Dualed (Dualed, #1)

by Elsie Chapman

"West Grayer lives in a world where every person has a twin, or Alt. Only one can survive to adulthood, and West has just received her notice to kill her Alt"--Provided by publisher.

• ISBN10: 0307975363
• ISBN13: 9780307975362
• Publish Date: 26 February 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 158
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Coincidentally, I have dual feelings on Dualed. On one hand, I loved it! On the other, I was annoyed by the questionable world building and the fact that it's the first book in a series. It starts off the day of West's father's funeral. Her whole family is gone, except for her and her older brother, Luc. While sitting down to eat, their friend Chord is "activated." It's now time for him to kill his Alt or be killed. The three immediately take off to do the job, but while it had the outcome they hoped for, there was a peripheral kill which causes West to become a bit desperate. Instead of waiting around to be activated, she joins the strikers (assassins for Alts) to get in some real training. Then it's her time to kill or be killed.

The premise of Dualed is really great and exciting, but like I said, the world building is questionable. I spent the first handful of chapters just wondering why this is all happening. There is an explanation involving war (isn't it always?) but it didn't satisfy me. The whole point of creating Alts is to weed out the weak and leave the strong for an army. But really, all they're doing is pitting two people who look alike (this is basically all Alts have in common) against each other, and getting the best of those two. You killed your Alt, but you could still be a worse fighter than hundreds of others who killed theirs. Wouldn't it make more sense to train all of the kids and then do some kind of bracket fighting for each class to see who really is the best? There's still unnecessary violence, but at least then it actually provides the wanted results: the best of the best, not just the better out of two. I had a few more issues with this world, but that's the gist of it.

Dualed could have been a solid 4★ or 4.5★ read for me, since I absolutely could not put it down once the story got going! West is kind of on the run. She's in denial about that. She has 31 days to kill her Alt, but she spends most of the time hiding out and taking on more striker jobs. She tells herself it's for more practice, but really, the idea of killing someone who looks just like her is messing with her head. She doesn't know this girl at all, but still, it's creepy. There's also a minor romance going on between West and her friend Chord. He helps her with her assignment whether she wants it or not, and he's a great support. There are no major scenes of them together, confessing their love; it all just happens naturally.

The ending was also perfect! Dualed could have easily been left as a standalone. There's closure and a sense of hope, and no cliffhanger! The ending was a real ending! Sure, there was no cliche rebellion and fighting the system, but that ending worked. Now, Divided is the cliche fighting the system sequel, and it kind of ruined this one for me. Oh well.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[inlibrisveritas]

Dualed introduces us to a world that has been ravaged by war and a city that has managed to close itself off as a safe haven, but the price for this is extremely high. Everyone is expected to be the best solider they can be just in case something happens to that wall that protects them, and so the concept of Alternates comes in. Two versions of the same person, and like the ever famous quote from Highlander ‘there can only be one’.

This turned out to be a great debut and a rather interesting dystopian. Unlike other dystopians this doesn’t focus on a main character working to bring down the government or some ‘big bad’, instead it focuses on a girl who simply wants to survive her accepted way of life. I personally get a bit tired of every day teens dismantling governments and I just want to see how people cope and deal with what they’ve been forced into, and that’s exactly what West does. When we meet her West has already been through so much and she hasn’t even been assigned to kill her alt yet, I thought that the opening chapter was very strong. The world building that Chapman does in the first few chapters is very solid and gives that emotional understanding of exactly what kind of place she’s in and just what she’s going to have to deal with. The introduction of the Strikers, hired alt killers, is something I could totally see happening if something like this ever occurred and kind of brought about a bit of moral turmoil for me. I couldn’t decide if it was a good thing because it saved people from doing something terrible or if it was just as bad because someone is still having to die.

West is a tough girl, but she’s also still just a fifteen year old girl. She makes mistakes, sometimes she’s too stubborn, and most of all she’s conflicted. She knows what she needs to do and she’s always thought she was prepared for it, but when the time comes she finds herself unsure and at times she makes some really bad choices. The hunt that happens between her and her Alt was really intense at times and kept me guessing on how it was all going to end. I would have loved to see more about West’s Alt, because while we get to know her a bit it’s not enough to truly compare her to West. Chord I felt probably could have been fleshed out a tad more but I enjoyed his loyalty to West, despite her constant attempts to push him away and refuse his help.

The ending wraps up nicely and i was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to see more of West or the city of Kersh, but I found out that there will be a second book called Divided. So I’m super curious as to what will happen next because I honestly don’t know but I have a few hopes for it. Overall this turned out to be a pretty solid debut and I’m looking froward to more from Chapman.

[pagingserenity]

*NOTE: I received this book as an ARC from the publisher through Random Buzzers. This in no way influenced my review.

In the city of Kersh, everyone has an Alt, short for alternative. An Alt, is exactly what it sounds like. An Alt, is an Alternate you. A twin that you never know. A twin you have to kill to prove your worth. To prove that you deserve to live, that you are the better copy of yourself. In DUALED, West Grayer, struggles with the concept of having an Alt, and having to kill her. She has trained her whole life for the day when she will get her assignment. The test that will prove her worthiness to continue living in Kersh. But she knows, you can train your body and maybe your mind. But it is hard to train your emotions, especially when something tragic just occurred.

DUALED had me at the very beginning. I was thrust into a world I knew little about, and began to start collecting the facts right away. Elsie Chapman wrote an effect introduction. She had West began narrating what was going on, and give the reader some action at the same time. Needless to say, I was NOT bored. Within the first few chapters, someone had already died. In DUALED, West experiences a few flashbacks and has short flashes of memories of the past. What someone said, or who the car originally belonged to. And little by little, those tiny flashes, start giving you a hint about West’s childhood, her family, and what happened to them.

The plot was very fast paced. It started out really fast. I wondered how Elsie Chapman would take it from there. How can you continue the build suspense after you kill a character? I was not disappointed. Throughout the story, there were various amounts of action. Sometimes there wasn't much, just West reminiscing on the past and what could have been. Other times, she was out there kicking a whole lot of butt. It kept me wanting to see what would happen next, yet provided me with some time to relax and truly understand what was going on in the story.

I have mixed feelings about West. At first, I liked her. Okay, maybe she was a bit hot headed, and stubborn, but overall she was likable. You could understand why she was acting the way she was. I felt that West started out strong and then became weaker. There were times when I felt like yelling at her “Why are you doing this? Stop and think!” However, I do understand why she did those certain things. I can’t imagine living in a society like the one West lives in. For her, it is literally, kill or be killed. That’s the difference between life or death. It makes you question your morals. Is it worth taking someone else’s life just to save yours? West was able to keep me guessing what she would do next. She was kind of unpredictable with her emotions all out of whack. I would say she managed to redeem herself at the end.

The romance. What can I say about the romance? Only that it was interesting to read about and maybe that I wish there was more... Oh well, I hear there are more books to come. (The amount in this book is just fine but...) One can only hope. West’s love interest is Chord. He is not as well developed as West, but he doesn't need to be. Chord is like the perfect boyfriend. More like the best friend turned boyfriend. The one that seems to be protective and still give you some space. The one that understands.

Originally posted at Icy Cold Reads

[violetpeanut]

I'm conflicted about this one. There were things I loved, but then other things...not so much. Thus, the middle-of-the-road three star rating.

The general idea is this (from the book):

When the universal cold vaccine had the nasty side effect of irreversible infertility, it was the Board who managed to keep the human race alive through a system of constant and carefully controlled biological intervention. But human nature has a way of disintegrating no matter how many chances it’s given, and the world fell into war. An offshoot of the Board broke off, claimed the upper West Coast of North America as its own, and turned its back on everyone else. It called the massive gated city Kersh, the last war- free zone in the world.

The Board, in its genius, created Alts, manipulating genes so two identical children are born to two sets of parents... both active Alts must hunt each other down until only one remains. It’s the ultimate survival- of- the- fittest test, allowing only those capable of killing to go on and become adults in Kersh.

West has lost her entire family and has recently gone "active." She is also a "striker" - an assassin hired to kill other people's alts. While she has no trouble completing her striker assignments, she is conflicted about killing her own Alt.

The thing I was really most disappointed in was the world-building and the backstory. I want to know why and how the world disintegrated to the point that Kersh had to wall itself off. I want to know what the world is like outside of Kersh. I want to know why people just go along with this idea of killing their Alt. Why does no one rebel? Why did no one rebel when it all started? I wanted to know more about the structure of the city. Chapman gives us bits and pieces - how the city is sectioned and what each section produces - but I didn't really get a great picture of how things would look. I'm hoping that some of these things will be explored more as the series continues.

I was also surprised at where this book led. The ending didn't really shock me, but I was surprised that there wasn't much of a rebellion against the status quo. Most dystopian novels show a progression from acceptance of how things are to questioning of the status quo to full out rebellion and change. Here, there really wasn't any of that. Sure, there were some things that hinted at rebellion - the strikers, for instance - but there is no great fight against the Board. This is really just the story of one girl following the rules in this society. On the one hand, I like that this book didn't follow the same formula as every other book in the genre, but on the other hand, I wanted to see these horrible practices come to an end. Again, I'm hoping that this will change as the series continues.

I really loved the characters. I loved how West was conflicted. She carries an immense amount of guilt, she is angry, she feels defeated. Yet, through it all she is strong. She is convinced that her rutheless Alt is the one who should win, never really acknowledging that her own perseverance, smarts and will to live make her just as worthy.

I loved that there is a hint of romance between West and Chord. West continually pushes him away, feeling that if he is too close, he is in danger. The tension and frustration (not just sexual in nature) is written well. I wanted to smack her for pushing him away, yet I understood why she felt she had too. The romance never overtakes the plot as it does in so many other books. It's important to the book but does not overwhelm it. I look forward to seeing where things go with West and Chord.

Overall I enjoyed Dualed. I look forward to reading the second book in the series in hopes that some of my questions will be answered. This is a good original storyline that could be great if fleshed out a bit more.

[Kelly]

3.5 Stars.
It reminded me of a cross between Divergent, The Hunger Games and The movie The Island. Was enthralled by the start and ending, but somewhere in between, there seemed to be far too much reflection and the main character West seemed to have lost her tough edge. Frustrating to say the least. But stick with it through those patches and you'll be rewarded.

[Ashley]

booknook — Young Adult book reviews

The first few chapters of this book blew me away. Like, blew my life to bits. The intensity, the devastation, the near-tears reaction, the morally questionable assassination... I got so wrapped up in the story and the kick-ass-ness that I think I lost my sanity for a while. Dualed turned me into a monster. I was only 25% done and I had already morphed into some sort of Gladiator Game spectator: demanding blood and screaming at West to kill people. I was some sort of insane, bloodthirsty reader.

Much to my devastation, that's about the extent of my excitement for this book.

My biggest problem with Dualed is the main character herself: West. She is the biggest hypocrite and it drove me nuts. Let me explain. At the beginning of the book, Chord (West's friend) gets his assignment to kill his Alt. He's in a daze and doesn't know what to do. West completely gets on his case for not acting immediately because every second of a head start counts. She pushes him to find his Alt and insists that she comes along, despite Chord's protests. Then, when West gets her assignment, she freezes up. She doesn't act immediately—she just stalls. Chord has to come in and push her out the door to go find her Alt. Then when he wants to come along, she won't let him.. Then she spends the entire rest of the book pushing Chord away and refusing to let him come near her (I think it was all for the sake of "protecting" him so he wouldn't get caught in crossfire). The hypocrisy of it all just drove me insane!

West went the opposite way of most characters in books. Ideally, I like to see a character start out weak and then grow and become a stronger/better person. I feel like West started out quite strong but then turned into a weak, frightful character. And the worst part is, she never really changes. Even at the very end, she's still treating Chord like some little kid she has to protect. She pushes him away and never lets him help her.

Furthermore, I didn't understand West's logic in the book. West decides to become an assassin to help train to kill her own Alt. But surely if she's out there killing other Alts, she's quite capable of killing her own? So then when she gets her assignment, why doesn't she get it over with? Why does she run away and hide from her Alt for the entire book? She's still taking on assassination jobs, she's still killing other peoples' Alts, but she refuses to kill her own because she's convinced that she's not good enough and needs more training (I guess).

West's hypocrisy and the fact that I couldn't understand her logic at all really disconnected me from her as a character, and I think that largely contributed to my dislike for this book. It was hard to enjoy the story when I couldn't relate to West whatsoever.

I'm sad to say that I'm really disappointed with this book. It's partially my fault for over-hyping it, but even so, I wish it was better. There was so much promise because this is such an insanely awesome idea, but it just didn't reach its full potential. West was annoying, we only learn bits and pieces about "The Board" (which is basically the government[?] that set up the Alt system), there is a bit of romance but it barely exists because West spent 95% of the book running away from Chord... There does seem to be an interesting history behind this book with war, the setting up of the Alt system, etc., but we don't learn much about it. I assume the series is going to lead up to some sort of rebellion against The Board and the Alt system, but this book didn't set up for that very well at all. There were only extremely minimal/subtle hints about any sort of dislike for the Alt system. Nearly everyone just accepted it without question. In fact, the ending wrapped things up so well that I feel like I have no idea where the sequel will even begin.

I might still end up continuing the series just because the ending of Dualed was a bit satisfying and I'm curious to see where the story leads. Hopefully there will be better world building in the second book, better developed characters, and logic I can relate to!