Waiting On Wednesday [@elsiechapman @abramskids]

Waiting On Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

My pick for this week:

ALONG THE INDIGO by Elsie Chapman

The town of Glory is famous for two things: businesses that front for seedy, if not illegal, enterprises and the suicides that happen along the Indigo River. Marsden is desperate to escape the “bed-and-breakfast” where her mother works as a prostitute—and where her own fate has been decided—and she wants to give her little sister a better life. But escape means money, which leads Mars to skimming the bodies that show up along the Indigo River. It’s there that she runs into Jude, who has secrets of his own and whose brother’s suicide may be linked to Mars’s own sordid family history. As they grow closer, the two unearth secrets that could allow them to move forward . . . or chain them to the Indigo forever.

published March 20th by Amulet Books

add to your Goodreads shelf // pre-order from Book Depo // or Amazon

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Why?

Elsie Chapman is one of those authors who I checked and checked for any new release from. I really enjoyed both Dualed and Divided and have been eager to see what there would b to read from her next.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the town of Glory - it sounds a bit like the Old West mixed with something dystopian mixed with a contemporary town. I loved the setting and atmosphere of Divided, that it was a recognizable environment but had an almost noir feeling at times. I am excited to read Along the Indigo, to see how the town operates, find out who Mars and Jude are and see how their story goes.



That's my pick for this week, what's yours? Tell me in the comments and/or link me to your own post!

Divided ~ Elsie Chapman (earc) tour review [@elsiechapman @randomhousekids]

Divided (Dualed #2)
Random House Books for Young Readers
May 27, 2014
320 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon

The hunter becomes the hunted. . . .

West Grayer is done killing. She defeated her Alternate, a twin raised by another family, and proved she’s worthy of a future. She’s ready to move on with her life.

The Board has other plans. They want her to kill one last time, and offer her a deal worth killing for. But when West recognizes her target as a ghost from her past, she realizes she’s in over her head. The Board is lying, and West will have to uncover the truth of the past to secure her future.

How far will the Board go to keep their secrets safe? And how far will West go to save those she loves? With nonstop action and surprising twists, Elsie Chapman’s intoxicating sequel to Dualed reveals everything.

Divided is a more than worthy follow-up to Divded. Once again we see West Grayer, a teenage girl who lives in the society where everyone must kill their Alternate if they wish to stay alive, forced with tough decisions.. The last member of her family alive, West is now a complete after killing her Alt -but it seems she's not done yet.

It is a true testament to how well West and the Dualed world are written that this main character - who killed people, may be going to again - is as sympathetic as she is. West is a character you can't help but feel for. From her pain at losing her family to her feelings for Chord, to how divided she feels at the Board's proposition, she is a very likable and relatable character. Even as she undertakes things we could never dream of.

I like her even more after Divided.

I loved how well imagined Kersh was in Dualed and had hoped we might see more of the society's workings in this second book. We do and it's fantastic. A world that was so well dreamed up and portrayed in Dualed got even better in this sequel. West's interactions with the Board give us more insight into how the Alternate system works and answers questions you didn't even know you had.

Everything that happened to West in Dualed (and before) is a part of her character, her actions and reactions in Divided. It's great to see the character growth from the beginning of the first book through the end of the second. There are not empty actions in the Dualed world and it makes everything that happens - big or small - that much more of interest. You know it's going to affect things, the only question is how.

A sequel that gives us a better glimpse into the characters, their lives and their pasts and a fuller view of the their world, Divided is a definite must read. I hope we aren't quite done with West and Chord just yet.

Either way, I cannot wait to read what's next from Elsie Chapman.


Rating: 9/10









thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy to review for this blog tour

Dualed ~ Elsie Chapman (audio + print) review [@elsiechapman @randomhousekids]

Dualed (Dualed #1)
Random House
February 26, 2013
292 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon

narrator: Alicyn Packard
9 hours, 59 minutes
add to Goodreads/buy from Audible/or Audio CD

In the city of Kersh, everyone must eliminate their genetic Alternate twin, raised by another family, before their twentieth birthday. West Grayer, 15, has trained as a fighter, and has one month to hunt and kill her Alt. A tragic misstep shakes her confidence. Guilty, grieving, she feels unworthy, runs from her Alt and from love - both can destroy her.

Dualed takes the 'only the strong survive,' to the extreme. Everyone has an Alt, their twin who is, truly, an Alternate them. Raised by different families, with different advantages and opportunities, but having the same DNA. Someone they must kill upon their activation.

The premise makes Dualed sound a bit darker than it actually was. Yes, the ultimate goal of West - of those in Kersh - is to kill someone and yes, there is violence in Dualed. It's much more about West discovering who she is, what makes her different from her Alt, and if she really should be the one to survive.

The characters are ones you almost immediately care about. Due to the Alt system, they've all lost someone, often more than one someone, close to them. They've formed strong bonds both familially and with those who become like family. Their activation is a foregone conclusion - it will happen, the only question is when. With the nearly imminent chance of one's possible death always in the air, there's always a tension.

Though the focus is West and her Alt, the relationships shown in the beginning of the novel - West, her brothers, their friend Chord - make the story so much stronger. Their bond is, perhaps, stronger because of the hardships they've had to endure and we see not only how they've prepared each other - training, knowledge - but how that love is sometimes the only motivation they can find.

The audiobook of Dualed is a great listen. The narrator does a brilliant job inflecting her voice with all of the emotions West - or any other character - is feeling. You hear the desperation, the fear, the anxiety as she endures both the physical and the emotional struggle of being the one to survive. Hearing the story also keeps the tension up, as West's time counts down (and you can't skip ahead to relieve it as easily as you could in print).

The only negative to listening to Dualed instead of reading it is Elsie Chapman's stellar writing. Chapman has some fantastic, fantastic writing which is not as easily noticed or appreciated when listening to the story.

There's a bit of wondering, questioning when it comes to the Board and the infrastructure, of sorts, of Kersh. I love the characters and the look we got at how their world functions. From the smaller things that were part of the tale - payments, business windows, West's notes on the different sectors - it's clear that Kersh is very well imagined and thought out. More knowledge (as a reader) of Kersh's workings, of the society as a whole is something I'm hoping to find at least a bit of in the sequel.

Whether you listen to it or read it, Dualed is a great book. With great characters - West, especially - a very well imagined world, and a killer (literally) premise, Chapman's debut is one not to miss.



Rating: 9/10


Other books you might also enjoy: Proxy by Alex London and Legend Series by Marie Lu