Ashleigh Paige

I'm a full-time college sophomore pursuing my B.A. in English with hopes of one day working as an editor. Cats, musicals, documentaries about cults/disasters/tragedies, and curse words are just a few of my favorite things. Also, check out our blog or I WILL FIND YOU.

Quicksilver

Quicksilver  - R.J. Anderson See more of my reviews sooner on the YA Kitten! I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.3.5 stars.Ultraviolet was one of the most intense novels I can remember reading, and upon hearing from the author herself that a companion novel was in the works, I kinda sorta died of happy. Then I got better. Friends have been swooning over this novel in the weeks before I had the chance to read it and I see what the big deal is. Quicksilver is more of a typical thriller than a psychological thriller like the previous book, but it's still just as fantastic.Though I expected greatness from the beginning, I never expected this! Tight plotting, well-developed characters (Sebastian in particular is so complex that it makes my head hurt), and some very tense scenes will likely make this one of the best novels of 2013. Tori's passion for engineering feels real and her friend/confidante Milo is a welcome addition to a cast I already knew so well. Some of the commentaries offered on sexism in engineering--and in science in general, really--are spot-on and it called for a feminist fist-bump.You'll never catch me saying I don't think there are enough people like me in books. Upper-middle-class white girls seem to have a hold on the genre, so there's nothing for me to complain about. Still, I want to thank Anderson for writing an asexual character like Tori because I have never seen/met someone else who identities as asexual in real life or in fiction. Now I can take comfort in the existence of Tori when people act like my sexual orientation is nonexistent.There really isn't anything to complain about concerning Quicksilver, as I've already discussed, but there was never any personal investment on my part. With Ultraviolet, I was unable to let go of Alison, her internal struggle concerning her sanity, and how her synesthesia enhanced the reader's experience. Quicksilver