The premise of this book intrigued me. We are introduced to a dystopian society where each individual has an alt with which they are paired from birth. Each alt is raised by separate families and prepared for their ineveital confrontation where the strongest would survive and become a complete.
Our main protagonist is West who has not yet approached her 'activation period.' This story is part of a growing number of Teen Dystopian series. Much like the Hunger Games, there is a cast structure within Dualed. Some districts have more more and thus more access to elite training, where others only have schools. The basic premise of Dualed features children fighting to the death. Activation can take place anywhere in between 10-20 and the strongest will survive. There are of course alternative 'methods' of assistance for the right amount of cash, but most do not have the funds to pay. Who will end up alive? Which is the best version of you? The city of Kersh engineers it all to find out, bringing alive a 'dog eat dog' mentality.
In the end, the idea of Dualed was one that greatly intrigued me, however the execution left several holes. First of all, if the strikers are illegal and 'hard' to track down, why no simiply look at the wrists of citizens and figure out who has striker marks and who does not? It would seem to be an easy solution to the problem. Other complaints were merely that I felt the story at time lagged and at other times rushed, all in all however it was a fast read and enjoyable. I will be looking intently for the planned sequel. 4/5 for a good read, and I hope that the next book will unlock even more, as well as go about a way to bring down this barbaric societal practice.
