13. Dualed - Elise Chapman

#1 in a supposed Dualed series

Random House, 2013

293 pgs.

Written for YA

Finished 4/11/13

Genre: Fantasy

Goodreads Rating: 3.42

My Rating:  2 - It was less than mediocre

Acquired: TPPL

Setting: The city of Kersh in a futuristic or alternate world.

Author site: elsiechapman.com

1^st sentence/s:   "I've buried nearly everyone I love."

My comments:  Unfortunately, it seemed to just be saying the same thing over and over again. I never understood the personality of West, our protagonist. Lots of questions like why she would ever want to become a Striker, why she would hold Chord off at such a distance, you could never really look inside her and figure out why she was thinking the way she did. I guess I just couldn't understand, or figure out at all, her personality.  The writing didn't do anything for me, the story didn't do enough for me. Oh well, on to another, hopefully better, story.

Becky's review from Becky's Book Reviews

Goodreads Review:  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.