Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi


Rating: 4 stars


Synopsis:  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 the only person who can keep her alive.

And if they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.

Review: This is a book that I've heard a lot about and always wanted to pick up. I managed to pick up the sequel to this book in a bookstore and then picked this up at the library. Aria's life is incredibly sheltered - she lives under a protective dome where life is lived in realms - think fear landscapes in Divergent but a lot more pleasant. The 'dwellers' have always feared the 'outsiders' until one night Aria tries to find out what happened to her mother by trusting a boy who really shouldn't be trusted.

I did like this book; I thought it was a really good opening to the series and I'm looking forward to the second book. I thought Aria was quite a good female protagonist who just got on with things. Yes there was some initial squealing about how she's going to die but in all fairness, it didn't last long and it was well justified - it's common knowledge that dwellers can't survive on the outside. Perry as well was quite a good protagonist. He's a survivor and is willing to do whatever it takes to protect his family. We get to hear both Aria and Perry's side of the story throughout the book and I thought the dual POV actually worked really well. We needed to hear from both of them in order to understand what their lives are like and I thought Veronica did this really well.

I thought the world building was amazing. There was so much thought put into the world - the dome where Aria lives and the life and secrets the realms hide and the Tides - Perry's tribe. The two contrasting lives and situations were so well thought out and with the dual POV you really got to see how the 'privileged' dwellers lived in comparison to the outsiders who are struggling to survive. I thought the idea of Blood Lord was intriguing. Perry's brother is Blood Lord of the Tides - the ruler in other words - and while Perry is desperate for that title himself, he won't do it because of his nephew Talon. (Which I'll come back to in a minute). Each tribe has a Blood Lord and it's a very bad idea for you to kill one, which Perry finds out during the course of the book. I thought this detail was cleverly used to create an obstacle for Perry and Aria to overcome and it was incredibly well thought out.

While the overall plot of the story was good, there were a few things that I didn't like. We meet Aria at the moment she's about to enter Ag 6 which is off limits and forms the basis of the story. While I can understand why Veronica started the book off here, I thought it would have been better to start a little before this point so there's a chance to see why Aria feels like she has to go through with this and so we get to meet the characters beforehand and get to know them a little bit better. There seemed to be a lot of information that Aria had to tell us so that we understood why she was prepared to break the law and I think the story might have benefited from us being shown the information instead.
There was a lot of information that came a little late in the story. For example, we find out probably about 3/4 of the way into the book that Perry has 'rendered' with Talon - which is why he's so intent on finding him and why he's so afraid of being close to Aria. This whole concept just kind of came out of nowhere and there wasn't really any explanation for it after the fact.

The pacing of Under the Never Sky felt incredibly fast. I normally have issues with slow paced books that linger forever on one section but in this book there was a definite pace to the book which while it moved the book along and kept me reading (I finished the book in a day so the pacing isn't necessarily a bad thing) there were moments when I thought the pace could have been slowed a little so some of the issues I mentioned earlier could have been addressed a little better.

Overall I did enjoy this book and I am looking forward to reading the second book. I'm very interested to see what will happen to Aria and Perry in the next two instalments. A fast paced read that puts an interesting twist on dystopic and sci-fi YA fiction.  
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