Under the Never Sky

This is by far my favorite cover for this book. Isn’t it gorgeous?

Stars: 
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Series: Book #1 in the Under The Never Sky series.
Publisher: HarperCollins 1/3/2012
Author: Veronica Rossi

Recommended Read?: Yes, it’s a very powerful love story.

Goodreads summary:

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.

DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.

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:

FIRST IMPRESSION:
I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book — mostly about the “unforgettable romance” — so I knew I had to read it. It took me a while to finally get to it. When I first began to read it, I immediately liked that it was written in third person. I didn’t know how I felt about Aria yet and I was actually hoping it would pick up the pace a bit.

THE PLOT:
There is a larger plot to the story that keeps things moving forward, but it’s sort of like there are two. There’s Aria’s story — her need to get to Bliss, her mom, and back inside the Pods — and then there’s Perry’s — his need to find Talon, to become Blood Lord, to help his tribe. Personally, I thought Perry’s plot was far more compelling. There were so many interesting elements to the world Rossi built around the tribes and the Outsiders, I just loved learning about it. Plus, Perry’s stakes were significantly higher than Aria’s (not that that’s Aria’s fault or anything). He had his nephew’s well being in his hand, his tribe’s, and just so many lives to consider. Whereas Aria just had her and her mother’s life to worry about. That’s not her fault or anything, I just thought the parts with Perry were more interesting and the tension was higher.

Even though Aria’s plot line wasn’t as interesting as Perry’s, I really think that Rossi did a great job of world building for both worlds. By the end, I had a deeper understanding of their world, the Pods, the tribes, and all of it. I don’t think there were any significant plot twists. All the ones that were probably meant as surprises, I could see coming.

THE CHARACTERS:
I enjoyed all the characters. Aria was a true heroine. She was put in a very tough position, and despite that, she learned to rise above it. She was completely outside of her element, constantly getting hurt, but she toughed through it. She held her head high and she just kept going — because she knew she had no other choice. That’s a character I can really respect.

Perry was so deep and brilliant. I loved him. There were so many elements to him, and they just kept unraveling throughout the story. He was so broken, not just on the outside, but he just kept going. Even though he wanted to be Blood Lord, it didn’t seem like a selfish impulse. It was clear that his tribe needed him. Even though he seemed so confident on the outside, he still had a sweet and shy side that I adored.

Roar, Perry’s best friend, was a fabulous extra character. I just adored him. Talon, another side character, was precious as well. And Cinder … I liked him, too. He was a bit convenient, as were his powers, so I’m hoping in the second book there’s a bigger reason for having him.

THE ROMANCE:
This is why I read the book. I heard the romance was to die for. It was slow to unravel (like a lot of things in this book) but I liked that. I generally can’t stand insta-love, so the fact that it took a lot of time and experiences for Aria and him to grow close was perfect for me. In the end, I was eager for them to be together.

And Rossi gave us glimpses of that, which was nice, but the part that made the book great was all the times she gave us glimpses into the future — the future were they couldn’t be together. They seemed like true star crossed lovers, uncontrollably in love, but not meant to be. I love that in a romance.

The Writing:

I loved the way Rossi described things. She really has a gift for that. How she used Perry’s Senses to heighten situations. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to constantly have to describe emotions into scents. I loved the POV switches, it was really fitting for this story. There were a few things that gave Perry and Aria different voices, but overall you couldn’t tell from purely the writing sentence which character’s head we were in. Perry would use some words Aria wouldn’t (like skitty) but otherwise they were the same sentence structure and all that.

The world building was impressive. I never felt like she was dropping the information just for the reader to have it. It all worked into the plot.

The only problem I had in the story was pacing. There were a lot of lulls and parts that I felt were probably meant for some reason (illustrating Aria and Perry’s relationship, for example) that just slowed the story down. There was a lot of waiting for things to happen. Waiting to leave Delphi. Waiting to get here or there. Even though the pacing was off, the moments she used to fill those lulls were interesting enough that i didn’t really mind.

CONCLUSION:

I already have the second book. That pretty much says it all, right?