Resonance

Gr 9 Up—Delancey Sullivan's world has just been turned upside down. She is a walker, someone with the genetic ability to travel to parallel worlds. Walkers working for the Consort maintain order and balance between these multiple universes and the original Key World to ensure harmony for all. Del has been raised to believe that the Consort's main purpose in cleaving a parallel world and its echoes is to make the Key World stronger and more stable. As it turns out, not all is at it seems. Del learns from the Free Walkers, a rebel group trying to expose the Consort, that much of what she has been taught is lies designed to keep the Consort in power. When the love of her life, Simon, a half-Walker and echo, is lost in a cleaving, Del is devastated. Soon after, she finds out that Simon is not lost and the Free Walkers can reunite them. But the price is high—she must join them and go against the Consort, her family, her friends, and all she has known. In this sequel to Dissonance (S. & S., 2014), O'Rourke once again captivates readers with an intricate and complex alternative universe that is full of suspense and intrigue. Such descriptive and vivid writing not only drives the action-packed plot, but makes the link between the musical threads and science of free walking easy to visualize. Some strong new characters are added to the mix, allowing questions about a person's worth, honor, and value to be explored.