Book Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky

Veronica Rossi

Publication Date: January 3rd 2012

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 376

Genre:  Dystopia, Young Adult

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.

For some reason this book was a rather hard to read, and what's frustrating is that I cannot pinpoint exactly why. I know that are a few things that didn't work so much for me, but usually I'm not thrown off that much.

The story is dystopian in a rather Uglies Trilogy type of way with the outsiders, the savages and the Insiders. At the same time we can't really figure out what is wrong with the Inside (other than the fact that no one pays attention to reality) governmental wise that's all that bad.

Outside on the other hand, it is very clear it is like a post-apocalyptical world. I think maybe this was one my biggest issues, it was almost as if Rossi tried to fit two entire world buildings into one story, that of the inside and that of the outside, and as soon as she tries to get us stable on what the inside is like she throws Aria outside and that's all that matters. The worlds are so different, it's hard to keep them both in one's head. I almost wish Rossi had spent a book completely on Aria on the inside and ended it with her being thrown out, so that she can spend a second book doing what she did this book.

On the other hand I love, love, love the title and the thought of it. Because of the aether, you never see the sky anymore, they live in a world of the never sky.

I also really enjoyed the outsiders and their abilities and how that all worked.

I was both surprised and disappointed that Aria ended up being a mixture. On one hand I wasn't really suspecting, but I see the clues that were there, on the other hand it just feels so clichéd. I like the idea of her being completely insider, yet being able to survive out there anyway.

Rereading this review, it does seem somewhat negative, but I did enjoy reading the prose in this story and I do think it was well written, it was probably just not for me. I recommend this to people who like the idea of having two completely different world in a dystopia.

3.5 Bookmarks