Early Reader Review: Dualed by Elsie Chapman

Dualed by Elsie Chapman
Publisher: Random House Books
Available: February 26th, 2013

 

Format: Audiobook/ Ebook
Source: Random House Audio/Netgalley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Background: West Grayer has a twin, sort of, they are genetically the same, but have grown up with different families. This is the norm for Kersh, everyone has an Alternate (Alt) and in order to prove yourself worth of living in Kersh you must defeat your Alt.

Review: I had some ups and downs with this plot but I really did enjoy the overall story.

Kersh, is a walled up area for its citizens, blocked off from the outside world of war and the unknown. While inside, is just the same. Inside there is murder, untimely death, and the paranoia of what is to come. Each child age 10-20 must become an 'active' and complete their mission to kill their Alt before their time is up, and they can do this wherever (in a crowd, in their home, in a store) as long as it gets done. This all makes for a very interesting story, anything could happen.

The characters we follow are West Grayer and her friend Chord. Chord is the boy-next-door, has always been part of the family, and promises to protect West. West on the other hand is 15, stubborn, and just plain normal. She is a brave and courageous female lead, but sometimes she is so stubborn it is beyond aggravating. She can be SO dense! About half the time I was screaming at her to 'figure it out'.

My other concern was that there wasn't enough about why the Board makes everyone go through all of this, they say pending war, and just in case, but that was not enough for me. And for everyone to just go along with them and let their children die -- I question this.

The overall plot was excellent, there was so much action, killing and suspense that I was on the edge of my seat throughout the book, even more so when I was yelling at West.

I am most curious to see if we start to see more of the outside world around Kersh and how it will impact the characters, we shall wait to see in Divided if we get more.

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