Friday, August 26, 2011

Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson

Even though Alison is not like other sixteen-year-olds, she has learned to hide her differences in order to appear normal. This means keeping hidden the fact that she can taste words and see numbers as colors. But then an event occurs with a strong and immediate impact on Alison's life and world. She's not sure if she killed her classmate Tori, and the aftermath from that incident has landed her in a mental institution called Pine Hills. The other residents there are truly crazy, and her psychiatrist is untrustworthy. But how do you prove to others that you aren't crazy, when you aren't entirely sure you believe it yourself?

I was completely under Alison's spell from the very first chapter. Ultraviolet has one of the best looks into mental wards that I have seen in fiction in a long time. Alison had some fun superpowers- the colors were totally cool, but the other talents that manifested throughout the story were pretty impressive. I was nervous about getting to the end, having heard that the big reveal is a bit of a let down. But I honestly did not see that twist coming and enjoyed it all the more for the surprise. I found myself tearing through this book, not being able to turn away and needing to know what would become of Alison's fate. Anderson teases that she may write a companion novel to this story, and I sure hope she does!

Overall Rating: 5 Stars

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