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Review for Dissonance (Dissonance #1) by Erica O'Rourke

Dissonance - Erica O'Rourke

This review is also available on my blog, Bows & Bullets Reviews


Delancey Sullivan sees the world a little differently than the rest of us.  She's a Walker.  She can Walk to parallel worlds.  You see, every decision you make creates an alternate world.  And then every decision in that world creates new worlds and so on and so forth.  Basically, it's infinite possibilities.  Del comes from a family of people who can Walk between said worlds.  Part of the Walking gig is trying to keep harmony between the worlds.  But Del has started to notice things are a bit off in the other worlds and Simon, her crush, seems to be connected somehow.  The more she learns, the more she knows that the Council Of Walkers is hiding something big.  Can she figure it out and save the known world?

Delancey is that heroine that should really annoy me, but she doesn't.  She's cocky and a little lot bitchy and has that special little snowflake thing going on, just a little.  She is clearly cut out to be the best of the Walkers, if she can stop being such a smart-ass and do well on the school-work end.  Did I forget to mention that?  There is Walker schooling to learn all the intricacies of this shit.  Oh, yeah, maybe that's why I like her so much.  I'm a sucker for a good smart-ass.  It's hard not to empathize with these kids who have to deal with normal school and then learn more on top of that. Her special little snowflake syndrome is because she has been Walking since before they claim she should have been able to do so.  She's a natural.  That, however, is overshadowed by her overachieving big sister.  I'll get to Addie in a moment, but, seriously, I'm not a fan.  Back to Del.  She's smart, but she hides it underneath all the snark and the issues with authority and their bullshit rules.  Oh yeah, we can see why I love this girl, right?
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Then we have Simon and Elliot.  They are the start of the small problem I have.  Just by mentioning them together, you must know what's coming.  Simon is the crush, as I said, and Elliot is the bestie that's hopelessly in love with Del (which everyone sees but her, naturally).
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It's hard for me to really talk about either because I really liked both of them.  Simon was a lot of fun and Del likes him so much...but Elliot is so sweet and I'm a sucker for that best friend turns into more scenario.  I felt so bad for Elliot.  I want it to work between then.  This tension caused me a great deal of angst.  I really took the love triangle ride with Del each step of the way, except worse because she never really likes Elliot like that.  She feels bad, but never truly considers that option whereas I was ready to jump ship.  Cute interlude with Simon.
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I like Simon.  Simon's cute.  She should be with Simon!  But then cute interlude with Elliot.
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AAAWWWWWW!  Elliot!  I love Elliot.  He's been there for her and he's so sweet and cute and DAMN. I can't pick.  I'm not going to be completely happy either way 'cuz I love both of them.

Then there is Addie, the evil sister.  I don't have anything against overachievers, in fact, I think I was one in high school, but this bitch has serious problems.  The way she treats Del is batshit crazy.  You are sisters!  You are supposed to have her back and support her and yet you seem to betray her at every turn.   
Once
I've been avoiding this review for the exact opposite reason I avoided the Of Monsters And Madness review.  This novel is fabulous.  It is addictive and creative and really knows how to build the world and suck you in.  All you can think about is Del and her crazy world and how the hell she is going to get out of this mess.  Hint?  It won't be easy and it won't all wrap up by the end of the novel.  I feel like I don't have the words to do it justice.  I was astounded by it.  I wasn't expecting it to be this good.  I wasn't expecting magnificent.  I've been notoriously stuck in a contemporary phase of late, so the fact that this sci-fi feeling novel has captivated me so completely speaks volumes.  

It's downgraded to 4 stars because if the love triangle because I'm so sick of those.  It's also because of the horrendous cliffhanger.  Oh man, the cliffhanger.
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It's bad.  It's really bad.  It's how the fuck could you do this too me bad.  Here, this should help:
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Well, it certainly helped me.  Damn, that smile.  ANYWAY, Just remember, bad cliffhanger ahead.  I'm surprisingly of the opinion that this novel is worth the trouble of that cliffhanger, which is a damn miracle.

So, what should you take away from this?  This novel is good enough to leave me astounded. This novel is good enough to have me singing it's praises even though it contains several elements I hate.  This novel is almost perfect.  Read it.  You won't regret it.

****Thank you to Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers for providing me with an eARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review****


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