SOLVED. YA Dystopian from ~2010s. Male protagonists has perfect timekeeping skills. Competes for last bit of green land. [s]

[Kyla]

The book is the first in a series YA dystopian series from around the 2010s. It wasn't super popular. The male protagonist was raised to compete in a competition for the last bit of land where trees and animals are. He can keep track of time down to the ms in his head perfectly. I think the competition was mainly virtual. Towards the end, he ends up unconscious and it's inferred his timekeeping skills are messed up. He worked with a girl who (spoiler) cheats so that he wins. He goes to live on the island in the end. I think somewhere later in the series there's something about him having a clone that the girl cheats on him with. I remember getting so mad at this series that I stopped reading. I have been trying to remember the title for YEARS.

[David]

Hi Kyla.

Do you remember anything about the cover?

What kind of activities they did in the competition?

Remember why the island is the last place with trees and animals?

[Ayshe]

Virtual War maybe?

[Kyla]

Hi!

The cover was very stereotypical for the time. I think it had a blurry island on it. I think the author was female. I want to say the MC lived in a compound either underwater or in space and didn’t know much about the other colonies except that he had to compete against them for the land. He lived in a compound because most of nature had been killed off. On the island was a research center.

The competition was virtual reality. The other colonies sent boy and girl pairs to compete. I think they were war games. I remember a scene where they had to get virtual soldiers across a battlefield. They ran into a mine field. it was graphic- They walked over the bodies of the soldiers who died in the minefield bc she knew they wouldn’t set off more mines that way.

I think there was something about having fast reflexes too. The guy was jealous of his partner bc she had faster reflexes than him.

[Kyla]

Ayshe, you are right! It's Virtual War. Thank you so much!

Ayshe wrote: "Virtual War maybe?"

Ayshe wrote: "Virtual War maybe?"

David wrote: "Hi Kyla.

Do you remember anything about the cover?

What kind of activities they did in the competition?

Remember why the island is the last place with trees and animals?"