him because of his posts. Soon their interactions in the chat room also became incendiary for different reasons.

Tim is adorkable, awkward, sensitive, and wears his heart on his sleeves. He’s a computer genius, a shy bottom, a designated driver since he owns the moving truck, and a friend to Nelson’s son who he and Randy saved from the pits of hell a.k.a. prison. The children of the city were rounded up and locked in the Tombs since many were infected.

The two other characters are Mary Anne and Randy. Their POVs were not shown but they were important parts of the rag-tag group who saved New York.

Mary Anne is the peppy woman sitting next to Nelson at the job fair and she was swept along with Randy and Nelson when they escaped the riots. She was instantly a staunch ally though she was kept in the dark for most part of the story about Tim’s secret identity. And she was a huge fan of VOR. Mary Anne has her secrets but she held the group together through thick and thin.

Randy is a frat boy, a mansplaining, douchey person. In movies, this is usually a cannon-fodder type of character so I was curious to see how long he will last. The thing with Randy, he went from douche to not so bad to did the right thing, attaboy! He won me over and I ended up rooting for him.

The plot is unpredictable. Not because there are particularly clever twists but because the execution is all over the place. It didn’t feel smooth. You could really feel the forced proximity because most of the scenes are the five of them cooped up in a room.

The claustrophobic scenes also shut out the rest of the world so it felt like the riots were happening somewhere far away and not in their very city. Also, the story would be more compelling and exciting if it went all the way horror or at least more action-packed, with the affected people going feral in the streets.

The world-building is practically non-existent, and mentions of technology or certain customs is done through dialogues, like it’s assume the reader knows already. This style worked exceptionally well in the author’s sci fi series, Mnevermind Trilogy (a top fave!). Here, it was just confusing.

Also, the blurb mentioned 1960s but the setting felt more late 90s to early 2000s.

Despite the execution, I was completely riveted and heavily invested in the fate of our rag-tag heroes. The romance was passable, but what I loved most was watching how these five people formed deep connections forged by the desire to save the world.

The Starving Years is rated between like and love. It has an intriguing premise and fantastic characters but needed better execution. Overall, could have gone down smoother but still a satisfying piece.

Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love

Soundtrack: Hunger Strike
Artist: Temple of the Dog
Album: Temple of the Dog

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