Dissonance in YA literature: How Leigh Bardugo and Katherine Arden Defied the Law

A story shines when the main character is able to deviate from the reader’s preconceived notions. During a class taught by Veronica Rossi, a former artist and current writer, she explained the link between art and writing fiction, identifying dissonance as one of those commonalities. Dissonance is a term used among communities of artists to describe an unexpected visual form within the piece, which increases the artwork’s uniqueness. People are constantly making assumptions based on social constructs ingrained into their minds at an early age, so they tend to notice when something is off or does not quite fit in. Young Adult writers can apply this to their novels in order to create memorable, main characters that are impossible to look past.

Kaz Brekker, the demon of the Barrel, the leader of a vicious gang, is one of the most prominent main characters in Young Adult fantasy. Six of Crows is the story of “a convict, a sharpshooter, a runaway, a spy, a Grisha Heartrender, and a thief. Together, they must pull off a daring heist that would make them wealthy beyond their dreams” (Bardugo). However, betrayal lurks around every corner and nothing quite goes according to plan. One of the leading men in Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology, Kaz Brekker fought tooth and nail to become the Barrel’s most feared gang leader, but Bardugo’s use of dissonance is one of the main reasons Kaz stands out to his readers. Similar to Bardugo, Katherine Arden employed this concept in her novel, The Bear and the Nightingale, a story set in early Russia, in which a young witch named Vasya must restore the power of the spirits to save her world with the help of Morozko, the Frost Demon. Just like Kaz, Vasya is a main character that embodies the dissonance necessary to make her shine.

When Leigh Bardugo created Kaz Brekker, she clearly employed dissonance as her main sculpting tool. He is a gang leader and has a reputation of being brutal and demon-like. A description such as this leads a reader to assume that Kaz is an able-bodied man with superior strength and no weaknesses. An example of this would be when the story starts with Inej, Kaz’s spy, telling the reader that “the boy they called Dirtyhands didn’t need a reason any more than he needed permission — to break a leg, sever an alliance, or change a man’s fortunes with the turn of a card” (Bardugo 15). The author paints a picture of a bold, unrelenting gang leader. However, as the reader dives deeper into the pages it becomes clear that Kaz does not fit the expected mold. Instead of verifying the reader’s assumption about a typical gang leader, Bardugo presents a seventeen-year-old boy with a bad leg, a cane, and a debilitating aversion to touching human flesh. The surprising nature of who Kaz really is then forces the reader’s attention to catch on this character. As soon as Kaz’s disability is introduced, he suddenly stands out compared to the other vaguely flawed heroes and heroines typically presented to readers. Additionally, not only do Kaz’s physical features negate his all-powerful, criminal mastermind persona but so do the innerworkings of his mind. Bardugo displays the complexities of Kaz’s inner self through Inej’s narrative comments, who knows Kaz better than anyone and can see past his defenses. As an illustration, Inej begins the story, as mentioned earlier, with a rather cruel depiction of Kaz, a man who would not hesitate to commit physical harm if needed. However, a paragraph later, she snags the reader’s attention further with dissonance, adding that “every act of violence was deliberate, and every favor came with enough strings attached to stage a puppet show” (Bardugo 15). From this piece of information, the reader’s assumptions are contradicted again, and Kaz is no longer rash and terrifying but thoughtful and clever. Within a single page, Bardugo creates a character who is impossible to forget because he shatters the readers’ expectations left and right.

In addition to Bardugo, Katherine Arden, author of The Bear and the Nightingale, skillfully uses dissonance to create a prominent main character who defies readers’ assumptions. When considering Russian folklore, which is the basis for her novel, a particular theme becomes apparent: the women are always beautiful and in need of saving. Even the story of Marja Morevna, known as the Warrior Queen who goes to war and slaughters her enemies with ease, ultimately ends with her needing a male savior. However, Arden’s novel uses dissonance to challenge this theme. Instead of creating a classic damsel in distress, Arden introduces the readers to “an ugly little girl: skinny as reed-stem with long-fingered hands and enormous feet. Her eyes and mouth were too big for the rest of her” (Arden 18). Additionally, the girl is named after Russian folklore’s Vasilisa the Beautiful, making the reader assume she will live up to the tale. However, as Arden points out, this Vasya is neither pretty nor lady-like in the traditional sense. Instead, Vasya is as wild as an animal and can see spirits, which her society condemns. Already, it is clear that Arden gracefully utilizes the skill of dissonance to create Vasya. She is the opposite of nearly every female figure presented in Russian folklore; therefore, she fractures the assumptions readers have preemptively created. Like Kaz Brekker, Vasya is unlike any other character in Young Adult literature because of this dissonance and, therefore, impossible to look past. To solidify this, Vasya goes on to fall in love with the Frost Demon, Morozko, but unlike the Russian stories she grew up with, she is the one who saves him time and time again. In the third novel, The Winter of the Witch, a mob attacks Vasya. When they tie her up and nearly burn her alive for being a witch, Morozko tries to save her by using terribly strong magic, but he later discovers that Vasya saved herself first. Additionally, Vasya is the one who rescues Morozko from his imprisonment. If Arden had not used dissonance to embellish Vasya’s character, Morozko would have been the savior of the day, not a girl viewed by others as ugly, wild, and filled with magic.

As one can see, Vasya and Kaz are perfect examples of dissonance crafting memorable characters. Bardugo gave a seemingly cruel gang leader a limp, a cane, and an aversion to human skin. Similarly, Arden gave what could have been an archetypal, Russian damsel in distress an imperfect appearance and a chaotic personality. Therefore, the reader cannot gloss over such characters, as they challenge one’s preconceived assumptions. Dissonance is a powerful skill that can greatly increase the quality of a YA writer’s main character, and it would be helpful to implement such a tactic in my own writing. Creating a main character that a reader cannot forget is what makes a Young Adult novel extraordinary, and that goal is one every writer should aim to achieve. Young Adult writers can learn a great deal from Bardugo and Arden’s leading man and woman who defy the assumptions that society constructs and inserts into the minds of readers.