ULTRAVIOLET CATASTROPHE by Jamie Grey: A Five Reasons Review

“We’ll be one big happy nerd herd.”

You don’t have to be a science geek to love Jamie Grey’s ULTRAVIOLET CATASTROPHE—a fun, fast-paced new YA novel that’ll please fans of sci-fi action-romances like ONE by Leigh Ann Kopans.

First, the blurb (and then my Five Reasons review below!):

Quantum Electrodynamics. String Theory. Schrödinger’s cat. For sixteen-year-old Lexie Kepler, they’re just confusing terms in her science textbooks, until she finds out that her parents have been drugging her to suppress her outrageous IQ. Now Branston Academy, a school run by the world’s most powerful scientists, has tracked her down and is dying for her to attend—as a research subject.

She takes refuge at Quantum Technologies, a secret scientific community where her father works as a top-notch scientist, and begins her new life as “girl genius” at Quantum High. But the assignments at her new school make the Manhattan Project look like preschool—and Lexie barely survived freshman algebra.

Her first big assignment—creating an Einstein-Rosen bridge—is also her first chance to prove she can hold her own with the rest of QT’s prodigies. But while working with the infuriatingly hot Asher Rosen, QT’s teen wonder, Lexie uncovers a mistake in their master equation. Instead of a wormhole, the machine they’re building would produce deadly ultraviolet rays that could destroy the world.

When the lead scientist on their project turns up as a popsicle in the cryo chamber, Lexie learns that the “mistake” in the equation is actually a carefully crafted plan to sabotage Quantum Technologies. And all signs point to Branston Academy being the culprit. Now Lexie and Asher have to use their combined brainpower to stop Branston from stealing the plans and selling the doomsday device to the highest bidder, before everyone at QT is caught in the ultraviolet catastrophe.

Review: Nicely paced with vibrant characters and appealing first-person narration, UVC is a very enjoyable read with a skillful balance of action, suspense, and romance (with bonus geekery for the science aficionados among us). Here are my top five reasons why you might like it:

1.  Hogwarts for science buffs. QT is a great setting, realized in just enough detail. I love a story that throws clashing personalities together in a new place and then lets friendships unfold against a backdrop of intrigue and danger. One of my favorite YA blogs, Crunchings and Munchings, just did this post on “starting a new school” stories, and this book is a great example. Like the post says, “the reader gets a crash course in what may as well be a whole new world—new social landscape, new rules, new potential disasters.” Grey makes the QT setting alien but inviting, so we’re excited to watch Lexie decode her new surroundings (and dig up its secrets).

2.  Just-right flaws. Lexie’s initial insecurities about not being smart enough to roll with the QT crowd are well-drawn and realistic; she’s been drugged to camouflage her intelligence her whole life, so she wears the “genius” mantle awkwardly when she arrives at her new school. There were times when I wanted to shake her when her confidence issues would bubble to the surface and complicate her developing friendships, but to me that’s a sign of a well-rounded character with believable flaws. As long as the flaws don’t overwhelm the narrative or outweigh the good things that keep me invested in a character, I’m happy—and Grey did a great job maintaining that balance. (Lexie often uses some gentle humor to deal with her insecurity, which helps: “Even at lunch, my teammates were overachievers.”)

3. Awesome heroine for STEM-inclined girls. Okay, I’m a former English major of the “math is hard” persuasion, and I do love YA books featuring budding writers, artists, photographers, musicians, dancers, etc. But look, science geniuses need more action-adventure-romances they can see themselves in, so books like UVC are important. (If you’re not a science geek, though, don’t worry—Grey doesn’t confuse or condescend, and she explains just enough about the science underpinning her plot. You’ll understand what’s happening and why it matters, even if “building an Einstein-Rosen bridge” isn’t on your to-do list.)

4. Keeps it real. Grey neatly smashes stereotypes and finds the humanity in her characters—yeah, they’re brilliant in a way most of us will never be, and they’ve kiiiiinda got the fate of the world in their hands, but they’re also real teens with relatable dramas and heartaches. It’s tough to write a coherent character who can talk about the energy and wavelength of photons one minute and then parse her crush’s flirting the next, but Grey pulls it off and makes Lexie and her friends believable and sympathetic. (And you’ll want to go to Coco’s for a burger. Trust me.)

5. The love triangle that wasn’t (spoilers? I guess?). Okay, I admit it: when Lexie first arrived at QT, I was expecting a Max/Lexie/Asher love triangle, and I was worried it was going to play out in a predictable way: cocky Asher would turn out to be a cad, and sweet Max would be waiting when Lexie came to her senses. Love triangles can be fun, but I was happy to see this play out differently. Lexie got to develop a nice friendship with Max, and Asher turned out to be sweeter and more layered than he seemed at first glance.

INSTA-LOVE OH NOES

About that central Lexie-Asher romance: there’s instant attraction, but not insta-love. (Side note: I think it’s important to make that distinction. Slamming books for “insta-love” has become almost a sport, and I’m afraid authors are going to start getting paranoid, thinking it’s somehow goopy or disingenuous to depict a rush of instant attraction between two young, attractive people. Insta-love’s been around since Romeo and Juliet. Give me some awesome writing and two interesting characters, and they could fall in love in a roller-coaster queue for all I care.)

ANYWAY. No insta-love here, if you’re keeping score. Grey builds the relationship carefully, and Lexie and Asher hit a lot of different notes with each other along the way: attraction, respect, concern, insecurity, exasperation, empathy. (I actually wish they’d had more time to just goof off together like regular kids as their attraction grew, but that probably would’ve hurt the pacing.) It’s especially fun to see them geek out together in the science lab. Their relationship is most exciting when they’re hacking into servers side by side to unravel the dark secrets of QT, and I mean that as a compliment. I love a great kissing scene (and there are some very good ones here, too), but it’s even more meaningful to see a relationship deepen through shared purpose. Well-done romance, and really nice to see the “he’s hot ’cause he’s a jerk” trope averted (Asher’s cocky facade falls away pretty fast).

Bonus points for: Asher’s t-shirts. I’m juuuuuust geeky enough to fall for a guy with a closetful of shirts that say “Got Science?” and “Obey Gravity. It’s the Law.” (The blue-green eyes and the Joker impression helped, too.)

ULTRAVIOLET CATASTROPHE releases on September 24, guys! You can add it to your Goodreads here, find out more about Jamie Grey here, and follow her on Twitter at @jamie_grey.

Happy reading!