As much as I enjoyed
Ultraviolet, I couldn't bring myself to be terribly excited about its sequel. This was mainly down to my dissatisfaction with the ending which I've discussed already in my review of that book.
Quicksilver moves away from the character of Alison and instead focuses on Tori, the rich girl from the first book who turned out to be an alien. The story is mainly about her trying to escape the various people who are after her and earn her freedom, as well as how she comes to terms with the fact that she's not of the world she grew up in.
I'm not all that keen on alien stories but
Quicksilver was a pleasant surprise. A lot of this was down to the writing style which, while perhaps not as descriptive as in the first book due to a lack of Synesthesia, was still excellent nonetheless. Tori makes for a good narrator with a simple yet still thoughtful perspective on things, and I also grew to really like her as a character over the course of reading this book. I felt similar fondness for the other characters, in particular the new addition Milo.
So why don't I rate this book as highly as
Ultraviolet?
Yeah. Despite the fact I was pleasantly surprised by this book, I can't ignore that it is basically a whole book about the one part of the first book I didn't like. It's not even so much the alien aspect either as that part is actually carried off pretty well. But I found the plot got a bit bogged down at times by the sci-fi elements and while it isn't a particularly long book, it felt longer because of it. Maybe it's just down to personal taste and the fact I don't enjoy heavy sci-fi, but it did prevent the book from appealing to me in the same way as the first one did.
On the whole,
Quicksilver makes for a decent sequel. It's quite a feat for an author to change both the narrator and the genre in the sequel and still produce an excellent book, and for that I commend R. J. Anderson. Do I think it's as good as the first one? Personally, no. But that is due to my own preferences rather than a direct criticism of the book itself. If you've read
Ultraviolet and didn't hate the ending, then I would definitely check out this book, to get closure if nothing else.
Overall Score:
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