Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Title: Under the Never Sky
Author: Veronica Rossi
Series: Under the Never Sky #1
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: January 3, 2012
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland – known as The Death Shop – are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild – a savage – and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile – everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

I am not sure I can call this book a dystopia, I think this is more of a futuristic book. Aside from that, this book is a masterpiece. Perfection.

I read this a while before school started and well, it made me wish I had more days for my summer break so that I could hunt down more books like this and read the hell out of them.

This book has the perfect opening, someone breaking the law of course, with a fire and the author introducing us to the society in which Aria lives. Openings matter quite a bit because sometimes if the author fails to impress us with the beginning, we tend to either quit after a while or drag along with the book, which ends up with us not liking it as much. It also gives us an idea about what the rest of the book will be like, will it be worth reading or not? With an opening like that, I was drawn straight into the story and wasn’t let free until the end. I was never bored. This book is an adventure so there isn’t much opportunity for boredom.

Unlike a lot of people though, I actually liked the world building. Most of the reviews I had read were good but they all said that the world building was a bit sketchy. I guess opinions differ. It’s very easy to imagine the world. Plus the concept of Aether is cool, we aren’t told a lot about it in the book but I think there is a reason behind that. It’s something none of our characters really understand. If they don’t understand how can they be expected to describe it to us? The whole realms thing is kind of scary, “better than real”, because the people living in pods are secluded; they have what is known as realms. Everything they cannot experience in real life can be experienced through these realms. There is a realm for everything, the difference is, they aren’t real. The idea kind of scares me because as much as I don’t care for going out and seeing the world, to have it all taken away from me would suck.

The book is written in dual POV and is narrated by our Perry and Aria. Oh my gosh I love both of these characters so much, although I do prefer Perry because of his attachment to his nephew, Talon. They are both on a journey for someone that is important to them so they need to match forces to make this possible. Perry is a serious person, who although may not be extremely friendly, is extremely loyal. He is a great friend and a great uncle. Aria is a character that takes some time to warm up to mostly because of her prejudices which aren’t exactly her fault. But she is also a great character, a strong female lead who can think for herself.

I had a lot of fun watching the romance between the two unravel. It went from this:

“Oh, this was champ. She’d found herself a Savage prince. Don’t laugh, she told herself. Don’t laugh, Aria.” 

To this:

“What could she say? How could she possibly describe what she felt for him? He knew. He had to know.”

The plot was also great, like I’ve mentioned already, this book doesn’t leave much opportunity for boredom. I was always on the edge waiting for something new to happen, something even better than what had just happened.

Overall, Under the Never Sky is a great read for everyone looking for something that’s a bit different than everything else out there.