Under the Never Sky

Author: Veronica Rossi

Series: Under the Never Sky # 1

Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia, Fantasy, Romance

Publisher: Atom

Released: 3 January 2012

Summary: via goodreads.com Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim. Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive. If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers

My Review: Under the Never Sky was one of those books for me that grabbed a hold in the beginning and refused to let go. I was first attracted by the cover, but feared it would be similar to Across the Universe (a book I hated, by the way). The love story in it was honest, I know that it is typical of YA novels to start out with the love interests being disinterested in each other and then let it grow into something more over time, but from the first moment Perry is a bit taken with Aria and then proceeds to fight with himself over it for the rest of the novel. It’s complex stuff to take on in a YA book. This definitely wasn’t a cookie-cutter love story.

The mystery that encompasses the book is large enough to be a driving force and powerful enough to propel the characters from one page to the next. I adored that nearly everything was explained, such as why Aria doesn’t die right off in The Death Shop. Rossi has such an incredible way of saying so much with so little, you can glean the impact that these people have on each other, as well as their drive to achieve their goals without being bogged down with inane ‘question and answer’ sessions that characters seem to go through in YA books. Rossi shows us that her characters are driven, she shows us that her characters are strong, and that they have feelings. She doesn’t need to say every five pages; “Perry aka a wild savage man” or “Aria is kind of stupid, but so much smarter now” which I hate, it lessens the writing if you keep telling me how ‘strong-willed’ of ‘sad’ a character is, show me that they are sad, show me that they are strong willed. In Under the Never Sky the audience actually gets to see the main characters grow and change over the course of the novel. Aria and Perry come from completely different places, literally polar opposites and seeing them begin to understand each other is truly a wonder.

The only thing that I had a relatively hard time with was the lack of description of the Aether storms, when Aria first leaves Reverie Perry mentions something about her attracting them which I didn’t understand, nor did I understand how they truly came about in the first place. I tried to, but it seemed to be in vain. Maybe the answer will come in book two?

I cannot wait for book two (currently entitled Through the Ever Night) to come out next year. The ending of Under the Never Sky was so incredibly perfectly open-ended that I wasn’t having a panic attack (cough Delirium cough) but will definitely pre-order book two. I cannot wait to see where Aria and Perry head next!