Title: Under the Never Sky
Author: Veronica Rossi
Series: Under the Never Sky #1
Genre: Teen Dystopian
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
The Overview: 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.
The Review:
I enjoyed Under the Never Sky a lot more than I thought I would, but not as much as I could have. You see, while reading it I got interrupted during ALL of the best parts. All of them. So when sparks finally start to fly between the characters, I got interrupted. When intense action scenes were underway, I got interrupted. When I was ten pages from finishing the book, I got interrupted. So, as you can see, the reading Gods works against me with this one… but even with all those things working against me, I still enjoyed it.
The concept for the book was great – it was a unique, futuristic take on the the age-old survival story. The world building, societies, and technology, while not the most solidly imagined, created an excellent atmosphere for the story that sucked me in right from the start. While it’s definitely not the best dystopian I have ever read, it held its own in a flooded market and is definitely more near the top of the list than the bottom.
My favorite part of the book was the love story between Aria and Perry. In an age of insta-loves and predetermined soul mates, it was refreshing to read about a relationship that came together organically. It doesn’t hurt matters that I’m totally on board with Perry as the male lead – hubba hubba! I like Aria, but I would definitely like to see her grow and develop a bit more in the next books. I should mention that many of my favorite book bloggers LOVED this series specifically because of the slowly-developing love story, which is what initially talked me into reading it.
I will admit I wasn’t totally convinced about the plot at first. While the world is well-thought-out and realistic, the direction the story took early on lacked a little feasibility. I found myself adopting that “just go with it” mentality. Luckily, once the story found its stride, it got a lot better. The big conflicts of the story were great – perfectly exciting and heart-wrenching. The smaller conflicts were entertaining, but did have the tendency to get a bit over dramatic on occasion… not enough to suck my enjoyment out of the book, but enough to make me hopeful that those scenes were just there for contrast (as I said before, I’m hoping to see even more character growth next).
Overall, of all the dystopian’s I’ve read over the last several years, Under the Never Sky is definitely one of the better ones. I am excited to read on, as I’ve heard great things about the next two books. The story definitely has potential to go somewhere momentous, but that’s what I said about the Divergent trilogy so I will just have to wait and see. :)
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