Ultravioletby R.J. Anderson

Once upon a time there was a girl who was special. This is not her story.   Unless you count the part where I killed her.Sixteen-year-old Alison has been sectioned in a mental institute for teens, having murdered the most perfect and popular girl at school. But the case is a mystery: no body has been found, and Alison's condition is proving difficult to diagnose. Alison herself can't explain what happened: one minute she was fighting with Tori -- the next she disintegrated. Into nothing. But that's impossible. Right? (goodreads.com)

Oh, the hoops I had to jump through in order to get this book, by a Canadian author AND set in Canada, here in Canada. Dear Canada, What the heck, Dudes? Why would you not jump at the chance to publish great works by your own people? Why must Canadians find book deals in the UK before their own country? Seems backwards to me. You should be REJOICING in the TALENT that you have between your coasts. On that matter - why must you CHANGE TITLES and COVER ART for the books when they finally make it within our own boundaries? That will never make sense to me.So, yeah, I had to order this from the UK, because it released there first, and then when it came out I was suddenly blocked since Book Depository doesn't let Canadians buy UK editions anymore (and I know I have been saying this a lot lately, but it really, truly pisses me the hell off!). So I did a book trade with Jenny and I sent her Once Every Never (a Canadian authored book that came out in - gasp! - Canada before anywhere else!) and she bought this one for me from the UK and had it shipped. SO BACKWARDS!*ahem*I am a complete fangirl when it comes to RJ Anderson's Knife series (er... Faeries of the Oakenwyld?) (and of course I had to buy each of those from the UK when they first came out) and I love her writing. So finding out there was another book in the works, one with a different setting and world than the faerie ones, I HAD to have it.Ultraviolet is certainly a YA book. I would classify the faerie series as middle grade if I had to. This one is completely different and the entire synopsis had me yearning to hold the book in my hands as soon as I read it all those moons ago.I can't quite put all my thoughts into coherent paragraphs so I will do this in parts!1) I love books set in mental institutions. Yes, that seems pretty creepy and crazy, but I DO.2) I have a mild form of synesthesia* which I was diagnosed with during my second attempt at University (along with dyslexia) and the fact that this... disorder (though it's not really a disorder, but I don't know what to call it)... was a part of the main character had me jumping in my seat and squealing for joy. It's so rare that anyone writes about it. (A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Maas is also a good book on that subject).3) Canadian author people! And when I discovered that the story also takes place in Canada, Sudbury, ON to be specific, I was THRILLED. Even Canadian authors tend to set their stories in the US or even Europe. It's rare that the main plot of the story happens in my own Country. I am fiercely loyal to my Canada. ;)4) I spent the first 2/3 of the book trying desperately to figure out just what happened between Alison and Tori. I thought I had it all figured out and then Part III happened and - WOW. Boy did I not see THAT coming! It took me a while to get my head around it and I was tossed around on the sea of "do I like this?" and "do I not like this?" until I came to the conclusion that I DID like it and I was giddy with having just been thrown for a complete loop as I was. That says something because I can pretty much guess endings to tv show, movies and books fairly easily.5) I don't know if I am happy or not that there will be a sequel. This was one of those books that, although the ending was rather open-ended, I liked it that way. Finding out there will be another book is almost as much of a shock as Part III of the novel. Of course I will read it, I mean it will be written by RJ Anderson, duh! I will likely have to recruit the help of my UK BFF once more in order to buy it from the UK, but I am ok with that. I think I am just a little tired of all books being series right now. (no offence!) Once in a while I like a great stand-alone novel.6) I almost forgot - I love that the characters had NORMAL names! I am also tired of the trend of weird soap operatic names in YA literature these days. It doesn't make your character seem more interesting or mysterious, people! It makes them sound pretentious and douchey!I actually read this book between the Fifth and Sixth Signs of the Zodiac by Vicki Pettersson! It's rare I'll read something between two books in a series when I have them both. I had to get to this one as soon as it showed up in my life and I was not disappointed! Thanks, Ms. Anderson for yet another superb book! I hope to see those milk bags in the second book for sure! ;)* I see sounds. Music especially, and other sounds all show up as colours and textures for me and I always thought that was weird. It also turned out that's why I was always colour-coding my notes in school and that in order to help absorb the information in my textbooks, I had to place coloured acetates over the pages and I had to have an array of colours because not everything was understood under one colour.Ultraviolet series

1. Ultraviolet
2. Quicksilver