Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi


Title/ Author: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Series:  #1 in the Under the Never Sky series
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Rating: 3 Stars ***


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

The Good:

  • The Plot: It's so creative and interesting! Simply reading the summary had me hooked. I wanted to buy it from the first moment I heard about this series. The world was super interesting and I kept finding myself imagining how it would be to live inside a pod or outside in The Dead Shop.  Who am I kidding?  I'd be so dead it's not even funny. 
  • Character Development: I have to admit it took me about half of the book before I could stand Aria. BUT she had a lot of development and by the end of the book I definitely respected her a lot more.  She went from stubborn, rude, and helpless to open, understanding, and self sufficient.  Also, Perry and Roar are both great characters and I'd love to read books solely about them.
  • Point of View:  I'm going to be frank, I usually really dislike alternating POV's but I REALLY liked it for the story. I think a main factor was that it is in 3rd person so I didn't find myself confused by the "same voice" of different characters.  I also really enjoyed getting a peak into Perry's head.
  • No Insta-Love: There was no ista-love! Hallelujah! I despise insta-love.  I love a slow building romance. All of my favorite couples have painfully slow romance stories.  I think I love being tortured!
    • Buffy & Spike
    • Fred & Wesley (uggh...rip my heart out!)
    • Bones & Booth
    • Katniss & Peta
    • Ross & Rachel (they count right?)
    • Anna & Étienne

The Bad:

  • Emotional Detachment:  I don't know what my problem was!  I mostly liked the characters. The plot obviously fascinated me. The style of writing was fun. But for some reason I was not emotionally invested in the characters or the story.  It took me over a month to finish this book! I kept having to force myself to pick it up. I was obviously in a reading slump the month of March but I don't know if this book caused my slump or if my slump affected my and opinion and motivation to finish the book. 
  • Love 180 (possible spoiler!): So while this book definitely doesn't have insta-love, it does have an immediate 180 of hate turning into love.  It wasn't long and painful enough for me haha!  I didn't get any butterflies or the like when they finally kissed.  I was simply like, "Oh...cool." But again I'm crazy and love being tortured!
  • Lack of World Building: I started off confused with some things like:
    • What exactly is an aether storm? 
    • What caused it?
    • Is the entire planet covered in Tribes and Pods?
    • Why did the people separate initially?
    • What exactly was The Unity?
     But I trusted that eventually I'd learn these things if I pressed on. Alas, the answers did  not  come.  So I'm left still confused and slightly frustrated.  I have not read the remainder of the  series though, so maybe the answers still wait for me. 

Overall: 
It was good but it didn't blow me away.  I can't explain why I couldn't connect with the characters.  Honestly, I want to give it another try one day and see if my opinion changes.  I am interested in continuing with the series and seeing where the story goes.  By the way, if any of my questions were answered in the book, I'd love to know!  Sometimes I'm a bad reader and as many times as I set this book down, I definitely may have skipped or forgotten things. 

Other Reviews:
MissDreamyMarie
CuddleBuggery

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