The Dissonance introduces a group of four friends discovering an ancient and language-based magic called Dissonance, learning to use said magic, and traversing teenage-hood and adulthood. It is told in two different timelines: the period between 1996 and 1999 when the four of them are teenagers, and in 2019 when they are all adults.
The book is mostly about them as adults dealing with the aftermath of their actions when they were teenagers and how their bond has been preserved because they shared this magic. It is a dynamic and fast-paced narrative, jumping from the 90s to 2019 constantly and using cliffhangers to speed the reading along. It is basically one of those hard-to-put-down books, which is said about many books, but I never say this lightly.
One of the book’s strengths is the world it is set in. Shaun Hamill does a really good job of setting the atmosphere and successfully building a magical world parallel to the real one. Hamill creates a strong lore that feels like it has been there forever and these kids just stumbled upon it. It is an intriguing world, mostly based on the belief that outcasts are sensitive to other realities due to the pain they carry. Inner turmoil can be a source of outstanding-ness that makes ordinary, even mediocre, people different.
The book introduces different magical creatures, sometimes a cross between a human and an animal. This story is not exactly a creature feature (sad), but the description of weird creatures is enjoyable. Although it does not hyper-focus on the horror parts of dark fantasy, the book flirts with body horror—there is a rotting corpse walking around, puking its organs out and stinking up the place. Other horror-adjacent elements are sinister omens thrown in there and an eery imagery when describing liminal spaces and the deep, dark woods. The novel keeps a steady creepy atmosphere and vibes throughout.
But what was invested in atmosphere and world-building is lost in character arcs. The four main characters feel a little stock-y and more like several tropes thrown into a body. There is very little individual growth as their adult versions seem to be their teenage selves but with wrinkles, grey hair, and less stamina. Though I will admit not having only white cis men as main characters was definitely refreshing.
The book does not delve too much into the character’s interpersonal relationships despite some glimpses of it trying to do so. There seems to be a wall that does not allow the characters to have proper intimacy, which stands out a bit considering this is a novel mostly about friendship. Though this could be mostly due to the novel being more plot-driven.
The characters fully encompass the found-family trope, and the novel praises friendship over other kinds of relationships, which is touching. The book works pretty well as a stand-alone novel, but the world it presents is so appealing that it could easily become a series. Not to mention the ending was left a little open, flirting a little bit with the idea of a sequel, perhaps? I would not be opposed.
The narrative is nicely circular and a little cheeky at times, challenging the reader to stay one step ahead to try and predict what will happen. Although the novel plays with concepts hard to reign in—time travel and the multiverse—and introduces pivotal motives a little too late in the overall story, it still manages to close those circuits properly, albeit a little hastily.
Ultimately, if you are in the mood for a narrative challenging the christian beliefs around pain and suffering, which is also in the same vein as Stephen King’s It that happens to not be as scary as that—but it is just the right amount of creepy—with a very solid world, an interesting magic concept, and a fast pace, then The Dissonance will surely be a nice ride.
Adriana Acevedo is an editor, writer, and sleep paralysis demon. She's been published in magazines like samfiftyfour and Impostor. She's bilingual and living in the monstruos Mexico City. Whenever she's not reading horror stories or watching horror movies, she's baking sourdough bread. Read more of her writing here.