In addition to the lack of world building, the characters, especially supporting ones, are one-dimensional. Nope, we only get page after page of West getting into a ton of dangerous, close call situations as she kills and goes on the run. As I kept reading it, I was hoping for more, something to prove that Kersh is more than what West knows it to be. That summary I just gave you is practically all the background you get in this story. The world in Dualed is interesting, and it’s a pity that there’s hardly any world-building. It’s illegal, so West must be efficient and discreet, and when she gets activated, she has even more reason to lay low. She becomes a striker, an assassin people hire to kill their Alts for them. But when her brother gets caught and killed in an Alt showdown, she becomes hopeless, yet somewhat determined to not let her Alt kill her. She’s all alone, except for her brother and friend, Chord. It’s in this city that we meet West Grayer, a fifteen year old girl waiting to be activated to kill her Alt. Whichever Alt survives is considered the strongest and worthy of living in Kersh. When the person reaches a certain age (usually their teen years), they must kill their clone, which they call Alts. In order to have the best, for every child born, an identical one of he or she is made. Kersh has managed to stay away from war by blocking its borders and raising the toughest and best citizens/soldiers. Will this character later feel regret, remorse? Will the story be taking an interesting psychological look into an assassin’s mind? Unfortunately, while it’s fast-paced and action-packed, Dualed never goes that deep.ĭualed is set in a future dystopia where a city, Kersh, is blocked off from the rest of the world. Intrigued, I kept reading on to see how it will turn out. This main character is hired to kill people, innocent ones, and she does it.
There are no “moral” cop-outs, like vigilantism or self-defense kills. Here was an assassin who actually kills people for a living. When I chose to read Dualed, I had thought I found it.
As the assassins’ trend continues to emerge in YA, I hoped to find one that changes it up.
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