Quicksilver by R J Anderson

Quicksilver by R J Anderson
Buy Quicksilver by R J Anderson at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Jill Murphy
Summary: Second in R J Anderson's original science fiction sequence. We like this author, who doesn't fall into writing template books, and we like this story, which offers a refreshing change from dystopias, vampires and zombies.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 384	Date: May 2013
Publisher: Orchard
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 1408316285
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Before I say anything else, I must warn you. Quicksilver is billed as a companion novel to Ultraviolet with the implication that you could read either first. You can't. You mustn't. So if you haven't read Ultraviolet, go no further.

Quicksilver picks up where Ultraviolet left off. But this time, synaesthete Alison is left behind and the story is told from the point of view of Tori, the girl with mysterious DNA and a history of alien abduction. Tori is still in danger: the relay could reactivate at any time, dragging her back through the wormhole and back to Mathis, policeman Deckard still isn't satisfied with Tori's explanations, and doctors at GeneTech have discovered her anomalous DNA. So Tori and family pack up and move across the country, and Tori becomes Niki.

But it's hard to hide. Especially when you're extraordinary. Especially when the relay tracking you proves indestructible. And it's not too long before Niki finds herself in danger. Again.

I'm happy! I enjoy reading books by R J Anderson because I can never be sure quite what I'm going to get. Ultraviolet, the first book in this sequence, started out as a paranormal story but morphed into sci-fi the minute my reading-attention back was turned. I love that sort of surprise, don't you? And I was happy to find that Quicksilver didn't just repeat this template. Oh no. It's sci-fi from the get-go. The genre-busting here comes in the form of a thriller.

And it's a thriller with a complicated, twisting plot with complicated characters whose actions you can never quite predict. I'm crushing on Faraday in a readerly way for this very reason. He is a good guy but he does betray people too, in an end justifies the means kind of way, so you never really know whether to trust him or not. You can't help but root for poor Tori, who doesn't deserve what she's getting at all, and who is gradually coming to realise exactly who and what she is. She's one tough cookie and I can't imagine a reader who wouldn't think she deserves a break.

I don't want to say too much more as it would be just too easy to let a spoiler slip, so I'll just end by reassuring you that Quicksilver won't let you down. As if you ever thought it would.

PS: Dear R J Anderson, I'm thinking there will be a third book in this sequence, this time from Faraday's point of view. Please tell me I'm right! Best wishes, Jill.

(You never know, it might work!)

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