Review: Quicksilver by R.J Anderson

Quicksilver (Ultraviolet #2) by R.J Anderson
Publisher: Orchard Books
Publication date: May 2nd 2013
My rating: 4 stars

Back in her hometown, Tori Beaugrand had everything a teenaged girl could want—popularity, money, beauty. But she also had a secret. A secret that could change her life in an instant, or destroy it. Now she’s left everything from her old life behind, including her real name and Alison, the one friend who truly understood her. She can’t escape who and what she is. But if she wants to have anything like a normal life, she has to blend in and hide her unusual... talents. Plans change when the enigmatic Sebastian Faraday reappears and gives Tori some bad news: she hasn’t escaped her past. In fact, she’s attracted new interest in the form of an obsessed ex-cop turned investigator for a genetics lab. She has one last shot at getting her enemies off her trail and winning the security and independence she’s always longed for. But saving herself will take every ounce of Tori’s incredible electronics and engineering skills—and even then, she may need to sacrifice more than she could possibly imagine if she wants to be free.

With quite a few sequels set for release this year, Quicksilver was definitely one of my highly anticipated releases. I absolutely adored Ultraviolet with its twists and turns, so couldn’t wait to get back to a fantastic set of characters. 

I loved getting the story from Alison in Ultraviolet, so was surprised to learn that we would be getting Tori’s pov instead in Quicksilver. Alison was a sure favourite, so I wasn’t sure how I’d feel being inside Tori’s head, especially the way things had ended. But Tori’s character did surprise me with her honesty, depth and rawness. I thought Alison had it all to deal with, but Tori’s family also had to make a lot of sacrifices along the way. With the scientists at GeneSystem after Tori and Constable Deckard also joining the pursuit. Tori and her family had no other option but to leave everything behind and make a new life for themselves in Canada. Tori also has the relay, so she didn’t know when Mathis could beam her back. Her life was even more on the edge now with everything being able to be taken away in the blink of an eye.

Whereas before I didn’t want to read this story from Tori, as the story progressed I really began to appreciate her character. She was resilient, even though everything was against her and she was the only one who could make Faraday stop to think things through. I always had secret hopes that two of my favourite characters from Ultraviolet would make an appearance, so I was ecstatic of Faraday’s appearance so early on. He was so haggard, run down and of course being elusive as ever about what went down with Mathis. Then when I was finally getting warmed up to his character he would disappear. Faraday the poor guy was so full of self doubt and guilt, that I wanted to shake him at times. But once again his incredible talent and skills won me over in the end. I would love to have a friend as Faraday who could hack e-mails and cause diversions whenever necessary.

Quicksilver in my eyes is a solid follow up to Ultraviolet. There is a lot to get your head around with building of transmitters and talk of shutting down wormholes. But when you’re invested into the story and characters as much as I was you can get through this technical jargon quite easily. I hope that one day Anderson decides to revisit these wonderful characters, as Anderson has created such a magical world that I know I will have a hard time leaving. (I can already see several re-reads of this fabulous series in the near future).