Duel, by Jessixa and Aaron Bagley

     My human was given an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) of this newer graphic novel from husband and wife team Jessixa and Aaron Bagley (she does the writing, he the illustrating). An ARC is a copy of a book released before the actual, completed book is sold at stores, so sometimes it has missing words, or is unfinished in some way. In Duel, the pages hadn't all been colored in yet, but that didn't take away from the story. In fact, the finished version of this book, which was released last fall, would be even better since it will be totally finished, with all it's color, and no words left out or misspelled (hopefully!).

    Duel is the story of two sisters; Lucy, entering 6th grade at the middle school where her 8th grade sister, Gigi, is already a student. Duel is also about fencing, a sport not often written about in teen books (graphic novel or otherwise). Lucy and Gigi do not get along, and with their father's passing their relationship seems to get even worse. Gigi is looking like a shoe-in as captain of the school fencing team. When Gigi trips Lucy in the cafeteria on the first day of school, Lucy challenges Gigi to a duel - a fencing competition. 

    Family dynamics, especially a relationship between two siblings, is the focus of this book. The way the Bagley's also build this story around a little-known sport makes it more interesting. The relationship between the two girls, their friends, and their mom is pretty real - almost too real at times (I wished a few times during the book that they would either figure it out or just stay away from each other already!). Each chapter is introduced with a fencing term and some rules of how the sport works, which is not just interesting but also suggests what is coming in each chapter between the sisters. It's not a new idea in books, but it works well in Duel.

    Even without all the artwork completed I really liked the art in this book. The storyline became a little tedious to me after a while, but because this is a graphic novel and not a chapter book the overall story worked pretty well. The ending came a little too easily based on the relationship between Gigi and Lucy throughout the book, but it is still a story most of you will enjoy. 4 paws!