Series: Dissonance #1
Published by Simon and Schuster
Published: July 22nd 2014
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In this inventive romantic thriller, Del has the power to navigate between alternate realities—and the power to save multiple worlds.
Delancey knows for sure that there is more than one universe. Many more. Because every time someone makes a choice, a new, parallel world is spun off the existing one. Eating breakfast or skipping it, turning left instead of right, sneaking out instead of staying in bed—all of these choices create alternate universes in which echo selves take the roads not traveled. Del knows all of this because she’s a Walker, someone who can navigate between the worlds, and whose job is to keep the dimensions in harmony.
But Del’s decisions have consequences too. Even though she’s forbidden from Walking after a training session goes horribly wrong, she secretly starts to investigate other dissonant worlds. She’s particularly intrigued by the echo versions of Simon Lane, a guy who won’t give her the time of day in the main world, but whose alternate selves are uniquely interested. But falling for Simon draws Del closer to a truth that the Council of Walkers is trying to hide—a secret that threatens the fate of the entire multiverse.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Truthfully, I have no idea how I feel about Dissonance. In terms of full disclosure, I read this book after I read two books I had been dying for that were fantastic and nothing could live up to that. So I don’t know if my uncertain feelings are because this book was a ‘rebound’ book or if I really wasn’t as in love with it as I hoped I would be. I mean Dissonance wasn’t a bad book, but I didn’t feel like it was a great book either.
The story is about Del, a girl that gets to travel into parallel worlds because she is what is known as a Walker. With every choice, a person makes a new world, or Echo, is formed and Del gets to navigate them and figure out which ones are stable. But Del has never been one to follow the rules. And when her longtime crush starts popping up in all of her Echoes and noticing her in her real world, the Key World, Del is even less likely to follow the rules. When things start changing in both the Key World and the Echoes, Del must figure out where she stands and what’s important to her.
Part of my problem with Dissonance was the pacing. It’s a long book. No getting around that. It’s a lot of pages with a lot of information and newish terms. Some of the stuff is very dense so it makes it hard to focus and pay attention. But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that nothing seemed to be happening. It took about 3 quarters of reading before I was like, ‘oh, something just happened’. It made reading a struggle at times wish was disappointing. On the surface, the premise is really good, but all the buildup and background and unfamiliar words made it harder to get through.
Not that the whole book was bad. There were some really strong parts. The interwoven story of the characters was a part that I really enjoyed along with the different family dynamics. Del’s family was interesting. Addie was a know-it-all, and her parents were workaholics, and her grandfather was somewhere there kind of holding the family together in a way. The way that this dynamic reshaped and changed as the story progressed was a really good part. And when things started to happen, they really started to happen. Whether it was Simon, Del’s crush, and his evolving part in Del’s life or the mystery surrounding the instability in all the worlds, things definitely sped up. Enough to make me want to continue on with the series? That remains to be seen.
The cover of this book is so pretty that it makes me want to read it…. but then I think do I really want to read a book about parallel worlds?? That sounds complicated. Like you said there’s a lot of world building and new terms and pages where nothing is happening… meh I think I have too many other books I NEED to get to. Maybe someday??
I can definitely think of parallel life books that are better. Pivot Point and Parallel immediately come to mind. I suggest just reading this as a library book if you do decide to read it.
*sigh* It sucks that this just wasn’t a good fit for you Andi! I for one loved this book but i can defintely see where it may not have been the right book for others. it was an overly long book and a bit repititive and just really complex so i can see how you may have struggled with it. Hopefully your next read is better!
I always hate slow pacing; I’ll have to keep it in mind if I read this one.
I LOVE that cover so it’s disappointing to learn that the book itself was only so-so.