Pills and Starships

By Lydia Millet

Winner of the 2015 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People

Named a 2015 Green Earth Honor Book by the Nature Generation

"Pills and Starships, the first young adult novel by Lydia Millet, offers one thrillingly scary scenario...There is much here to enjoy."
--Washington Post

Named a Best Book of 2014 by Teaching for Change

One of The Independent's Best Books for Children This Christmas

"A deep read, but fast; it lingers in your mind long after it's been read."
--New York Journal of Books

"In the remaining wilderness of the Big Island, though, lurk people and terrain that may or may not spell constructive revolution and optimism for Sam, Nat and the planet's leftovers. Risk-takers both, they have decisions to make."
--Center for Fiction, Junior edition

Named a "Book that Buzzed at ALA" by Library Journal's Barbara Hoffert

One of The Airship/Black Balloon Publishing's 50 Must-Reads for Summer!

One of Missoulian/Corridor's Summer Reading Guide picks!

"Millet's dense novel has more in common with philosophy than with fantasy...Millet, never a writer to settle into predictable patterns, manages to find beauty in ugly places...this is the best thing about Millet's work: it makes you notice the small details of the natural world, makes you recognize those details as holy."
--The Rumpus

"Lydia Millet offers a brilliant dystopian novel that eclipses all others written for Young Adults with this beautifully written, dark but ultimately hopeful tale."
--The Buffalo News

"If your summer goal is to start taking better care of the environment (a goal inspired, perhaps, by a trip to one of New York's trash-laden beaches), grab a book that explores a world devastated by global warming: Pills and Starships by Lydia Millet."
--The Airship/Black Balloon Publishing

"Dark apocalyptic reading at its best...vivid, moving saga that will attract mature teen fans of Divergent, Hunger Games, and similar apocalyptic survival stories."
--Midwest Book Review

"The details are terrific...and as the tension mounts it becomes a real page turner."
--The Independent (UK)

In this richly imagined dystopic future brought by global warming, seventeen-year-old Nat and her hacker brother Sam have come by ship to the Big Island of Hawaii for their parents' Final Week. The few Americans who still live well also live longso long that older adults bow out not by natural means but by buying death contracts from the corporates who now run the disintegrating society by keeping the people happy through a constant diet of "pharma." Nat's family is spending their pharma-guided last week at a luxury resort complex called the Twilight Island Acropolis.

Deeply conflicted about her parents' decision, Nat spends her time keeping a record of everything her family does in the company-supplied diary that came in the hotel's care package. While Nat attempts to come to terms with her impending parentless future, Sam begins to discover cracks in the corporates' agenda and eventually rebels against the company his parents have hired to handle their last days. Nat has to choose a side. Does she let her parents go gently into that good night, or does she turn against the system and try to break them out?

But the deck is stacked against Nat and Sam: in this oppressive environment, water and food are scarce, mass human migrations are constant, and new babies are illegal. As the week nears its end, Nat rushes to protect herself and her younger brother from the corporates while also forging a path toward a future that offers the hope of redemption for humanity. This page-turning first YA novel by critically acclaimed author Lydia Millet is stylish and dark and yet deepl

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black Sheep
• Release date: May 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781617752841

Lydia Millet

Lydia Millet is the PEN Award-winning author of eleven works of literary fiction, including Sweet Lamb of Heaven and Magnificence, which have been New York Times Notables and Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalists. She lives in Arizona.

Reviews for Pills and Starships

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 starsNat and Sam are siblings and their parents have paid for a contract to take their own lives. The Coporations have packages one can choose and, although there are different settings to choose from, there is a set plan for that last week of their lives. The family is heading to Hawaii. As the week goes on, more “pharms” are given to all of them to make things easier on everyone. It’s sometime in the future, and Nat and Sam’s parents are in their 80s and 90s (it’s not uncommon for humans to live longer and longer now) and can remember when life was as we know it now: before things had to change as most species went extinct and nonrenewable resources are no longer available for human use/consumption.I quite liked this. It’s a fast YA read, and seemingly/possibly not that far off once we run out of oil and such. It is told in diary form from Nat’s point of view. She writes as if she is writing to “you”, the reader, as a space person of some sort, which I thought was a bit odd. The “you” part didn’t bother me, but I’m not sure where exactly space fit in. Overall, I thought it was good.

[queenalyss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

*I have received this book in exchange for an honest review*I was pleasantly surprised by this YA dystopian novel. Millet took an interesting twist to the end of the world theme. She twisted the corporate agenda and telescreens into this age of limited resources due to humans' inability to curb its consumption. Now, survivors either live in extremely poor conditions or live in the 1%, with privileges and yards with nets to keep out the potentially infectious insects and animals.Adults are killing themselves because they can no longer deal with what their world has become. They were the last generation to witness nature's beauty and the freedom that came with living in the world. The government sells death contracts for the families to live lavishly for the last week of the soon to be deceased.Sam and Nat, whose parents have just bought their contract, spend the next week in Hawaii to discover the real apocalypse. What lies behind this society based around pharmaceuticals and face time?

[mirandalg14 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Thanks to Edelweiss and Akashic Books for access to this title.

This was a unique book, in both the storyline and the writing style. I thought the idea of how the world came to be like it was, mixed with the social aspect to be a new take on the usual post-apocalyptic story. I enjoyed the setting overall, and I liked where the story was going, but it didn't leave me with super strong feelings one way or the other. I may pick up another installment just to see how it continues.

[shabacus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Pills and Starships has a strong concept, and though in places the execution is lacking, I can picture certain members of its target demographic reading it over and over.Millet writes it in a first person style using the conceit of a diary, to which our narrator Nat is recording her thoughts. Furthermore, this diary is addressed to an imaginary "Space Friend," which is the only part of the story that contributes the "Starships" of the title.Nat is bland and uninteresting in a way one often finds in young adult fiction, and even some adult fiction. She is a vessel into which the reader is expected to pour his or her own self. She does not truly develop as a character, except insofar as she discovers more about the world in which she lives. That is, she changes in the same way that the author expects the reader to change. It is a didactic story first and above all.After the long expository pages at the beginning of the book, my interest did pick up significantly. Millet is quite adept at painting her world, and once we are allowed to see the narrator interacting with that world, the pacing and power of the language increase to match.The ending is one of hope, unlike many dystopian novels I have read, and the thought-provoking nature of this world should last long after the final page has been turned. Recommended for younger readers, but those with an interest in "saving the planet" and the darker aspects of human nature.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A provocative, absorbing, richly imagined story set in a near dystopic future brought about by global warming. There are echoes of other classic dystopian stories in this novel but Millet's prose is more elegant and storytelling nuanced compared to the many other YA novels in this genre.

[emscape · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This scary-plausible dystopian novel sucked me in from the beginning. Nat's world is depressing as hell. Fortunately for her, she lives in the First, where she is protected from the effects of global warming, most super-virus, and the fight for existence faced by the "poors." The world is controlled by "corps" - super powerful corporations, and in the interest of population control, no one is allowed to have babies and the elderly are encouraged to buy death contracts. Nat's parents have chosen to die, so the family travels to Hawaii for the week-long "goodbye ceremony". However, there may be more to discover about how the rest of the world lives and Nat has to make a choice that will affect the rest of her life. Besides the incredibly realistic world-building, one that may not be too far off, the characters are well-developed and genuine. The author does not include any love interest for Nat, and particularly not the love triangle trope used in many a dystopian YA novel. Very highly recommended.

[doggonelaura · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Because I work in a high school library, I end up reading a lot of dystopian and post apocalyptic young adult fiction. This book has a lot of wonderful moments and some really interesting concepts but just didn't quite make it for me. Like in Orson Scott Card's pre-Formic series, Corporations are ruling the world--this is a great concept that makes for a lot of interesting situations. But then the science part was often just too uneven. In a lot of future collapse books, authors have to gloss over areas since you can't set up the science completely or the book would be out of control--but an author has to provide enough of the science constructs that you, the reader, feel the possibility of this world. I was pretty game with Millet's world right up until the sea turtle eggs at the 'resistance' camp. The Komodo dragons really dragged it down for me. I just found it incredibly difficult to believe that 400 people could also be managing a zoo for a variety of animals on a Hawaiian island. Sure, hiding out and living in the jungle, some tech and systems in place, but the animals just blew it.I like Nat's voice a lot--her idea of writing her story down for an astronaut was okay. Her emotions nicely described and believable. But the days before the camp were a little long and dreary. If I were to restructure the novel, I'd move the discovery of the resistance to earlier in the book (especially to succeed with teens--all that sad, sad detail about the corp's set-up for her parent's exit was long and sad, sad, sad).That said, if you like the genre, it's worth the read--I certainly finished the whole story without giving up on it. But it's not going to appeal to a YA outside of that group (there's no romance and the energy of hope doesn't come to very late in the story).

[ekanderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I suppose we've all glimpsed a future -- either in fiction or in our imaginations -- in which the Earth is completely destroyed. That is not a new story, and Lydia Millet has no intention to sell it as such. What is new about her debut YA, PILLS AND STARSHIPS, is the solution that the government has found in order to deal with the wasteland that future Americans will call home.In PILLS AND STARSHIPS, the young are highly vaccinated and medicated for mood, and they often don't spend face-to-face time with anyone outside their families. The old -- those who remember life before the tipping point -- are depressed. They are sad enough that the pharms (recreational or otherwise) that everyone takes aren't quite enough. People can live healthily into their hundreds, so there's a new industry at play: death.When Nat's parents reveal that they have purchased a contract with one of the corps -- a contract which will bring the family to a resort of sorts to live out the last days with their loved ones before they pass -- she and her brother are shocked. Her parents are former "treehugs," having spent much of their life going against the norm. Not to mention, Nat and Sam aren't ready to let them go. And while Nat is just sad, Sam suspects foul play.Once at their resort in Hawaii, things only seem to get weirder. Sam, of course, is deep in his conspiracy theories. But Nat is trying her best to honor her parents' wishes. The problem is, Sam is starting to make more and more sense. Soon, she's worried that, if Sam is right, it's too late for all of them.The post-apocalyptic Hawaii of PILLS AND STARSHIPS is eerie and claustrophobic. Lydia Millet has constructed a landscape of horror against a typically beautiful backdrop, making the Huxley-esque society all the more disturbing. The innocence of Nat's voice makes for a sharp contrast to a world that seems to have lost a sense of morality, and her story, which reads almost like a terrible family vacation is hard-hitting. Sci fi readers looking for a new twist on classic themes are sure to enjoy this new novel.

[kamoorephoto · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this ‘glimpse into the future’, because while this is indeed a dystopian novel, it sure seemed like I was reading a real journal (that of the main character, Nat, who writes it in the week leading up to her parent’s planned death). I chose this book for a group read on Litsy, where we send a book, marked up with our notes, along to the next person, and the other three do the same with their picks, so that we have a book mailing circle. This first caught my eye in my local indie bookstore, where it had a recommendation tag (and an awesome cover), and the premise is this: teen siblings named Nat and Sam, accompany their parents to Hawaii who together have decided to spend their ‘Final Week’ before the contract for their deaths is carried out. Nat and Sam are long to say their goodbyes. That’s right, in this imagined future, where global warming has finally made the world so unbearable and everyone gets through their days by taking moodpharms (ie happy pills because the world is so depressing), you can take out a contract for your death when you get old enough, and you can pay for assisted suicide on the Big Island (it’s not illegal anymore and quite encouraged, and rather embraced).The world that is in this dystopian future is so sadly believable that I read it as if I had some sort of special peek into what was going to happen if we continued with what we are already doing to this planet, and I have a feeling author Lydia Millet has distinct opinions on what’s to blame for the ruin to come (I tended to agree!); it’s not hard to imagine much of our wildlife gone, whole states like Florida under water, a whole garbage vortex in the ocean.... I can’t say too much about the plot but this was a great, thought-provoking, interesting story, and I will say there was some hope at the end. It’s not a long book but it packs in a lot to think about. I hope for everyone reading it, that it makes them think a little bit more about their carbon footprint and about how we really are lucky to have this Earth. *And I don’t care too much about a future without pet cats. That will be a sad day.

[sonorandreamer-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pills and Starships is a realistic story set in a dystopian future. Corporations have brought about major climate change, yet the corporations are in control more than ever, feeding the population pills to control emotions and even their time of death. Owning actual food or pets is illegal. Everything is supplied by the corporations. This book is written in the first person in the form of a young woman’s diary, a story of generations of resistance and endurance set in Hawaii. We find in these pages both despair and the possibility of a better future, one where power is held by communities rather than corporations. I recommend this book for those who care about the future of our living planet. May it inspire more people to resist.