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    Quicksilver
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    Quicksilver
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    Quicksilver
    Ebook325 pages5 hours

    Quicksilver

    By R. J. Anderson

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Back home Tori was the girl who had everything a sixteen-year-old could want—popularity, money, beauty. Everything. Including a secret. That secret made her very valuable.

    Now she's left everything from her old life behind, including her real name and Alison, the only person who truly understood her. She can't lose the secret. But if she wants to have anything resembling a normal life, she has to blend in and hide her unique…talents.

    Plans change when the enigmatic Sebastian Faraday reappears in Tori's life and delivers bad news: she hasn't escaped. In fact, she's attracted new interest in the form of an obsessed ex-detective now in the employ of a genetics lab.

    She has only one shot at ditching her past for good and living like the normal human she wishes she could be. Tori must use every ounce of her considerable hacking and engineering skills—and even then, she might need to sacrifice more than she could possibly imagine if she wants to be free.

    The riveting companion to R.J. Anderson's acclaimed Ultraviolet, which is now available in paperback.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLerner Publishing
    Release dateAug 1, 2014
    ISBN9781467768085
    Unavailable
    Quicksilver
    Author

    R. J. Anderson

    R. J. Anderson isn't trying to hide that she's female, she just thinks initials look more writerly. According to her mother she started reading at the age of two; all she knows is that she can't remember a single moment of her life when she wasn't obsessed with stories. She grew up reading C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, watching Doctor Who from behind the sofa, and hanging out in her brothers' comic book shop. Now she writes novels about knife-wielding faeries, weird science, and the numinous in the modern world. Quicksilver, her latest novel, also has soldering and pancakes.

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    Reviews for Quicksilver

    4/5

    46 ratings10 reviews

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    • 4/5
      An enjoyable follow up to Ultraviolet, though rather different in tone. I liked the exciting sci fi plot, and loved practical, sciency protagonist Tori. I was particularly glad to read a book with an asexual main character.
    • 4/5
      ****MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR BOTH BOOKS IN THE SERIES, BECAUSE I AM GOING TO FANGIRL AND PROBABLY GIVE AWAY A LOT OF DETAILS. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.****

      Okay, let me gush about Ultraviolet and Quicksilver for a bit, because this has literally everything I have ever wanted in a book, okay? I'm not even exaggerating. EVERYTHING.

      1. Synaesthesia. This was so well portrayed -- probably the best I've seen in fiction.

      Dramatic, yes. Confounded with other abilities and quirks, yes. But still so accurate and vivid. (Those tests Faraday gave Alison? I did those in a psych study once. Cue me geeking out all through that scene.)

      2. Awesome, well-developed female leads.

      I've got to say, I thought I wouldn't like Tori at first. Wow, was I ever wrong. She's probably one of my favourite main characters I've encountered in YA. (I also love Alison, but I did right from the start, so it wasn't as much of a surprise.)

      3. The setting. I'm 99.9% sure that Quicksilver is set in the area I grew up, which is awesome (and Ultraviolet in Northern Ontario, which is awesome because when do you ever get sci fi set in Northern Ontario? Answer: not nearly enough).

      4. The internet-schooling. This is the first Internet-schooler I've ever seen in fiction. And as someone who did almost all of her high school online, that makes me so. excited.

      5. The sci-fi aspect. It was just really cool. I liked the explanation, I liked the technologies. Sci-fi is something that I usually prefer in TV shows to books for some reason, but the sci-fi here was great.

      6. An amazing, canonical asexual character. I could gush about this for approximately forever (man, I wish I could post two reviews here because then I would definitely dedicate one to just the asexual aspects because I am SO THRILLED), but I'll restrain myself here.

      But basically. The asexual aspect was done so well. And how it ended with the relationship thing? I'm so impressed.

      Tori isn't a stereotypical asexual character. The book was respectful, and accurate, and fantastic.

      TL;DR: This was AMAZING. RJ Anderson, you have earned my undying admiration.
    • 4/5
      A very original book, and wonderful companion to Ultraviolet. It is well-written, suspenseful, and not your typical YA paranormal book. Synesthesia, asexuality, racism, defying stereotypes... this book went there and more. As a sci-fi fan, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and as a female engineer I thoroughly enjoyed it that much more!
    • 4/5
      Best read closer to the first book in the series. Tor is now Nikki and she and her family have moved and she's trying not to stand out and to find a lief for herself. It's complicated and messy and she just wants to live a life. To live she has to fight, using science.
    • 5/5
      A 4.5 star review.

      Every bit as good as the first book in the series, even if it did take me a moment to realize that Tori was the main character, rather than Alison. For the same reason, synesthesia didn't really pay a part in this book, which was kind of a shame - but one easily forgiven, since the rest of the book was so awesome :) I especially liked reading more about her affinity for electronics, and adored Milo! Not to mention that R.J. Anderson made me care enough about Tori that I sat cringing as I read what she had to do to stay safe.

      Loved it :)
    • 4/5
      Though I did not love Ultraviolet quite so much as I had hoped, I was still curious enough to break my NetGalley embargo to run out and request Quicksilver. I mean, why wait until freaking May if I did not have to, right? Thankfully, I was approved, and I got to reading pretty promptly, because of my resolution to do better about reading series books back to back if I can.

      Ultraviolet begins largely as a contemporary, then making a dramatic twist to science fiction. As I said in my review then, I really preferred the first half of Ultraviolet, with its focus on synesthesia and mental illness. Quicksilver does not have this issue, and is a much more even novel without the crazy twist that made the first book so incredibly compelling for many readers.

      Anderson switches main characters in the second book of the series, a daring move that she pulls off brilliantly. I enjoy and the synesthetic beauty of Alison's narration, as well as how unreliable she is as narrator. However, Tori's no-nonsense, starkly honest personality captivates me. From Alison's point of view, Tori comes across largely as a stereotypical, popular, gorgeous mean girl. Now, having this window into Tori's mind, it is so apparent how much that isn't and never has been her.

      Having made it back to Earth at the end of Ultraviolet, Alison and Tori go their separate ways, trying to settle back down despite the media frenzy at their return. When a lab begins asking questions of the Beauregards about Tori's odd genetic makeup, Tori's parents decide that the family must leave Sudbury. The family announces their move to Vancouver, but heads instead to Southern Ontario with new identities.

      Tori, now Niki, gets a job at a grocery store and does her classes online. She remains aloof from others, including the obnoxious guy at the grocery store who reminds her of her slobbery ex-boyfriend. Her goals in life are not to be noticed and to work on her engineering, for which Tori has a passion. I love how this passion is exhibited in the chapter headings, all complex engineering terminology.

      As is perhaps unsurprising, Tori's peace cannot last long. Sebastian arrives bringing news of trouble, and a detective is poking around looking for her. A coworker from the grocery store, Milo, gets caught up in everything and becomes her first real friend. Oh, Milo. He's Korean and athletic and such a good guy. Now that's what I'm talking about. He and Tori develop a complex bond, one that I loved to watch unfold. Also, this is the first time I've read a novel in which a main character was asexual, so that's awesome.

      I raced through Quicksilver, intrigued by everything. Anderson pulls out all the stops and does not go easy on her characters; I saw that ending coming, but was still surprised when Anderson went through with it. Anderson's series is a must-read for science fiction fans.
    • 4/5
      This book threw me for a loop; Major Plot-twist. I didn't see over half of this coming!

      First off this book changes perspective immediately, shifting off Alison and onto Tori.

      She's Just an ordinary alien girl who desperately wants her parents acceptance and approval. She was also kidnapped for 3 months by a psychotic scientist. Who wants to experiment and eventually dissect and kill her, no big deal. Tori, is now in a race against time to stop the evil scientist, once and for all.

      Enter the monkey-wrench, by the name of Deckard. A cop turned P.I. who is hell bent on finding out the truth, no matter what the cost.

      Edge of my seat I tell you, couldn't put it down if I tried. I didn't.
    • 5/5
      First thing you should know: Quicksilver is a sequel. It has a different protagonist and shows many of the relevant events from the first novel through flashback, but you’ll still have a better grasp on what’s going on if you read the first book.Since that’s out of the way, I really loved Quicksilver. Like, really loved Quicksilver. It has so much going for it, and it manages to avoid so many pitfalls.I don’t want to say too much about the plot, because of spoilers for the first book, but I’ll post a sentence in the comments.The characterization was overall excellent. Tori (or Niki, as she changes to), the protagonist, starts the book on the run from her past life, her mother helping her dye her hair in a gas station restroom. Tori is both smart and capable, with a passion for engineering. However, she’s also realistically flawed. She keeps putting up barriers and not telling people the truth, although it’s often easy to see why. She feels a desire to be “normal” and liked, and this often translates into her feeling like she has to lie.Also, Tori/Niki is asexual. And she even uses the word! Do you know how rare this is for any book, and especially YA? Oh, and while Tori’s asexual, I don’t think she’s aromantic. There’s still sort of a romantic relationship here, it just is a lot more complex and very different than your standard YA book. If you want to know more about how Tori’s asexuality is handled, there’s an asexual blog that looked at it more in depth here.Regarding the other characters, they all seemed very life like. I loved Milo in particular, and I was also impressed with the depiction of Tori’s parents. They are not perfect by any means, but they have a lot larger role than in most YA books and clearly love her. Also, Faraday from the first book appeared. He’s still a jerk, but Tori knows it.Speaking of Faraday, I still don’t like his relationship with Allison. Way too many creep vibes there.So, I’m not going to lie, I think you should probably read the first book, Ultraviolet, before you get into Quicksilver since it basically revolves around the fall out from the first novel. Still, if you can’t get into Ultraviolet for whatever reason, Quicksilver‘s different in a lot of ways and you may like it better.Recommended to people looking for a rather genre defying YA novel, particularly if they like science fiction. Also very much recommended if you are looking for an asexual protagonist.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
    • 4/5
      Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy.allthingsuf.comR. J. Anderson has a gift for submerging a narrative into her heroines’ skins. Through insanity, through synesthesia, through alien thought processes and motivations. I enjoyed ULTRAVIOLET with reservations, Alison’s point of view was interesting but not compelling. I fell in love with QUICKSILVER, however, Tori’s abilities and limitations were mesmerizing. Anderson does a beautiful job offering her character opportunities for growth and room to surprise without ever violating their central identity.It was just that identity that made me fall in love with Tori. She’s smart, capable, and undeniably alien. A popular golden girl who breaks all the molds, Tori is an engineer after my own heart. After ULTRAVIOLET, I had high expectations for an atypical romance. Tori’s love life was not only unique, it was beautifully fitted to this story and her perspective. About as much as I enjoyed the present tense action, the flashbacks to past events would jolt me out of the story. New readers may enjoy this glimpse into Tori’s past, but I lost momentum those few times Anderson took me out of the present.ULTRAVIOLET was 3bats in my estimation, and QUICKSILVER outperformed its predecessor with 4. Though the narrative wasn’t flawless, my investment in Anderson’s characters more than compensated for the few times my attention wandered. Anderson’s consistent ability to immerse me in the heroine’s point of view guarantees that I’m excited to come back for more.Sexual Content: Kissing.
    • 4/5
      Quicksilver is the sequel to Ultraviolet, a story about Alison who is admitted to a psych ward after a breakdown. It is not initially clear whether Ultraviolet is a murder mystery, a thriller, a supernatural tale, or simply a story about a teenage psychiatric facility - and I loved that. So I'm going to review Quicksilver without spoiling Ultraviolet... but if you're going to read Quicksilver, read Ultraviolet first. It's worth it.Quicksilver is not about Alison, but another character from Ultraviolet. "Niki" is on the run. She and her family leave town, change their names, start over somewhere new. It's an opportunity for Niki to reinvent herself.Then her past catches up with her, and she has to use all of her inexplicably exceptional engineering ability to protect herself and those she cares about.However, her biggest challenge is trusting a new friend enough to tell him her secrets.Quicksilver is a compelling, can't-stop-reading thriller. It is about identity, and trust and friendship, and it asks something which doesn't get asked enough: namely, why should friendship be seen as less important than other kinds of relationships?And, like Ultraviolet, it's about a teenage girl who wants to be free to live her life and accepted for who she is. I loved this. I loved that Niki is different from other YA heroines (I want more protagonists like this, please). I enjoyed seeing Ultraviolet characters from "Niki's" perspective, and to have some of my questions about what happened next answered.There’s something exciting about reinventing yourself, even if it means leaving all your friends and the only life you’ve ever known behind.My only fear was that I might not have made myself different enough.