Ultraviolet

:[...]I was legitimately obsessed with this book from the get-go. I mean, how can you not want to devour it after reading just the first three lines of the blurb? You start right in the middle of the action and Alison sucks you in. She's unsure of herself, quiet, smart--all the things us readerly geeks were back in high school. But she's special, too. She smells sounds. Tastes colors. Listens to the music of the stars at night. It's one of the most interesting portrayals of synethesia that I've seen, and an amazing way to turn what could be a generic genre book into something special and memorable. The Alison-Faraday relationship weirded me out a little on grounds of age-differences-creep-me-the-hell-out, but the hopeless romantic in me was caught. And I loved that the sci-fi was there but not overpowering; for the most part, this is a story about a girl finding herself and struggling to stay afloat in a world that tells her she's insane.plot . 5/5There's no lag time. You start right in the action and Alison helps you to catch up later. Rather than being confusing, it's exciting. Like solving a mystery. You're also living inside Alison's head, because even she doesn't know what's going on at first. The central mystery of Tori drags you into the story head-first. Did she really disintegrate? Was Alison hallucinating? Did Alison kill her? Does she have some kind of supernatural powers? These questions stay up in the air for a long time, allowing you to feel Alison's own struggle--is what she saw real, or is she insane? Is she a murderer? The turn happens very suddenly, but the ending doesn't feel rushed. What did irk me was the way Alison figured out the conversation between Mathis and Sebastian near the end. Because it screamed deus ex machina. But using her synesthesia as both character quirk and plot twist was brilliant. And in the end, the plot was tight, thrilling, and well done.concept . 5/5I love good portrayals of psychopathology in literature. Synesthesia is one that hasn't been covered very much at all, but it's so interesting. Anderson gives us a pretty accurate portrayal of intense synesthesia here, while also upping it to a kind of supernatural level to fit with the speculative nature of the story. Adding psychology to sci-fi was another brilliant stroke. Because the whole time, you're wondering how much is real and how much is in Alison's head. It gives the book a deeper layer than just a hardcore sci-fi thriller would, while still being thrilling.characters . 5/5I loved Alison. She can be a little annoying at times, but in an endearing way. She's broken. She's been afraid her whole life of being insane. She feels abandoned by everyone that she cared about. The side characters are more variable. Melissa feels thrown in just as another psychic blow to Alison; I'm not so sure that her "betrayal" is more than another way to make you feel sorry for the MC. Alison's parents are also a little underdeveloped. It ends there. Alison's psychiatrist, Faraday, and the other patients are all real people in their own right, each playing an important part. Even the small ones who seem superfluous, like Micheline, play an important role in helping to show Alison's development as a person. It felt real.style . 5/5Gorgeous. Anderson has a sense of style that's much more mature than your average YA. It's lyrical in places and richly descriptive, filled with sensory information. Which is absolutely brilliant, because you can see Alison's synesthesia in the very way she talks and describes her world. Even if synesthesia is something very foreign to you, the way Alison narrates her world allows you to jump into her head and to imagine for yourself that maybe the name Tori tastes like cough syrup and pain is violent orange. It's beautiful, truly.mechanics . 5/5Many more adjectives than I'm usually comfortable with, but as I said above, it works. Very nicely polished. Also, the chapter titles are brilliant. Since Alison's brain assigns character, color, and other qualities to numbers, you get her take on each title. For example: Nine (is black); Twelve (is reckless). The descriptions for each number are also cleverly descriptive of the content of each chapter. Oh, and did I mention that nine is my favorite number and black is my favorite color? Just sayin'.take home messageA refreshingly mature YA that takes sci-fi to a deeply emotional level, with a dash of danger, a twist of romance, and pages of beautiful writing. Read more

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.

I'm way older than the target audience of this novel, but I have a keen interest in the quality of the literature that is produced for our young people so, as well as books written for adults, I read a fair bit of YA fiction. Some of it - that written by John Green and Philip Pullman, for example - has plenty to challenge older readers as well as the youth audience. Anyway, I read 'Ultraviolet'.To start with, let's be clear: I like this book. That said, it annoys me.The first half of the book is the best by far. The protagonist is an effectively realised character about whom we soon come to care. The supporting cast is adequate, but it is Ali who monopolises our interest. This young woman has a selection of non-standard, but real, perception conditions that she has never fully understood or learned to cope with. These differences, and the way she, and the world, react to them are the real story here.The second half introduces a science fiction plot line which should appeal to me as a lifelong SF reader. It doesn't: it is trite, unoriginal and simplistic. It is faux, plastic science fiction written as if by someone who has barely read any and knows little of what has been written in the genre by other authors. I know the book is written for a youthful audience but that target age group both expects and deserves more sophisticated fare.My other gripe is the inexcusable number of typos in the text. I don't know if the writer or the editor would like to take responsibility for the absolute failure in the proof-reading of this book, but someone needs a kick in the backside. Fix it - it's appalling.I've devoted more space to complaints than praise, haven't I? Don't let that put you off, it *is* a book worth reading, but that is because of the interesting viewpoint character, not the disappointing story.I like 'Ultraviolet' (I've read it twice) but it makes me cross. Give it a go and see what you think.

After a series of events she cannot remember, Alison is sent to a mental facility. The one thing she can recall is her classmate Tori disintegrating before her eyes, and she believes she is the cause.The majority of the book is set in Pine Hills Hospital, where Alison is treated as though she has a mental illness, but although her health is cause for concern, she is not ill. Alison has synesthesia - a real neurological condition where a person may process letters as colours or words as tastes. This was the first time I'd heard of such an ability and I was fascinated by it, although I cannot claim to know how much accuracy this representation holds. And of course, this ability is subtly blended with elements of the paranormal, which is slowly but magnificently uncovered throughout the course of the book.I predicted the twist of the story because of the paranormal genre (and because of Goodreads - curse you, Goodreads!), but nothing could prepare me for the extent it reached beyond my expectations. The story was highly original and Alison's experiences of the world were so incredibly vivid and well developed that I was fully absorbed.I did have some minor quibbles which is what prevented the book from being a 5 star read. I had very mixed feelings about the focal relationship within the story, and there was no clear line between what was supernatural and what would be what a synesthyte would actually experience. From my minimal understanding of synesthesia, I know that it is not a mental illness, and it is clarified as such in the book. But for Alison it was debilitating in a way that I think she did require support, which is not what a real person with syneasthesia would experience.Nevertheless, I was utterly captivated by this book. It has been so long since I have read a book of this size in such a short space of time and I could not put it down. It is unusual, but I find that is where the beauty of Ultraviolet lies.Warnings: Set in mental facility, topic of mental illness (will be discussed in this review), mentions of self-harmDiversity note: protagonist with synesthesia

I hugely enjoyed this book for three main reasons. First, the unusual device of having the story be told be someone who has Synesthesia - a real condition where senses merge into one, so that you smell sounds and taste colours, etc. It made for some very unique descriptions, and though I found it a little jarring at first, it ultimately really enriched the book.Secondly, most of the book is set in a teenage mental institution, and it really conjures up a great sense of horror and panic. Unlike some literary depictions of asylums, no one was sadistic or neglectful or corrupt, and nothing truly awful happened. The staff care about our sectioned heroine - but the grinding horror of not being allowed home, of taking medication with unpleasant side effects and being constantly monitored was almost more traumatic to read about than a more OTT depiction.Thirdly - and this was the thing that really made the book special for me - I just didn't know what was going on or what genre of book I'd landed in. Our narrator, Alison, has been sectioned after she had a fight with a school mate, who disappeared into thin air in front of her, causing her to seemingly have some form of nervous breakdown. No one has seen the other girl since. The police believe she has something to do with it, the doctors think she has a serious mental illness. And the great thing is that I didn't know what to believe. It felt equally plausible that Alison was schizophrenic and had imagined the other girl disappearing, that she'd killed her accidentally and was in shock and denial, or that something supernatural has happened. For the majority of the book, I didn't know whether I was reading a crime thriller, a gritty study of mental illness or a paranormal novel. For the full effect, I'd recommend you're very careful around reviews, even if you're usually okay with spoilers.In the end, everything is explained and wrapped up convincingly - though not too neatly. And in between, there's some great character development, some challenging of perceptions, and a rather sweet romance. Definitely worth a read if you're looking for something a bit different.

Alison can see the colours of sounds, taste words, and hear the music of objects. And disintegrate people. Or at least has done once, to Tori Beaugrand. But she has no idea how she did it. In a panic of overwhelmed senses after the event, physically hurting from sensation overload, Alison blurts out what she did, how she killed Tori, and is admitted to a psychiatric hospital. No-one but her mother has the slightest inkling about her strange senses; she knows she can never tell anyone or they'll really think she's crazy, so Alison has to be so very careful with what she tells her psychiatrist. But when a new doctor arrives and discovers her secret, he is fascinated by what she can do, rather than think she's crazy. Can Dr Faraday help her work out what's up with her senses, and unknowingly help her discover what she did to Tori?Such a good book! I was gripped from the very beginning, and I couldn't put it down! We discover that Tori's strange senses are part of her Synesthesia, a condition where the senses overlap, and it's just so fascinating! I discovered that I have it to a mild degree (for me, numbers, and some letters, have personalities), and I lapped it all up. Was such a clever idea for Anderson to have an actual real life neurological phenomenom in her sci-fi book. It's something that is kind of rare, and so different, most people won't have heard of it, so it just adds to the mystery. And then, when you discover this isn't made up and is actually real, other aspects of the story just feel more real, too.What did happen to Tori? Alison saw her disintergrate, heard her shriek in pain. Is she really insane? Did her Synesthesia play tricks on her? Or did she actually do something, and if so, what? So she can make sure she doesn't do it again.I don't think there's much else I can say about the plot without spoiling it. But it's fantastic! There were clues to things along the way, but I never expected the outcome! You come up with your own theories while reading, but I didn't really see this one coming. It's awesome though! And Ultraviolet is so exciting because of it, even though in regards to action, not very much happens for most of the book.I was still gripped, though, I couldn't get enough of this book!There is a bit of a romance in the book, which is more of a sub-plot, but one that's intrinsically linked to the main plot. It's really quite sweet, but one I found to worry me in the back of my mind. Even though it's possible you might feel a little bit uncomfortable, it's written in a way that's so pure, it really is at the back of your mind, and easily ignored. Fortunately, it is addressed and dealt with, so despite reading with just a niggle, that niggle is satisfied by the end.And I really don't think I can say much more in this review without telling you everything that happens, because I just want to talk and talk about it! Ultraviolet is just amazing, and so unlike anything else I've read before! I am SO excited to read Quicksilver!

I can only imagine how rediculous I must've looked, sat in Starbucks with my chin on the floorwhen I finally got to the big twist in this book! I really wasn't expecting it, even though I hadsumwhat picked up on the theme of the big twist. At one point I was going with time travel being thebig reveal and I was close. Then I finally got it, probably a good 5 pages before the penny was supposedto drop! Bit I was still very suprised. I have to agree with an other reviewer in saying that this was alittle glossed over. The book for the first 14 chapters moved quite slowly and then all of a sudden you'rebeing told that everything you thought to be true was wrong and it all happened a little too fast for mewhich unfortunately meant that I found it a little unbelieveable.However, Alison was a wonderful character. I don't have her issues but was once a teenage girl with issuesof my own and felt I could relate to her sense of confusion, especially how shel felt she truly had no oneshe could turn to or confide in. She was well written and completely believeable and I was able to create thisperfect image of her in my head.I very much enjoyed all of the charcters from Pine Hill or "Fine Pills" as it is referred to in the book!I loved how you really thought you had them pegged personality wise as Alison did. Only to find they reallyhad more dimensions than you'd ever realized. I thought Ms Andersons writing of the institution and thepeople in it, including the hospital staff, absoloutley wonderful, which is why I think the book wasn'tquite as wonderful after the story took us out of this setting. I do understand why this happened, but I dofeel the story suffered slightly for it in my eyes.I really don't want to talk anymore about the plot (although I know I have said very little) as I thinkthis is one of those books best read when you know so little about it. I bought this book simply becauseI have read the fairy series by R J Anderson and the blurb on the back was very cryptic and engaing. Just afew short sentances had me gasping to read this book. And I am very glad that I did. It is a completeleydifferent direction for the author to what she has written previously. And I do think she has created a veryunique story here which is rare these days in novelists. However, I still think the twist happened just a littletoo suddenly, but that really is the only fault I have.Overall this is a very enjoyable, interesting and beautiful story, with a bizarre twist at the end. If you likeSci fi and fantasy novels then you should enjoy this book. I strongly suggest you read the fairy series, currently3 of the books are available (Knife, Rebel and Arrow) and the 4th (Swift) I believe will be released early next year.