What if your choice creates a new world? – Dissonance by Erica O’Rourke

Posted 15 July, 2014 by Danny in Blog, Book Review, Danny, Danny's Book Review / 10 Comments

What if your choice creates a new world?  – Dissonance by Erica O’RourkeDissonance by Erica O'Rourke
Series: Dissonance #1
Published by Simon and Schuster on 2014-07-22
Genres: Dating & Sex, Science Fiction, Social Issues, Young Adult
Pages: 496
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
3.5 Stars

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.

The cover has been already around for a quite a while and ever since I was fascinated with the story and the cover.

Parallel Worlds – a quite interesting concept

In general I love the concept of parallel worlds and universes and in Dissonance, the idea of “choices” is explored. If you choose differently at some important points in your life, how would that change your life? So which each decision a new world is created and even thinking about the enormity of this completely blows my mind. The challenge with books like these is to deliver and create a world that is still believable and easy enough to grasps without taking away too much from the actual story.

This worked in Dissonance only to some extent. What I found missing was the enormity of the worlds that could have been created. We much rather got into contact with worlds that were too similar to the “original” one.

Del walks from world to world to find the boy to fall for!

Del is a Walker and only Walkers can travel between the worlds. There is even a secret society that makes sure the original world stays intact and does not break down. While Del is extremely talented as a Walker and can quite quickly catch the Dissonance of each world, she’s also a small rebel who is not much about rules. She often finds herself walking through worlds and is especially drawn to a specific one where here long time crush Simon finally realises her. Soon, she meets the different Simons in every world as if they are magnets destined to find each other. While this sounds quite romantic, I didn’t completely feel the romance between them.

Dangerous Secrets and a World about to crash!

The romance was not the biggest part of the story and the main focus was on the secrets the Walker community holds and Del is about to uncover. She realises that they are all told many lies, lies that can change everything.

There are a few supporting characters that I have a love-hate relationship with. First there is Del’s grandpa who is quirky, but I still have a hard time completely understanding his motives. Then there is Del’s sister who I couldn’t stand for most of the book. Del’s best friend actually is my highlight with his loyalty to Del, despite her rebellious behaviour.

 

Bewitched Rating

Rating 3.5

 

Bottom Line

Dissonance by Erica O’Rourke comes with a great and amazing concept of parallel world that are created with each and every decision people make every day and every second. I was missing a little the enormity  of this world as the story mainly resolves around worlds that are super close to ours. The romance was not quite convincing, but the plot thrilling enough to keep me hooked until the last page!

 

 contemporary 

Do you love stories with Parallel Universes and Worlds? Which one is your favorite?

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10 Responses to “What if your choice creates a new world? – Dissonance by Erica O’Rourke”

  1. Danny! I totally just read that entire review in your accent in my head. I have no idea why. But I must be missing you :). Anyway, I struggle with parallel world books, so I’m very picky about the ones I pick up. This one sounds like it has some good parts, but also some things I wouldn’t like. I’m not sure about this girl falling for multiple versions of the same guy. Is he really the same person? It’s an interesting question. It also sounds like this story needed more world building. Is this a standalone or a series? If it’s a series, I’m going to see where it goes before investing.
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    Danny 7/15/2014

    Awwww!!! I miss you too! Seriously, I had so much fun with you at BEA so I hope I’m going to see you again next year!
    It’s actually a good question, if this boy is really the same or not and it will also be an issue with the real Simon and Del at some point.
    It definitely ended with a cliffhanger so it sounds like a series, which I will read probably on. I liked the whole concept, so I hope the second book will be stronger!
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  2. I’m glad that this book worked out for you, Danny! Unfortunately, Del’s rebel personality was a little too much over the top for me, and I ended up dnfing this one fairly early in. (I did read enough though to understand why you couldn’t stand Del’s sister. I couldn’t either!)
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    Danny 7/15/2014

    Oh Del’s Sis made me so mad! She redeemed herself at the end though, but that didn’t help her anymore.

    I get why you stopped it, because I also put it down after I started and couldn’t find my way into the book, but then I read one and liked it in the end, well with a few issues:)
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  3. I’m quite intrigued about this one cause I love science fiction books and this one about the parallel worlds sounds very interesting!
    Pity that the world buildling might have missed a bit but hopefully that will be improved in the next books, unless it is a standalone?
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    Danny 7/18/2014

    No it’s definitely a series! It ends with quite a cliffhanger so there is definitely more to one:))
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