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Divided by Elsie Chapman Review

Divided

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.

Plot:

To be honest, I wasn’t sure about reading Divided. While I absolutely ADORED Dualed, I was worried that the sequel would feel. . .flat.

This was not the case.

Elsie Chapman is such a clever author. I fell in love with her work after reading Dualed last year. She took your classic dystopian idea and then turned it in a way that I never expected. It wasn’t a book about a girl rising up against her screwed up world/government. It was about a girl who went with the messed up way of life and it just made it so interesting and amazing.

Divided continues the story into something closer to your average dystopian, but still not the same. If you haven’t yet read Dualed, it’s probably a good idea to stop reading this review here. Divided starts a few months or so after West’s completion. Though she’s done with her past as a Striker, the Board has other plans. West gets wrapped up into a twisted government scheme which creates tension between her and Chord since she’s striking again.

And on top of all of this, she begins learning some truths about the fence, the Surround, and some things the Board refuses to tell the people.

I know that this sounds like your classic dystopian novel, but trust me–it’s not. I just can’t say much without spoiling the book.

Plot: 4 out of 5

Characters:

Even in Dualed, West was one of my favorite characters. She’s so realistic, it’s hard not to like her–even when she’s being stupid. (we’re all stupid at heart, aren’t we?) She’s not your perfect little dystopian protagonist that’s there to save the world. She’s flawed, makes bad decisions, and has a realistic, human mind behind those decisions.

Chord? Once again, hard to get a good feel on him. Talk about one niiiice guy, though. For dating West? I’d say that he must have a lot of patience. But I love how honest he is with her when she does something he doesn’t agree with. Most male characters in these books just seem kind of whiny and selfish. Chord is honest, tells her exactly what he thinks, but lets her know that he still loves her either way. He’s not controlling and let’s her make her own (bad) decisions. This made him a really unique character to the story.

I also love how the backgrounds of some of the other characters from Dualed really started to unfold. I really hope that there is a third book so I can see this continue.

Characters: 5 out of 5

Writing Style/Setting:

This is really hard for me to think about this time. I was so caught up into the action that it’s hard for me to exactly remember the writing style or know if the setting was told to me or just in my imagination. However, because of it, I have decided that it must have been some really good writing for me to not sit there and think, “Hmm, I would’ve worded this differently.” Sadly, my inner editor turns on like this with a lot of books.

Writing Style/Setting: 5 out of 5?

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars. I really, really loved Divided. If you’re interested in buying it, you can buy Divided on Amazon for $12.34

I received an e-arc of Divided on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are in no way influenced by the opinions of the author or the publisher, but are my own.

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