Review: Dualed by Elsie Chapman

Title: Dualed

Series: Dualed #1

Author: Elsie Chapman

Genre: YA, dystopian

Publication date: February 26th 2013

Published by: Random House Books for Young Readers

Source: the publishers via Netgalley

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Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis:

You or your Alt? Only one will survive.

The city of Kersh is a safe haven, but the price of safety is high. Everyone has a genetic Alternate—a twin raised by another family—and citizens must prove their worth by eliminating their Alts before their twentieth birthday. Survival means advanced schooling, a good job, marriage—life.

Fifteen-year-old West Grayer has trained as a fighter, preparing for the day when her assignment arrives and she will have one month to hunt down and kill her Alt. But then a tragic misstep shakes West’s confidence. Stricken with grief and guilt, she’s no longer certain that she’s the best version of herself, the version worthy of a future. If she is to have any chance of winning, she must stop running not only from her Alt, but also from love . . . though both have the power to destroy her.

Elsie Chapman's suspenseful YA debut weaves unexpected romance into a novel full of fast-paced action and thought-provoking philosophy. When the story ends, discussions will begin about this future society where every adult is a murderer and every child knows there is another out there who just might be better.

My rating: ★★★★☆
Such a great read! Very unique concept, too (which I loved)!

The thing about dystopians is that it's always a really sucky world to live in (big duh, otherwise it would be utopia, lol). This world just has so much pain and so much death. Never knowing when it will be your turn to fight your Alt, and never knowing who will come up on top, but hoping it will be you. And same for your family! Never knowing if your sibling will survive the fight with their Alt...it's just horrible! So this book obviously had lots of feeling and emotion, which I always like in a book!

But even though it's just a bad, bad, bad world to live in, I really liked the story! I have not read anything like this, so I really like the creativity!

Another thing I liked: the action! There was lots of action accompanied by suspense! You just never knowing who would win.

However, I felt like West was delaying her meeting with her Alt, which if you've read the book and really think about it, she is. She says she joined this organization to get training and be more prepared when she faces her Alt, but really that delay was just too long for me! Of course, I can't exactly complain. If I were in West's place I'd be scared out of my mind, too!

But man, I honestly wanted to smack West for not allowing Chord to help her! I mean, grrr! You have help, take it! Don't be so freakin' stubborn! And it also would've given us a chance to get to know Chord better ;) He played a pretty important role in the book, and yet, he really wasn't there all that much.

Another thing I didn't understand was the reason behind why they would clone your kid then have them fight to the death later on. I remember something about survival of the fittest, and even though I really liked the concept, it wasn't delivered as best as it could've.

Now I'm just wondering what book two will be about. I mean, this one West fights her Alt and all that, but now what? I'm not complaining ;) It'll be interesting to see where the story goes from there, and I'm hoping for more Chord!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a comment! :)