by RJ Anderson
Review by KM
I tend to start book series without realizing it. I’ll grab a book with an awesome summary, compelling characters, and great dialogue. None of them will warn me of the cliffhangers or the anguish of waiting for the next book. It happens to me so often that I should really start a file to keep track of all of the sequels I’m waiting for. Maybe if I had one, I wouldn’t miss amazing sequels like this.
I read and reviewed Ultraviolet eons ago, back in 2011. I loved it; I have never found a book similar to it since. By chance, I found Quicksilver while strolling through my local library. I snatched it up in an instant and haven’t been able to put it down since.
Summary
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.
Musings
Okay, first off, this is just as good — if not extremely better — than Ultraviolet. I miss the descriptions of synesthesia; those were just awesome. the plot is just as action-packed, but the stakes are higher. I adore Niki — or Tori, rather — as a narrator. She’s a strong female with a passion for engineering and a quick reaction speed. If the zombie apocalypse was coming, I’d want to be on Tori’s team.
I don’t want to define anyone by their sexuality, because it’s only a trait and isn’t the be-all end-all of a person. But holy cow, can I get a hallelujah for an asexual main character in a science fiction novel? I’m not even talking about implied asexuality, folks; I’m talking about her self-identifying herself as asexual, and possibly or possibly not aromantic, in a conversation and it being totally accepted by the other person. Representation is awesome.
Quicksilver is definitely going to be one of my recommended books for a long time. It’s definitely a female protagonist that I’d love to see girls look up to as a role model, with her passion for science and take-no-crap attitude.
Readcommendations 