am not usually a fan of the "urban fantasy" genre - not only do I find vampires and werewolves implausible, but I am also skeptical that
powerful magic users could exist amongst us without anyone noticing, especially when dramatic supernatural events occur. And yes, The Dissonance is guilty of the later
fault - some rather mind boggling events occur without the ordinary mortals reacting - but Hamill wrote an entertaining enough novel that I was able to willingly suspend my
disbelief and read all 473 pages (hardcover edition) with great interest. Unfortunately, as I will list in the spoilers section, at the end of the novel Hamill leaves a lot of
lose threads. I haven't seen any indication that The Dissonance is intended to be the first book in a series, so perhaps Hamill didn't feel the need to tie things up
neatly. I deducted a star from my rating because I was annoyed by some of these open issues.
Dissonance is just a fancy name for black magic user. Practitioners learn symbols and ideas and if their power is strong enough, they can draw glowing symbols
that invoke magic spells. Some of these spells are amazingly powerful - teleporting, shields, powerful blasts of wind, magical healing etc. There are grimoires with details of spells, but
some of these magical books are hard to read, as if the text deliberately disguised itself. Some artifacts contain powerful Dissonance energy
Three high-schoolers (Hal, Erin, and Athena) are visiting their friend Peter at his house for a sleepover, when Athena discovers a book lying in the hallway -
for some reason the book has a powerful attraction to her, and as Athena studies it, some of what she can decipher begins to make sense to her. As a gag, she proposes that the friends try a "light as a feather"
trick, where a special chant can make someone so light that they can be lifted by two fingers. Hal obediently lies in the grass while Athena copies some symbols from the book in a circle.
To the teenagers utter amazement, Hal starts to rise. And rise. Before they realize it, Hal has floated up out of reach - and continues to rise. Uh-oh.
The story is told in two timelines, with (most of) the same characters in both timelines - Hal, Peter, Athena, Erin and Peter's grandfather, the mysterious, reclusive
Dr Marsh. Half the book concerns the events of the foursome's junior and senior year in high school. The other half takes place twenty years later, when the surviving members of the coven decide
to attend their 20 year reunion. Naturally, as the scattered magic users converge on their old town, there is an escaped-from-hell demon also headed there, apparently headed for a showdown.
Hamill does an excellent job of pacing and plot, keeping the reader interested with fresh new menaces and revealing new aspects of the Dissonance as the foursome learn
more skills. There are some dark sections, this is magic that Stephen King would enjoy. My only frustration is the many unresolved plot points, so much is left unexplained.
*** Warning - Spoilers below ***
Do not read this section if you have not read the book.
What was the Temple of Pain, and why did it select Hal? The whole business with the flaming sword and selecting Hal as its champion seems to hardly be developed, as
if Hamill had a plot thread featuring it but then later discarded those scenes.
After the high school is destroyed, Marsh severs the connection to the Dissonance of Athena, Hal and Erin. Yet twenty years later Erin is
still able to create a tulpa? That requires some powerful magic! When someone attacks Erin at the beginning of the book with hordes of pigeons, Erin kills them all with a burst of Dissonance magic -
except she isn't suppose to have any magic because of the severing? Who was attacking Erin and why? That unique pigeon attack was just completely dropped, unexplained.
Owen participates in ritual gone awry that leaves several classmates gruesomely dead and the body of his friend Cole inhabited by a malevolent spirit. Owen and the demon
go on a long drive to Texas that leaves people violently dead in their wake. Why isn't there any subsequent police action following all this murderous mayhem? Shouldn't there at least be an investigation into
these sensational murders?
Where did the soul of Philip come from? Did it just spontaneously generated because the tulpa had sex? But it had plenty of sex with Erin.
So what was the mysterious ship sitting in the dunes on the planet Deoth all about? And the powerful statue?
What was Marsh's plan? He somehow builds a vast warehouse as well as a giant zoo where he keeps captured monsters - and he runs this vast secret
enterprise by himself?
If everyone except Hal, Athena and Erin from the high school died when it exploded, then who called the twenty year reunion? Who would be expected to attend?
