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Title: Dualed
Author: Elsie Chapman
Date: January 29th, 2013
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.
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.
Dualed has been on my list of books too look out for since late of last year. There wasn't any hype or any real reason to motivate in looking at this other than my own interests. Which I do have to say spiked dramatically after the synopsis. The distinction that makes this book stand out miles away from any other, is the sort of philosophy and action that seems to permeate from this book. I love the ending sentence in this synopsis, and I must repeat it again. It just seems to embody this book better than anything I could think of; "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."
First thing, the character West, when I first read the synopsis I understood that it was supposed to be a girl but West to me isn't a very feminine sounding name. However, she is supposed to kill her alternate, so that's not exactly the most feminine thing either. Breaking the boundaries! So when it gets down and she begins her hunt, there is talk of grief and guilt taking over her and wondering if she's the best alternative or the other would be better. I don't buy this very much, in a book where the main female character is supposed to be butch and a overall Badass. Greif? Really?
That's how we humanize her, okay I'll give this one to you, because generally I'm excited. But if I take that, what caused the grief? Oh no, more questions and further interest in the book! Was it a friend of her, a possible boyfriend she had that died and his Alternate gets to take his old spot in her life? There is just so many questions on the surface I hope they all can be answered in this series.
Than we break down into the philosophical part, my biggest question in this book is just because you can manage to kill your Alternate, does that justify your life? For example, if I could have killed Beethoven or if Ghandi killed Hitler, would that justify their lives? I'm sorry but I don't buy the premise that a world would be better if you could prove your worth by killing someone else. Even if you could better them in a series of tests so they would be demoralized the rest of their life, what would you do with them then? It doesn't make sense. Than the families that lost their child, and the child's Alternate walks around; how heartbroken must they be every time they see the future of the dead children. To me it sounds more like a world of pain and suffering, with blood on everyone's hands, I do not buy into the whole justifying life by killing an alternate. However, I'm curious to see the author's story and her philosophy in the book!
First thing, the character West, when I first read the synopsis I understood that it was supposed to be a girl but West to me isn't a very feminine sounding name. However, she is supposed to kill her alternate, so that's not exactly the most feminine thing either. Breaking the boundaries! So when it gets down and she begins her hunt, there is talk of grief and guilt taking over her and wondering if she's the best alternative or the other would be better. I don't buy this very much, in a book where the main female character is supposed to be butch and a overall Badass. Greif? Really?
That's how we humanize her, okay I'll give this one to you, because generally I'm excited. But if I take that, what caused the grief? Oh no, more questions and further interest in the book! Was it a friend of her, a possible boyfriend she had that died and his Alternate gets to take his old spot in her life? There is just so many questions on the surface I hope they all can be answered in this series.
Than we break down into the philosophical part, my biggest question in this book is just because you can manage to kill your Alternate, does that justify your life? For example, if I could have killed Beethoven or if Ghandi killed Hitler, would that justify their lives? I'm sorry but I don't buy the premise that a world would be better if you could prove your worth by killing someone else. Even if you could better them in a series of tests so they would be demoralized the rest of their life, what would you do with them then? It doesn't make sense. Than the families that lost their child, and the child's Alternate walks around; how heartbroken must they be every time they see the future of the dead children. To me it sounds more like a world of pain and suffering, with blood on everyone's hands, I do not buy into the whole justifying life by killing an alternate. However, I'm curious to see the author's story and her philosophy in the book!
