ARC Review: Under the Never Sky

By Veronica Rossi

Published by HarperCollins

Released: January 3, 2012

Source: ARC from Publisher

Rating: 5 Stars

Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.

As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions.

They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers a barbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love - one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY.

(http://goodreads.com)

I first started to read Under the Never Sky back in November, but I could not get past the first 50 pages. I really don't know why, I think that it just wasn't the type of book I was in the mood for at the time... But, I finally gave it another go and honestly, I couldn't put it down this time around!

I say this so often, but it's true: I love dystopia. Seriously, love it. And although Under the Never Sky definitely had that dystopian aspect, I really feel like it was more a story of survival than anything else. I think it's about Aria finding ways to survive after being ejected from the safe, little bubble that her, and everyone else she'd ever known, had always lived in. She discovered so many things about "The Death Shop" that were completely different from what she'd always been told, and although it took her a little while to realize that things weren't really the way she had been taught, I think that she dealt with everything exceptionally well.

I think that Aria was a really great character! I didn't absolutely love her from the very beginning (although I didn't dislike her at all, she just wasn't my favourite at the start), but over the course of the book, I began to like her more and more. I think that a lot of what made me like Aria increasingly more was the way the she grew and changed and developed. There was a huge difference between who she was at the beginning of the book to who she was at the end. She started off as someone who believed pretty much everything that she'd been taught in the Pods and who had no clue how to survive on the outside, but by the end she'd grown so much stronger and more capable. I think that she pretty much did a complete 360 over the course of the book, but in the best way possible!

Although he definitely can't be given all of the credit for the change in Aria during the book, Perry had a huge impact on her. I really liked Perry, and although he kind of pissed me off at some points (and every time I read his name I couldn't help but think of Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb...), I did really like him. It was obvious from the start that he was really strong and fierce, but he had a very gentle and caring side too. If there was someone that he really cared about, that really mattered to him, he would do everything he could for them, to make then happy and to keep them safe, which I could really appreciate.

I also really liked being able to read from both Perry and Aria's point of view. Sometime I really don't like switching between POV's, but I think that I really worked in this case, and I don't think that I would have liked Perry quite as much if I hadn't been able to experience some things from his perspective. It was really nice to be able to catch a glimpse at what both characters were feeling, not just one or the other.

The only minor little thing that I somewhat disliked about this book was that the romance seemed a bit sudden to me. I felt like Perry and Aria really disliked each other, were completely at each other's throats one chapter, but in the next their hearts were skipping beats, etc. when they were near each other, which kind of left me going like "What? When did this happen?". Despite the sudden start, I really liked the way that their relationship grew and developed from that point onward.

Overall, I really enjoyed Under the Never Sky and would recommend it! Don't go in expecting it to be super dystopian-feeling though because I really didn't find this as much of a dystopian novel as I found it a survival novel. I hope that you give it a shot and that you enjoy it like I did! I'm really looking forward to the sequel!

I hope that you enjoyed my review of Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi! Please comment and follow for more of my reviews!

You can check out Under the Never Sky on the Harper Collins Canada website by clicking here! Be sure to check out The Savvy Reader for some cool book news from Harper Collins Canada and also check out them out on Facebook and Twitter!

Claire :)