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Ultraviolet R J Anderson Books

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Ultraviolet R J Anderson Books

Ultraviolet started out kind of slow, but still interesting, especially since my daughter has synesthesia (though, later in the book, in my daughter’s experience with multiple types of synesthesia at once, the portrayal of what it’s like to be a synesthete was not even remotely accurate). Eventually, the whole story just completely went off the rails and became a complete mess. I felt like the book was trying to be multiple stories at once and it just really didn’t work. By the last quarter, I couldn’t get the guy from the History Channel saying, “Aliens!” out of my head as the book went from a little odd to completely weird. I do not really recommend anyone take the time to read it and I will most definitely not be reading the second book in the series.


Tags : Amazon.com: Ultraviolet (9781408312759): R. J. Anderson: Books,R. J. Anderson,Ultraviolet,Orchard,1408312751,Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction,Social Issues - Depression & Mental Illness

Ultraviolet R J Anderson Books Reviews

I'm going to try to do this review with minimal spoilers. But if you want to go in with absolutely zero preconceptions, stop reading here.

The first two-thirds of this book are phenomenal, positively five stars. It's the last third that will, I expect, give most people pause. Without spoiling for anything, the book basically flips from an introspective psychological thriller/mystery to another genre entirely.

Is that okay? Well... I feel like Rebecca Anderson does give her readers fair warning. After all, our synaesthete protagonist Alison believes she disintegrated school rival Tori. Either she's completely insane or there are forces at work that are not of this world. So I don't think the reader can protest that they've been completely hoodwinked.

That said, the first two thirds of the book do such a fine job skating that 'what is reality?' line that it's a pity that the author couldn't keep that going until the end. Her exploration of the way people's subjective experience of the physical world might differ is extremely fascinating.

Sixteen-year-old Alison experiences the world differently from most people letters and sounds have colors and personalities; words have tastes. When Alison hears bells she sees golden stars. And when she sees the new girl in school, Tori Beaugrand, she hears a buzzing in her head that drives her crazy.

Literally, because the story opens with Alison waking up in the psych ward of a mental hospital. She's been out of it for two weeks, there are gaps in her memory and Tori has gone missing - and Alison was the last person to see her alive. Did Alison kill Tori? Is she insane or did her unusual senses allow her to witness something that is impossible? And in a mental institution, surrounded by troubled kids and skeptical shrinks, who can Tori trust?

Enter Dr. Sebastian Faraday, a scientist studying Alison's condition. Dr. Faraday may be the only one who can help Alison - if she can just avoid screwing things up by falling in love with her therapist.

Overall I liked the book a lot. The prose is very strong (I love the line "And where the new girl had curves, I had only angles and despair."). The characters are complex and interesting. And though more psychological than action-packed, the plot keeps you turning pages. I am definitely interested in reading more from this author.
Sixteen-year-old Alison wakes up in a mental institution and quickly remembers why she's here she freaked out, assaulted a cop, and confessed to murdering her classmate Tori. Not just murdering, either. Disintegrating. Alison knows what she saw, what she did--unless, of course, she's crazy. But the cops can't find Tori. And Alison has always been able to sense things no one else can the color of sounds and scents, the taste of names. Maybe her abilities finally culminated in the power to vaporize someone.

If Alison's "abilities" sound familiar to you, well, you've already got one rather large reveal (about 100 pages in) figured out. In the first three quarters of the book, we meet an interesting group of teen residents with various psychological conditions. We experience life in the institution through Alison's fresh, first-person voice (and through her heightened senses), and it's a beautiful voice. There's lovely prose living in these pages.

We also meet young, unconventional Dr. Faraday, a psychologist who takes great interest in Alison's case. He identifies her condition, helps her define her sensory abilities, lets her voice her fears, and insists that she is completely sane. As a confidant to Alison and an enigma to me, Faraday's character is enjoyable.

There's nothing in the majority of this book to indicate it's anything other than a contemporary psychological drama. Fortunately, I had read the back cover, which calls it "traditional science fiction." I read most of the book wondering when the sci-fi element would show up.

And then, show up it did, in spades. And then, far too soon ... the book ended.

To justify the plot, I can only compare this novel to THE TWILIGHT ZONE, but the comparison is a compliment. In a way, this novel is genius. That said, if I hadn't read the back cover (or ever watched THE TWILIGHT ZONE), I might have felt tricked. This book certainly has the most jarring plot twist I've ever read, because it doesn't merely twist the plot. It changes the genre and the tone and essentially everything. Since I'd been waiting for something like this to happen, I merely thought, <Ah, okay, there it is> and kept reading.

The problem isn't with the twist; it's with the location of the twist. If I could give half-stars, Ultraviolet might get 3.5, mostly for this reason. All the newly introduced elements of plot and storyworld and character beg for development. I want to care about these elements as much as I cared about the first 200+ pages, while Alison struggled with fellow inmates and her parents and other authority figures and her own scared, confused self. But I can't care as much as I want to, because they're on the page in a glorious reveal and then the pages run out.

However. There is a sequel. Excellent.
Ultraviolet started out kind of slow, but still interesting, especially since my daughter has synesthesia (though, later in the book, in my daughter’s experience with multiple types of synesthesia at once, the portrayal of what it’s like to be a synesthete was not even remotely accurate). Eventually, the whole story just completely went off the rails and became a complete mess. I felt like the book was trying to be multiple stories at once and it just really didn’t work. By the last quarter, I couldn’t get the guy from the History Channel saying, “Aliens!” out of my head as the book went from a little odd to completely weird. I do not really recommend anyone take the time to read it and I will most definitely not be reading the second book in the series.