Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky, #3)

by Veronica Rossi

[KitsuneBae]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

This review first appeared on: Thoughts and Pens

And when my hard work came into fruition, I thought I had just experienced one of the best moments of my life. Seems ridiculous but Under The Never Sky has converted me into an obsessed reader that couldn’t eat, talk and sleep without the healthy fix of Perry, Aria and Roar. Yeah, I know. I’m clingy, needy and demanding but that’s just how I roll when it comes to my favourite series.

Into The Still Blue immediately accounted the events right after the Through The Ever Night happenings. Among the three Under the Never Sky books, I must say that Into The Still Blue is more action packed. This is expected since our leads are racing against time to do the things that need to be done: saving Cinder and finding a way to evacuate the Tides and the rescued Dwellers to Into The Still Blue. Although things were quite predictable, I still love how Veronica constructed the whole plot. It did not deviate from her brand of writing which means: the romance didn’t propel the story to move forward and she peppered it with another set of heartbreaking moments.

It is also worth mentioning that Veronica Rossi’s beautiful writing is also one factor for my leniency of the predictable plot. It did not only compensate for the said flaw but had me on tenterhooks all throughout the 271 pages of the book.

But what really fuelled this book (and the previous installments) to be what it is right now—awesome and inducer of a lot of feels—is the fact that it is a very character-and-relationship driven book. In Into The Still Blue, Veronica was able to maintain the sturdiness of her characters without resorting to over the top character development. And throw in some believable, vibrant and multi-faceted character relationships into the mixture, you’ll have a wonderful story worth rooting dying for. I am not only talking about the romance between Aria and Perry here but also their relationships with the other book characters. And well, is it still worth discussing that Aria and Roar have the best platonic relationship ever? Yep! Yep! Yep! I am very pleased that until the end, Veronica managed on not jumping into the bandwagon of love triangle authors and was able to conserve Roar and Aria’s “we’re just friends” bond.

I was really tempted to give this book a 5 star rating but the calculator side of my personality wouldn’t just permit it. There’s still a gaping hole about the world building that Veronica failed to cover on this book. Until now, I am still wondering what the Aether is all about. And for that, I have to knock off a half star from this review.

And so…

Into the Still Blue, despite its flaws, has still exceeded my expectations. I must admit that this conclusion lacked the zest that its two predecessors have contained. But still… Into the Still Blue was good in its own way. It certainly ended the Under the Never Sky with a loud BANG. Although I am happy to tick this series off my monitoring book, I am still sad. Saying goodbye to an old beloved friend is always a thing that I don’t want to confront.

What are you waiting for? Get your copies now. :D

***An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Harper Collins!***