Dualed [ハードカバー]

This review discuses a something that happens in the first 10% of the book. It is something not discussed in the synopsis, but absolutely should have been.

West is literally running for her life for most of this book. She has gone active and has the constant knowledge that her ALT is after her. With all of this, "Dualed" lacks tension. It's annoyingly repetitive and West is just too stoic a narrator. The story starts off strong; West has just buried another sibling who was killed by their alternate. She is still in her funeral blacks when Cord, a boy she has known all of her life, goes active. (Going "Active" means that you have a month to hunt down and kill your alternate) West refuses to lose another person and pushes Cord to go after his alt immediately. This sets off a chain of action packed and heartbreaking events.

At this point, I am hungrily flipping through the pages. I'm thinking that this book is going to be great, but it isn't. The issue is that the book doesn't so much decline as it goes static. West runs around Kersh, trying to avoid her Alt and Cord, while killing strangers and innocents. In the first 10% of this book West becomes a Striker. A striker is an assassin who kills alts for those who can afford to pay. This ruined the book for me. One, because "Dualed" isn't being advertised as a book about an assassin and I felt completely blindsided. It happens so early in the book, that it blows my mind that it is not mentioned in the synopsis, the trailer or any other promotional media I have seen. Second, in a world filled with Katniss Everdeens and Rose Hathaways it is very difficult to like a heroine who kills for no reason.

The author tries to give us this spiel about how Striker's fight against the system. No. Robin Hood fights against the system. Bruce Wayne fights against the system, Striker's kill for the highest bidder. Sure, this is not what the Kersh government wants and I guess it is a form of rebellion, but that is not a good enough excuse. West does not sign up to help the little man or to smuggle people out of the city limits. No, she signs up to kill innocent people. At least the government gives them a 50% chance of survival. West and her people take that away. Since the government is so corrupt and rules absolutely, it's not like the people who can pay to eliminate their alternates have worked hard for their money or anything. These are people who have the option of not getting their hands dirty. It is cheating. There is a way of life in Kersh and instead of trying to improve that life, West is just helping cowards beat the system.

There is all this talk about how West should become a Striker as a mode of training. I expected to read awesome training sequences, where West learns to become a warrior. There is none. So, we just follow along as West bungles through the murders of innocent people. This storyline was just no good for me. Seeing as there is no real training, besides West getting the feel for killing another person, it just seemed villainous. A fifteen-year-old girl killing people does not entertain me. Especially, when she is killing for reasons other then survival. Scenes where she just walks up to an unsuspecting person and offs them really made me cringe inside. Why are we rooting for this cold-blooded killer?

The one good thing about this book is Cord. Cord is loyal, trustworthy and steadfast. He comes through for West even when she turns her back on him, demands he leave her alone and abandons him. He protects her despite herself and is always there to lend a hand. He is a strong young man who understands why she is pushing him away. Instead of getting pissy, Cord becomes even more determined. He is not going to leave her to face death alone. I loved that about him. It got to the point where I wanted Cord to just forget about West and find a girl who respected his strength. West becomes obsessed with protecting Cord, with good reason, but after awhile it just seemed shallow. The person she is really protecting is herself.

I always pick up dystopian novels hoping not to recreate, but have a similar sensation to how "The Hunger Games" made me feel. "Dualed" seemed a promising choice. A dystopian world where characters must kill a carbon copy of themself in order to survive? What a twisted, but brilliant concept. Unfortunately, the book did not live up to my expectations.

I didn't expect this book to be so bad before I started reading it as I had higher hopes for it. But, I was wrong. Dualed has a strong and intriguing premise which drew me to it beforehand. It truly has great potential, but it doesn't fulfill it in its execution.

We have here a dystopian former United States and this story takes place in the north-western part of it, probably around the formerly known areas of Washington State or Oregon. The area of Kersh, which main character West lives in, is run by a government that never receives much literary development, but it has a policy of creating duplicates of every citizen born and forcing them to fight each other to the death during their adolescent years. Why, you ask? Good question. Why, indeed....

This sounds like it's moving into improbable territory and it is. The government seems to want only the strongest to survive, thus each citizen and their Alternate must duke it out until one of them dies and they only have one month to do it, or they both self-destruct. Sure..... That's sounds about as plausible as me winning the lottery even though I've never bought a lottery ticket in my life. *heh*

Not to mention all the inherent contradictions within the shaky world building and within the character of West herself. I don't think this story was well thought-out before being written and published. West Grayer is one of the most horrible, unlikable heroines I've ever encountered. She endangers the lives of those she cares about the most because she is stupid and careless and then blames others for her mistakes.

After getting someone very close to her killed in the beginning of the story, because she is a freaking twit, she decides to get a job as a "striker," an assassin who takes out Alternates for hire. She's never done work like this in her life and she's a skinny 15-year-old girl. She has a bit of training from her older brothers because they all had to grow up knowing they'd need to kill their Alts one day. But, it's not like she's experienced. Still, she gets the job as a striker without any trial period, or training, as if she were a total veteran. Not realistic. At all.

And, why is she even doing this type of work all of a sudden? Because it distracts her from feeling so bad about the deaths of all her family members. Honestly, I don't buy that because she just seems unemotional and unfeeling about their deaths and everything else, for that matter. Her guy friend, Chord (what is with these names?) is an old friend, but she constantly pushes him away the entire story until she decides she's in love with him. Out of nowhere. I'm glad there wasn't much romance because it would have made me puke.

The action scenes are written brilliantly and there's plenty of them. This is where it shines and along with the idea of the story, it is strong, but that's where it ends. A great idea is nothing in the hands of one who can do nothing meaningful with it.

The details of the dystopian world feel like our regular everyday world. There is too much freedom for this girl who supposedly lives in a controlled state. She shouldn't even be able to move so freely and even become a striker. She shouldn't be able to bleach her hair to change her appearance, but she does. Where are the government officials to bully and spy on her like they ought to be? When it comes down to it, the world building is actually very generic and uncreative, too much like our free world.

I give this novel 2.5/5 stars for having good technical writing and great action scenes. But, the horrible main character and the boring supporting cast along with the poorly thought-out world building kept me from being able to really enjoy it.

*I was provided an eARC of this novel by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion of it.

Dualed is one of those books that you need to be prepared to read. It will take you on a rollercoaster of non-stop action and thrills that will have you on the edge of your seat for most of the book. As I was reading Dualed, I saw it playing like a movie in my head. I could see Kersh, I could see West and Chord. And I could feel the difficult dilemma that faces all of them. To kill your Alt. Someone genetically coded to be exactly like you. To look like you. But they are not you. I guess it is the science fiction geek in me that just found the concept of this book so fascinating. It is so unlike anything out there, which may be why other readers are thrown by it. This is not some typical dystopian book with a heroic uprising. And that's what I love about it! It is really different and fascinating. And I can't wait for the sequel, DIVIDED, to come out!!!