I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Books for Young Readers for providing me with an egalley and the opportunity to read and give my honest review. The opinions here are my own.
I really enjoyed the first installment of this series. I will tell you right now, if you did not read that one, stop here and don't go forward as what I say may be a spoiler for you!
Chapman has once again captured me with her well built world. This is so important in a good science fiction/dystopian book like Divided. I did see the world in the first book but this one expands it so much and really shows you what it's like to be living as West does. This one gives us a bit more background, which really helped to solidify things.
This book gives the same energy and action if not more of what I felt in the first book. Each chapters pushing me along with a snippet to make me want to keep reading. I was never bored. The pacing kept me reading and wanting to pick the book back up when I had to put it down.
I really like West in this book. You can see her maturing in this book. Working through her past and looking to what she needs for the future. She wrestles a bit with opening up and leaning on others, though. It's a bit frustrating at times. But overall her growth in this book is exactly what as missing in the first book.
I liked that the romance was not the focus of this book. So many YA books put so much focus on that you can't see past it. But in this book, it was more about how the characters grow and how the things they experience strengthen their bond.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and the ending was a nice wrap up to the story.

Divided (Dualed Book 2) by Elsie Chapman

322 Pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: May 27, 2014

Fiction, Teen, Young Adult, Sci Fi, Fantasy

West Grayer is a teenager living in Kersh, a world where each person has an Alternate. When the time comes, each Alternate needs to fight to the death to become complete. In the first book, we learn about her fear of fighting her Alternate. To prepare, she becomes a paid assassin and is trained to fight. In this book, she is finished with her assassin work and is working as a weapons trainer. She receives a command from the Board. She is presented with an assignment – to kill three Alternates so their counterparts can become complete. West does not want to kill but they promised to remove her assassin tattoos.

The book is fast paced, the characters are developed, and it is written in the first-person point of view. The book reminds me of The Hunger Games and other teen competitions. West is flawed which makes her more believable. You must read the first book in the duology to follow the story in this book. I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys sci fi & fantasy young adult stories.

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

This has been on my TBR pile for so long, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I really enjoyed the storyline and seeing the characters change throughout the story was a great character development. The plot was great and kept my attention. I'm glad I got the chance to read this and will be on the lookout for more in the future!

I have revived an old account and this was an archived book from then. Unfortunately I cannot review this book now, but thank you for the opportunity to read it. I will keep this on my TBR.

I ended up liking the first book better than I liked this one. I think it just ended up not being for me.

Thank you for the opportunity to read Divided. Unfortunately, I did not download the book before it was archived in May 2014. I do not plan to finish the book.

Sadly about the only thing I like about this book was that beautiful cover! I would have totally bought this just on the cover alone but the story really I couldn't wrap my mind around. Now to be fair it could totally be because I haven't read book 1 of the series but I feel the author should have done a bit more world building here to explain things the reader may have missed from the first book so they could have a better understanding of the way things were here.

I requested this one back in the day as I had every intention of reading it. However, its been years and I still haven't gotten around to it and while I feel guilty at not reviewing a book I think that I need to admit to myself that I won't be reading this one anytime soon....if at all.

A clever premise and very fun read. I like this style of dark fantasy. The fact that her target looks just like her brother resonates with me. It's not him but it's him. And she's an assassin. It's her job. But she's also a sister.

I actually liked this sequel better than the first book. It is an extreme rarity that this happens. Maybe it had something to do with lowered expectations, but I was pulled into the story much more this time around. The focus on adding details to the world helped a bit, as did an added depth to the overall concept. This dystopian world still doesn't seem like one I'd ever want to live in, but there's a lot more there than originally meets the eye. Kind of disappointed there weren't any more books written in this series.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. I never read the first book in the series, so I think right from the start I was confused about the storyline and I struggled connecting with the characters and the plot. I wish I could say I finished it, but I had to put it down.

Opted not to pick up - I downloaded this before I'd read the first book, and I DNFed the first book.

I made the mistake of starting this one before reading the first and while it was a well written novel, it really benefits to read the first one before the sequel.