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"You can never go home again," the saying goes—but Hal, Athena, and Erin have to. In high school, the three were students of the eccentric Professor Marsh, trained in a secret system of magic known as the Dissonance, which is built around harnessing negative emotions: alienation, anger, pain. Then, twenty years ago, something happened that shattered their coven, scattering them across the country, stuck in mundane lives, alone.
But now, terrifying signs and portents (not to mention a pointed Facebook invite) have summoned them back to Clegg, Texas. There, their paths will collide with that of Owen, a closeted teenager from Alabama whose aborted cemetery seance with his crush summoned something far worse: a murderous entity whose desperate, driving purpose includes kidnapping Owen to serve as its Renfield. As Owen tries to outwit his new master, and Hal, Athena, and Erin reckon with how the choices they made as teens might connect to the apocalyptic event unfurling over the Lone Star State, shocking alliances form, old and new romances brew, and three unsuccessful adults and one frightened teen are all that stand between reality and oblivion.
From one of the boldest, most brilliant voices in modern fantastical horror, The Dissonance is a thrilling and beautifully written story of magic and monsters, forgiveness and friendship.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
July 23, 2024 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780593317266
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780593317266
- File size: 3583 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from May 6, 2024
Hamill (A Cosmology of Monsters) returns with a dark and enchanting account of four friends whose dabbling in the supernatural as teenagers threatens their present happiness. In the 1990s, Hal, Athena, Erin, and Peter discover the Dissonance, which enables them to transform negative emotions into great feats of magic, and form a power-hungry coven. In 2019, now adults and their coven dissolved due to some unstated disaster, the friends must reckon with the consequences of their impulsive adolescent actions. Toggling between the two timelines to tease out what happened between now and then, Hamil weaves a tale of magic, teen angst, the power of enduring friendship, life in small-town America, sexuality, and the use of religion (in this case, Christianity) as a tool of subjugation. As the friends learn more of what they are capable of, they also discover what, and who, is behind the forces of Dissonance, building to a shocking conclusion that will change them forever. Fantasy readers won’t want to put this down. Agent: Kent Wolf, Neon Literary. -
June 1, 2024
Hal Isaac is facing prison time. Athena Watts is a teacher of sex magic in her occult caf�. Erin Porter struggles to hold down a job. The one thing they have in common is that their lives peaked as teenagers, when they discovered the magic of Dissonance, a source of power that's rooted in disharmony and pain. As teens, Hal, Athena, and Erin formed a coven that was eventually disbanded by tragedy, the consequences of which still haunt them in adulthood with apocalyptic magnitude. From the author of the well-received debut A Cosmology of Monsters, this is another bold and bizarre tale that follows the misadventures of a cataclysmic coven. With exceptional plotting, the drama shifts back and forth between the trio's teen years and adulthood, as palpable menace seeps through. This is dark academia that takes place in someone's backyard, sweeping the protagonists into a whirlwind of cosmic horrors and alternate dimensions. It's also a moving tale of the friendship between believable characters that are rough around the edges. VERDICT A great pick for fans of Stephen King's It, only with a more fantastical and angsty edge.--Andrea Dyba
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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July 1, 2024
The surviving members of a powerful teenage coven of magicians reunite in East Texas. Much like Hamill's debut, A Cosmology of Monsters (2019), this meaty horror novel is a treat for readers whose nostalgia gravitates to the likes of Stand by Me, Twin Peaks, or, most thematically, Stephen King's It. In a similar vein to Chuck Wendig's Miriam Black novels or Stephen Graham Jones' Indian Lake trilogy, Hamill takes some ordinary young people and puts them through the metaphysical wringer to see what's left at the end. In Clegg, Texas, circa the late 1990s, we meet best pals Hal, Athena, and Erin. Their chance encounter with a lost boy in the woods leads them to classmate Peter and his grandfather, Professor Elijah Marsh, an eccentric practitioner of the titular magic who teaches them the ropes. "This power, this energy, this Dissonance?" explains the professor. "It's born from discomfort. From unhappiness. From pain. This world we occupy, and which we hope to control, is a broken, violent place." Grappling with forces they don't really understand leads to a disaster that claims many lives, including one of their own. Unfortunately, our heroes aren't in great shape two decades later. Erin is a barista going nowhere, Athena parlayed her magical talents into running an occult bookstore, and recovering alcoholic Hal is on his way to prison for murder. When an invitation to a 20th-anniversary memorial service arrives, no one wants to revisit the scene of the crime. But after a well-meaning closeted teen named Owen botches a necromancy spell and finds himself playing Renfield to a bad actor, they're forced to reunite not just to confront their past but employ all their collective gifts to save the world. The rules governing Hamill's fantastical universe can be a little hazy, but when the nightmare-fraught tale is filled with monsters, teleportation, time travel, and other supernatural wonders, it's more fun to embrace the chaos. A wistful, emotional roller coaster that finds worse than memories waiting at home.COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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