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ionlyreaddramione's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Slow start. Predictable middle. Unsatisfying end.
crimyami's review against another edition
4.0
Divided is the second book to Dualed by Elsie Chapman. Where we follow West Grayer from the last book. She killed her alt, and left from being a striker. Now she's trying to build her life but the Board isn't done with her yet. They bring her back with something, but the board doesn't always tell the truth. Now she has to find out the truth and to expose the secrets but the board isn't willing to let her do that.
Elsie does an awesome job in telling the story and it's never a dull moment. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat while you're trying to figure out what's all going on. The build up is nice and still leaves you craving for more. This book is really interesting and if you haven't read the first novel this book gives you a bit of insight to the past so you aren't completely confused about what is going on. All in all this book is a must read for those that enjoy the action and yes, the bit of romance as your trying to figure out what can you do in a twisted world.
Elsie does an awesome job in telling the story and it's never a dull moment. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat while you're trying to figure out what's all going on. The build up is nice and still leaves you craving for more. This book is really interesting and if you haven't read the first novel this book gives you a bit of insight to the past so you aren't completely confused about what is going on. All in all this book is a must read for those that enjoy the action and yes, the bit of romance as your trying to figure out what can you do in a twisted world.
100pagesaday's review against another edition
3.0
Divided, the second book in the Dualed series picks up shortly after Dualed left off. West has given up her past as a striker and is now helping Baer in a weapons class...or so she thinks. The Board has other plans. for her. The Board wants her to strike out three more Alts, the Alts of their children; in return West is promised a priceless reward for any children she may have. She also gets to use a fancy Board weapon that will promise a painless death. Troubles arise for West when she learns that the Alt's aren't exactly what the Board told her.
Divided is a lot better than Dualed! First of all, the city of Kersh, it's beginning and some of it's rules are finally explained. West learns the truth behind the Kersh's founders which gives us insight into why the city runs the way it does. The origins of The Board are explained, too, which helps to explain why these seemingly corrupt Board members get to control everything. Finally, the origins of the war and the creation of Alts are explained. This helps to understand the world much better (I was wondering why no one had figured out sex yet).
With West's striker offer and her decisions on how to carry it out, there is suspense and action built in throughout the storyline. In Dualed, there is a lot of waiting around. Lastly, it seems that West, Chord and Auden may have stumbled upon information and a way to begin changing their flawed society. Now, i am much more interested in seeing where this series is going.
This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.
Divided is a lot better than Dualed! First of all, the city of Kersh, it's beginning and some of it's rules are finally explained. West learns the truth behind the Kersh's founders which gives us insight into why the city runs the way it does. The origins of The Board are explained, too, which helps to explain why these seemingly corrupt Board members get to control everything. Finally, the origins of the war and the creation of Alts are explained. This helps to understand the world much better (I was wondering why no one had figured out sex yet).
With West's striker offer and her decisions on how to carry it out, there is suspense and action built in throughout the storyline. In Dualed, there is a lot of waiting around. Lastly, it seems that West, Chord and Auden may have stumbled upon information and a way to begin changing their flawed society. Now, i am much more interested in seeing where this series is going.
This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.
literallykalasin's review against another edition
4.0
I don't think it's news to say that I loved the first book in this series by Elsie Chapman, though I sometimes felt like a lone voice in the crowd when I would read reviews on Goodreads. However, staff-picking it at my work and buying a few copies for my middle school and watching them fly off (and stay off!) the shelves goes a long way to making me feel like I'm on to something.
When Random House and NetGalley let me read an advanced reader copy of Divided I was over the moon, and told all my colleagues how excited I was. Hyping this book up to myself kind of made me anxious about actually diving into the book, but once I started, I did everything I could to try to steal more time to devote to reading between my three jobs. I actually finished this book weeks ago, but I've been unable to sit down and write a review. Not just time-wise, I've also found it hard to adequately put into words how much I enjoyed this book and this compact, fast-paced, enjoyable series on the whole.
Let me just say, first off, thank you, dear baby Jesus and perhaps a little Ms. Chapman, for the two-book-series. As an Incredibly Busy Person (tm), this is eminently do-able (unlike sitting down to reread Harry Potter, which requires some sort of massive holiday in manner of Christmas break.) A tight series like this is easy to overlook because a new entry into the author's catalogue isn't coming every year, but I think Ms. Chapman took her two books and make the most of them. The world she creates is nicely formed and explained, and while there are still parts of the world that could be explored, it doesn't feel like the story is lacking because of these aspects that she chooses to gloss over or let the reader imagine. It stands well enough on its own, and acts as a superb background to her characters, which are really the focus of her storytelling.
In Divided, the reader is reintroduced to West Grayer, now a full fledged adult in her society of Kersh. Her experiences in the first book have left her emotionally scarred and unsure in how to go forward with her life. Before she can deliberate too much on the subject of the future, however, she is approached by a government official that wants her to take up her weapons again as a Striker -- a killer for hire -- and kill the alt of his children and some other high-level officials. West not only has to deal with the guilt she carries for killing her own alt, but now the dilemma of killing more innocents and possibly undermining the entire system that underpins Kersh's society. Who is West to determine who is worthy, to make these children the one? And why is her government asking her to make these choices?
Ms. Chapman has made her conclusion to this brief series not just enjoyable, but also action-packed and fast-paced, and be prepared to surrender your weekend to finishing this series.
When Random House and NetGalley let me read an advanced reader copy of Divided I was over the moon, and told all my colleagues how excited I was. Hyping this book up to myself kind of made me anxious about actually diving into the book, but once I started, I did everything I could to try to steal more time to devote to reading between my three jobs. I actually finished this book weeks ago, but I've been unable to sit down and write a review. Not just time-wise, I've also found it hard to adequately put into words how much I enjoyed this book and this compact, fast-paced, enjoyable series on the whole.
Let me just say, first off, thank you, dear baby Jesus and perhaps a little Ms. Chapman, for the two-book-series. As an Incredibly Busy Person (tm), this is eminently do-able (unlike sitting down to reread Harry Potter, which requires some sort of massive holiday in manner of Christmas break.) A tight series like this is easy to overlook because a new entry into the author's catalogue isn't coming every year, but I think Ms. Chapman took her two books and make the most of them. The world she creates is nicely formed and explained, and while there are still parts of the world that could be explored, it doesn't feel like the story is lacking because of these aspects that she chooses to gloss over or let the reader imagine. It stands well enough on its own, and acts as a superb background to her characters, which are really the focus of her storytelling.
In Divided, the reader is reintroduced to West Grayer, now a full fledged adult in her society of Kersh. Her experiences in the first book have left her emotionally scarred and unsure in how to go forward with her life. Before she can deliberate too much on the subject of the future, however, she is approached by a government official that wants her to take up her weapons again as a Striker -- a killer for hire -- and kill the alt of his children and some other high-level officials. West not only has to deal with the guilt she carries for killing her own alt, but now the dilemma of killing more innocents and possibly undermining the entire system that underpins Kersh's society. Who is West to determine who is worthy, to make these children the one? And why is her government asking her to make these choices?
Ms. Chapman has made her conclusion to this brief series not just enjoyable, but also action-packed and fast-paced, and be prepared to surrender your weekend to finishing this series.
joyousreads132's review against another edition
3.0
Book number two of this series has our West with a bounty on her head. Girl just can’t avoid trouble. With a deal she made with a member of the Board, she finds herself back on the streets on the hunt for three Alts whose counterparts were children of members of the Board themselves. Ah yes, the ole you should’ve known not to make deals with the devil. You know he’ll own your soul. In this case, however, our girl couldn’t find it in her to go back to her assassin ways. She just couldn’t kill them. Lucky for her, she’s given a weapon that could either kill them in the most painless way possible, or neutralize the system that tracks them as Alts. She managed to make the first two disappear, off the grid, if I may. The last one, though, is a different matter. Because as soon as she laid her eyes on him, she froze and realize, she couldn’t kill her brother Luc’s Alt. Things just kind of snowballed from there.
Short and sweet, this book was loads better than the first. Because I read them back-to-back, I sort of have a better understanding on the world that Ms. Chapman visualized.
“The Board decided the best way to weed out the weak was for soldiers to have to face down their worst enemies, those who would make the ultimate challenge. Themselves.”
This was more pronounced in the second book, as Alts, idles, originals, or what have you, seem to come to a head as West pissed off a whole slew of people. By the end of it all, it was a clusterfuck of epic fail for our West. Good intentions or not, she became the centre of all the conflicts in this book. Calamity Jane has nothing on West.
If there’s one thing I like about these books, it’s West’s Romeo (Chord). He is willing to overlook a lot for the sake of the girl he loves. I mean, he’s seen West pushed him away in the first book because she couldn’t stand to remember that it was Chord’s Alt who killed her brother. He’d seen her become a striker (killer for hire). And she’d lied to him over and over again. But this guy, man. He’s the real deal.
My two cents:
I insists that you borrow these books. I think the third one will be the best one yet, based on the way the second book ended. You will not be bored here, as it is non-stop cat and mouse action on every page.
Short and sweet, this book was loads better than the first. Because I read them back-to-back, I sort of have a better understanding on the world that Ms. Chapman visualized.
“The Board decided the best way to weed out the weak was for soldiers to have to face down their worst enemies, those who would make the ultimate challenge. Themselves.”
This was more pronounced in the second book, as Alts, idles, originals, or what have you, seem to come to a head as West pissed off a whole slew of people. By the end of it all, it was a clusterfuck of epic fail for our West. Good intentions or not, she became the centre of all the conflicts in this book. Calamity Jane has nothing on West.
If there’s one thing I like about these books, it’s West’s Romeo (Chord). He is willing to overlook a lot for the sake of the girl he loves. I mean, he’s seen West pushed him away in the first book because she couldn’t stand to remember that it was Chord’s Alt who killed her brother. He’d seen her become a striker (killer for hire). And she’d lied to him over and over again. But this guy, man. He’s the real deal.
My two cents:
I insists that you borrow these books. I think the third one will be the best one yet, based on the way the second book ended. You will not be bored here, as it is non-stop cat and mouse action on every page.
heather4994's review against another edition
5.0
**********SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ DUALED****************************************************
Divided picks up a few weeks or so after Dualed. Life is back to "normal" for West and Chord. They are in a routine and things are good. From there, the novel is completely different from Dualed.
We find out the origins of Kresh, who created it and why. Who created the Alt. system, why it exists.
So many things are answered about the world that you might have had when you read Dualed. Completes are expected to serve time guarding the Surround which we learn about from Chord and a friend of West's. We learn more about the Alt code and how it works in the body. It is just an entirely different book.
West is conscripted into service by someone to do some dirty work. She trusts in the system and believes that some of the Alts she killed before may have been "worthy" so she wants to even up the score. She accepts the job against better judgement, against what her body is screaming at her, and against what she knows everyone else would say, all because she feels a need to make up for those Alts she killed when she was a Striker. What if they were the stronger ones and she has left the city vulnerable?
This novel is more of a head game. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of action, but a lot of it has to do with West and her conscience and what she can and can't live with. Again, I was stunned often to be reading something gritty and then have an almost poetic scene of beauty described in the midst of it. Maybe it's to show that there is something to live for in this almost impossibly violent and unsure world West lives in, when any moment someone she loves could be killed as an Alt fights with their other half.
I loved Dualed, the first novel in this series, but I think I loved this one even more. There was more strategy, more psychology, more action even than before. And yet, though the ending is complete, there is room for another book in the series. We have no idea what's on the outside. And what we discover about Kersh makes it even more interesting to know what's on the outside. I hope Ms. Chapman decides to write a third book in the series.
I highly recommend this one. There is a lot of violence as in Dualed. Use your own judgement about whether you can handle graphic descriptions of injuries, blood and death. It is an excellent book!
Thank you to the publishers for an E-ARC for review through NetGalley. I was not compensated for my review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Divided picks up a few weeks or so after Dualed. Life is back to "normal" for West and Chord. They are in a routine and things are good. From there, the novel is completely different from Dualed.
We find out the origins of Kresh, who created it and why. Who created the Alt. system, why it exists.
So many things are answered about the world that you might have had when you read Dualed. Completes are expected to serve time guarding the Surround which we learn about from Chord and a friend of West's. We learn more about the Alt code and how it works in the body. It is just an entirely different book.
West is conscripted into service by someone to do some dirty work. She trusts in the system and believes that some of the Alts she killed before may have been "worthy" so she wants to even up the score. She accepts the job against better judgement, against what her body is screaming at her, and against what she knows everyone else would say, all because she feels a need to make up for those Alts she killed when she was a Striker. What if they were the stronger ones and she has left the city vulnerable?
This novel is more of a head game. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of action, but a lot of it has to do with West and her conscience and what she can and can't live with. Again, I was stunned often to be reading something gritty and then have an almost poetic scene of beauty described in the midst of it. Maybe it's to show that there is something to live for in this almost impossibly violent and unsure world West lives in, when any moment someone she loves could be killed as an Alt fights with their other half.
I loved Dualed, the first novel in this series, but I think I loved this one even more. There was more strategy, more psychology, more action even than before. And yet, though the ending is complete, there is room for another book in the series. We have no idea what's on the outside. And what we discover about Kersh makes it even more interesting to know what's on the outside. I hope Ms. Chapman decides to write a third book in the series.
I highly recommend this one. There is a lot of violence as in Dualed. Use your own judgement about whether you can handle graphic descriptions of injuries, blood and death. It is an excellent book!
Thank you to the publishers for an E-ARC for review through NetGalley. I was not compensated for my review. All opinions expressed are my own.
trisha_thomas's review against another edition
4.0
so...small confession. I was not a fan of book 1. I'm not sure, it just didn't seem to explain enough of the world or the reasons. So I started this one completely ready to hate it.
BUT, SURPRISE SURPRISE! I LOVED IT!
My issues with book one and the lack of explanation are FULLY covered in this one. World building, history explanation - everything.
Which left us, instead, with a kick butt Main character West. She's done striking and trying to get back to life. But the striking world just doesn't want to let her go. She's lured back in by an unlikely person who makes promises and silent threats too large for West to ignore.
But West is also handed a new weapon. And after a visit to Dire, West isn't so sure she has to do these new contracts exactly like before - there may be a new option now.
This is a fast paced, heart-thumping read. It had characters that were believable and a story that FINALLY answers all the questions from book 1. If you didn't like, liked or even loved book 1 - THEN DEFINITELY DON"T MISS THIS ONE!!! YOU'LL LOVE IT!
Just trust me :)
BUT, SURPRISE SURPRISE! I LOVED IT!
My issues with book one and the lack of explanation are FULLY covered in this one. World building, history explanation - everything.
Which left us, instead, with a kick butt Main character West. She's done striking and trying to get back to life. But the striking world just doesn't want to let her go. She's lured back in by an unlikely person who makes promises and silent threats too large for West to ignore.
But West is also handed a new weapon. And after a visit to Dire, West isn't so sure she has to do these new contracts exactly like before - there may be a new option now.
This is a fast paced, heart-thumping read. It had characters that were believable and a story that FINALLY answers all the questions from book 1. If you didn't like, liked or even loved book 1 - THEN DEFINITELY DON"T MISS THIS ONE!!! YOU'LL LOVE IT!
Just trust me :)
emily_ober's review against another edition
4.0
I finally got around to the sequel to one of my favorite books and I just regret putting it off for so long. This is an exciting dystopian that sets itself apart from the rest and that is why I love it. I really enjoyed returning to West’s story and the dangers she faces in this book were so exhilarating. While this sequel really doesn’t have anything to do with the first book, it’s still worth the read. This world that Chapman has created is one of my favorites to visit.
The change in enemy was exciting. Before, West had to face what is essentially herself, but in this book she has to face the controlling entity of her city. She also has to return to her life as a Striker, a job that she was sure she had put behind her. And with this conflict comes secrets. The secret pasts of those close to West come to light as do the secrets The Board has long fought to keep buried.
While I hailed Chapman for creating a dystopian novel that broke away from the usual fight against the government archetype, this book was still very well done. The survival instincts and the moral struggles that West faces were just as exciting in this book as it was in Dualed. The one complaint I have is that some of the scenery or bits of dialogue weren’t conveyed clearly enough. I found myself rereading a paragraph or two to understand so that slowed the pace a bit. Other than that, this book is just as good as the first.
The change in enemy was exciting. Before, West had to face what is essentially herself, but in this book she has to face the controlling entity of her city. She also has to return to her life as a Striker, a job that she was sure she had put behind her. And with this conflict comes secrets. The secret pasts of those close to West come to light as do the secrets The Board has long fought to keep buried.
While I hailed Chapman for creating a dystopian novel that broke away from the usual fight against the government archetype, this book was still very well done. The survival instincts and the moral struggles that West faces were just as exciting in this book as it was in Dualed. The one complaint I have is that some of the scenery or bits of dialogue weren’t conveyed clearly enough. I found myself rereading a paragraph or two to understand so that slowed the pace a bit. Other than that, this book is just as good as the first.