erinarkin20's review
4.0
Where to start with this one. I really liked this book and it grabbed me from the very beginning.
The premise is an interesting one, everyone is born with an alt and at anytime between the ages 10-20, they can be activated. This means each has 31 days to hunt down and kill the other. If both are still alive after the 31 days, they are both destroyed. The theory is that the strong ones will survive to protect everyone if ever needed. Ok - this is bad enough but they never know when the activation will happen.
West is a tough character. I won't lie - she made me angry at times but she is definitely tough. She just seemed to forget who she was for a little while. In all of her efforts to distance herself from Chord, she stopped believing that she was the one who should complete. It didn't help that something happens to throw her off kilter but eventually she does get it together and realizes that if she wants to be with Chord, she needs to be the one to survive. I appreciated that she was able to do it mostly on her own though. Yes, she did take the things Chord would leave for her (money and cell) but she didn't need to rely on them to survive. She was resourceful and (usually) pretty smart.
Chord...the glimpses we see of him is as someone who has always wanted to support and protect West. It was more than the promise he made to Luc that prompted him to continue to watch over and help out West while she was activated. It took her a little while to figure it out (I don't think she really believed he loved her until he actually said it...if she even hoped, she would always credit what he was doing to the promise made to Luc) but she did.
This book starts with the action immediately and doesn't really ever stop. There is also a lot of emotion in this book - anger, sadness, love, relief.
If you like dystopian books, go read this the first chance you get. It was a book I couldn't put down and I am looking forward to the next one as I am curious to see where Chapman takes it.
The premise is an interesting one, everyone is born with an alt and at anytime between the ages 10-20, they can be activated. This means each has 31 days to hunt down and kill the other. If both are still alive after the 31 days, they are both destroyed. The theory is that the strong ones will survive to protect everyone if ever needed. Ok - this is bad enough but they never know when the activation will happen.
West is a tough character. I won't lie - she made me angry at times but she is definitely tough. She just seemed to forget who she was for a little while. In all of her efforts to distance herself from Chord, she stopped believing that she was the one who should complete. It didn't help that something happens to throw her off kilter but eventually she does get it together and realizes that if she wants to be with Chord, she needs to be the one to survive. I appreciated that she was able to do it mostly on her own though. Yes, she did take the things Chord would leave for her (money and cell) but she didn't need to rely on them to survive. She was resourceful and (usually) pretty smart.
Chord...the glimpses we see of him is as someone who has always wanted to support and protect West. It was more than the promise he made to Luc that prompted him to continue to watch over and help out West while she was activated. It took her a little while to figure it out (I don't think she really believed he loved her until he actually said it...if she even hoped, she would always credit what he was doing to the promise made to Luc) but she did.
This book starts with the action immediately and doesn't really ever stop. There is also a lot of emotion in this book - anger, sadness, love, relief.
If you like dystopian books, go read this the first chance you get. It was a book I couldn't put down and I am looking forward to the next one as I am curious to see where Chapman takes it.
cancourtneyread's review
2.0
2.5 stars. The premise of this book was amazing! So different and unlike anything I've read. Where the book failed was my ability to connect to the characters. Some choices they made didn't seem to fit and towards the end whose names I can't even remember, I didn't even realized it happened it was so sudden. I had to re-read the page to see if I missed it. They should have made it clearer and more drawn out than a sentence to explain it. I took it in terms of friendship but apparently it meant they were together...this series has promise. Hopefully the second book takes advantage of this amazing storyline.
Spoiler
when the two main characters get togetherizlandizzy's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
bookishnicole's review
4.0
My excitement for Dualed was hardly containable when I first found out the book was, you know, a book. I requested on Netgalley and, shocking, got denied. I was still a new blogger and my stats weren’t quite what they are today. Then I found out from Elsie that they were going to have copies of the book at NYCC12, and I knew that I had to go and I had to get one. And I did. I got one, and MAN am I glad that I did. While this book didn’t live up to my every expectation, I still really liked it despite reader friends telling me that it wasn’t up to par.
I really loved the plot of this book. It was original and fresh and that is something that the book market needs. Clever books like this should happen more. I was reminded a bit of The Hunger Games the way that there are wealthier parts of town that have the money to access better training and Strikers, people that will kill your Alt for you. This being similar to how in THG, Districts One and Two would breed champions because they had more access to money. I liked the statement that this made about how wealth can seemingly buy you everything, almost. I wish that Chapman had gone a little more into detail about how the world got to being in this situation. There was a sort of cliffnotes version, but I’m hoping that book two will provide more details.
What I liked least was West. I think that she is one of the chief reasons that people had a problem with the book. She seemed ambivalent towards her life and almost bipolar about everything. When we are first introduced to her, she is this hard, go get em type of girl, and then something tragic happens and she seems to give up on life. She seems almost robotic and like she doesn’t have any feelings. The one time I felt that she was a real person was at the end when she started to realize that she had made all of these mistakes and she started to panic about what type of an impact this was going to have on her fight to survive. I wanted her to survive, but she just seemed to be devoid of all emotion.
I also wasn’t a fan of the side Striker plotline. I felt that it really came out of nowhere and that it sort of seemed out of character for her, but I don’t think that I can properly judge her character. She was all over the place with this Striker job which was cool, but at the same time, she was still a kid and that was a little unexpected. Her reasoning behind doing it was that it would help her train but I didn’t really see how it helped her in the battle against her Alt. I was also really confused that people didn’t acknowledge Strikers, but she never really seemed to hide that she was one. It was a little contradictory, but I rolled with it.
I know it seems like I had a lot of complaints about this book, but in all honestly I really liked it. I liked that romance was not the central plot line for once, that sort of took a back seat to West’s fight for survival. I really liked Chord and how he wanted to help her out despite her attempts to push him away. I felt bad for both of them having to watch as their families were slowly destroyed by this “Alt” program. In fact, it reminded me a little of Sparta and how only the strong survived there too. I’m really looking forward to the next book in this series because while there wasn’t really a cliff hanger, there is very clearly more to the story.
I really loved the plot of this book. It was original and fresh and that is something that the book market needs. Clever books like this should happen more. I was reminded a bit of The Hunger Games the way that there are wealthier parts of town that have the money to access better training and Strikers, people that will kill your Alt for you. This being similar to how in THG, Districts One and Two would breed champions because they had more access to money. I liked the statement that this made about how wealth can seemingly buy you everything, almost. I wish that Chapman had gone a little more into detail about how the world got to being in this situation. There was a sort of cliffnotes version, but I’m hoping that book two will provide more details.
What I liked least was West. I think that she is one of the chief reasons that people had a problem with the book. She seemed ambivalent towards her life and almost bipolar about everything. When we are first introduced to her, she is this hard, go get em type of girl, and then something tragic happens and she seems to give up on life. She seems almost robotic and like she doesn’t have any feelings. The one time I felt that she was a real person was at the end when she started to realize that she had made all of these mistakes and she started to panic about what type of an impact this was going to have on her fight to survive. I wanted her to survive, but she just seemed to be devoid of all emotion.
I also wasn’t a fan of the side Striker plotline. I felt that it really came out of nowhere and that it sort of seemed out of character for her, but I don’t think that I can properly judge her character. She was all over the place with this Striker job which was cool, but at the same time, she was still a kid and that was a little unexpected. Her reasoning behind doing it was that it would help her train but I didn’t really see how it helped her in the battle against her Alt. I was also really confused that people didn’t acknowledge Strikers, but she never really seemed to hide that she was one. It was a little contradictory, but I rolled with it.
I know it seems like I had a lot of complaints about this book, but in all honestly I really liked it. I liked that romance was not the central plot line for once, that sort of took a back seat to West’s fight for survival. I really liked Chord and how he wanted to help her out despite her attempts to push him away. I felt bad for both of them having to watch as their families were slowly destroyed by this “Alt” program. In fact, it reminded me a little of Sparta and how only the strong survived there too. I’m really looking forward to the next book in this series because while there wasn’t really a cliff hanger, there is very clearly more to the story.
secret_getaway's review
5.0
It’s a future where every person is born with an Alt, a twin born to a different family. A twin that they are pitted against, to kill their Alt before turning twenty. Once active, the two have thirty days to kill the other or both will be eliminated. It’s a system designed to weed out the weakest in society, to create a city of only those that are worthy. West Grayer is fifteen when she is active, trained to kill but still only in her second year of school. When a terrible accident happens, West’s faith in herself and about being the one worthy is shaken and she struggles with the task of killing her Alt.
This novel was absolutely thrilling. It’s another take on the future society that is controlled by an elite group, governing the people and creating a society it sees fit. Another novel where society demands children to fight to the death for their benefit. But this one was different, because it wasn’t like the other novels where the protagonist is part of a group to overturn society. Instead, this was a story about one girl’s struggles to do what was best for her and the one person she loves. The novel follows her personal journey and whether she is worthy to be one that lives.
I enjoyed this book for the take on a controlling society that several other authors have done and the approach Chapman took. Going through West’s journey, hoping that she will be worthy was so exciting. I started the book, and I couldn’t stop. From the beginning, Chapman has you flipping through the pages with no regard to how much time has passed. There was never a dull moment in the book and I ended up reading the entire novel in one night. So read for yourself. Find out if West is worthy of being the one. Worthy to make it to a complete and reap the rewards that society has to offer.
This novel was absolutely thrilling. It’s another take on the future society that is controlled by an elite group, governing the people and creating a society it sees fit. Another novel where society demands children to fight to the death for their benefit. But this one was different, because it wasn’t like the other novels where the protagonist is part of a group to overturn society. Instead, this was a story about one girl’s struggles to do what was best for her and the one person she loves. The novel follows her personal journey and whether she is worthy to be one that lives.
I enjoyed this book for the take on a controlling society that several other authors have done and the approach Chapman took. Going through West’s journey, hoping that she will be worthy was so exciting. I started the book, and I couldn’t stop. From the beginning, Chapman has you flipping through the pages with no regard to how much time has passed. There was never a dull moment in the book and I ended up reading the entire novel in one night. So read for yourself. Find out if West is worthy of being the one. Worthy to make it to a complete and reap the rewards that society has to offer.
alyson7's review
1.0
A story about a battle to the death reminiscent of the Hunger Gameswith only one victor, what could go wrong? The answer: many things. Although the synopsis sounded extremely exciting and thrilling, this book was far from being comparable to Hunger Games. In fact, I would go as far to say that this book is merely a Hunger Games wannabe, or knock off. First of all, West Grayer is no Katniss Everdeen, and Chord, the male lead, has as much charm as a stale piece of pita bread. If you are looking for sweet romance, you will not find it here. In its place, you will find cheesy awkward romantic gestures that made me cringe.
Whenever I start a book, and the author throws a bunch of random terms that I know nothing about in relation to the context of the novel (such as “active,” “alternate,” “idle,”) I will get confused and will quickly loose interest. While an author must not explain every little detail, they must not create terms and magically assume their readers will catch on.
Overall, this book was a disappointment and took nearly three weeks for me to bother finishing it.
Whenever I start a book, and the author throws a bunch of random terms that I know nothing about in relation to the context of the novel (such as “active,” “alternate,” “idle,”) I will get confused and will quickly loose interest. While an author must not explain every little detail, they must not create terms and magically assume their readers will catch on.
Overall, this book was a disappointment and took nearly three weeks for me to bother finishing it.
kittlyn's review
4.0
I really did enjoy this book. It makes you wonder, "What would I do to survive? Would I even try, with nothing to survive for?"
etherealthursday's review
1.0
I was REALLY REALLY REALLY looking forward to reading this book. So much, in fact, that I put off reading it for a week so that I could savour it (this doesn't happen a lot) on my two week vacation. Less than half way through I couldn't care less about what happened to any of the characters. West bugged me. She seemed heartless and cold- she didn't care about all the CHILDREN she killed- (SPOILERS AHEAD) even when her brother died she mentioned the boy crying over the Alt's body- she didn't do anything- no genuine pity just "Oh. I hope they don't kill the little kid." She seems to only care about herself and chord. Quite frankly,I would have rather West's alt lived.
jorbe's review
2.0
I really couldn't connect to the characters like I wanted to. The main character, whose name I have already forgotten,was very annoying for the majority of the book. We just listened to her same issue about 10 different ways. I will not be continuing on with this series.
sherlokibook's review
1.0
Dualed ou comment un bon concept avec une bonne idée peut tomber à plat à cause d'un monde non réaliste/mal développée et d'une héroïne avec un comportement complètement incohérent