Review Dualed by Eslie Chapman

Title: Dualed
Author: Elsie Chapman

Published: February 26th, 2013 (Random House Children's Books)

Pages: 304

Source: for review
Series: Dualed #1

Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads: 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.

Dualed was one of those book I was absolutely thrilled about to read it for months. Every time I saw it I counted the days until the release. When I saw it up on Netgalley and got accepted for an e-galley I was so excited. When I started reading I wasn't that thrilled anymore. I couldn't believe this was it. It didn't live up to my expectations to say the least. 

The idea behind the book is very interesting. Every person has an Alt, some sort of twin. Somewhere between the age of 13 and 20 every person gets the details about their Alt and they must kill it/her/him before the date expires. West Grayer has been trained all her life, just like everybody else, to get the chance to kill their Alt. She doesn't has any family left, except her brother and his best friend. 

What lacked most for me in this story was explanation. After the tragic misstep West decides she will become a striker, someone who murders other person's Alts in assignment. Short after she gets the message with her Alt's information. By then she has killed quite some other Alts, but she freezes with her own. It didn't become clear to me why she isn't able to just kill her own Alt. She keeps choking up and failing. While in the mean time she does continue killing off other people. 
This was one of the reasons I couldn't empathize with West. I couldn't figure out most of the time why she did certain things. 

And then there is the "romance". You could see from miles away that Chord was madly in love with West. But of course, she doesn't see it. She keeps pushing him away. And to make it even worse it was also very clear that at one point she would realize that she loved him too. I spend multiple pages screaming at West to get going with it and just realize she loves him and say it! 

What I loved about the book was the world setting and the way Elsie Chapman describes it. I really felt like I was there and was walking the streets with West. I liked the idea of Alts and always living with the knowledge that there is someone out there who could be better than you. And if they are, they will kill you when the times comes. This was also the reason why I couldn't wait to read the book. 

I've spoken to quite some people who are looking forward to reading Dualed. Give it a chance. The story is still nice!