Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky, #1)

by Veronica Rossi

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Aria lives in the pods, she lives her daily life in the realms which everyone can access through their smart eye. In the realms she can explore any world or time she wants, learn any skill or sport she wants. She meets her friends in the realms to hang out, she meets her mother in the realms even though her mother is literally thousands of miles away in another pod. She can still talk to her mother in her mind. She's barely ever in the real.

But when the link to her mother is disconnected and doesn't go back up again she gets extremely concerned and decides to take matters in to her own hands. She has to find out if her mothers okay. This decision puts her in a lot more trouble than she realises was possible.

Peregrine lives in the Outside. He is a hunter for their tribe, a rare Scire that has the sight and is a seer, he is also the younger brother of the Bloodlord of their tribe. There's nothing more that Perry wants than to be the Bloodlord, he wants to move the tribe to another land, he knows they're not safe where they are any longer with the Aether. The Aether storms get worse and worse every winter and he's sure that this winter their tribe might not make it out of the storms. There is hardly any game left in their area any more. Of course his brother sees it differently.

Aria was at times whiny and selfish but only in her memories of her mother. When it came to the present she was very likeable although I didn't find her or her actions to be too memorable. Still I liked her and enjoyed reading her point of view. I really liked that she changed through out this book, she had grown and developed at the end of the book from who she was at the beginning. That was really important I find. I really wish I could hear her sing! From the reactions of every character in the book she sounds amazing at it.

Peregrine was so interesting. At first when we're introduced to his point of view, I thought he was in his twenties. The way he thought and acted seemed older than the age he really was. I think that's probably because of the way he has to live and his past. I liked reading his point of view because it was so different to Aria's and, I feel guilty saying this but, I thought he was the more interesting character. I loved hearing about his special abilities and they way he thought of Aria. I loved even more how he changed through this book.

This world is so believable and amazing that I am actually surprised. I did not expect that when I picked up this book. Don't you just love pleasant surprises? The Aether sounds so weird and interesting yet to be honest I'm not exactly sure what it is or even what it completely looks like. The descriptions of the aether aren't very descriptive of it's physical appearance, it's more they way it moves and how it's acting up at that moment. So I find myself interested in it, I really want to know how it became and why!

Still this world was believable and I was able to picture it, even without the complete Aether.

I was in love with the writing style. It was the style that reminded me of books like The Baker's Boy trilogy by J. V. Jones, it had an epic adventure feel to it, it felt polished and wonderful to read. It flowed well, I was drawn in to each characters' thoughts and worlds and I believed everything that was happening. It was easy and comfortable to read as well as interesting and exciting!

The beginning of this book was exciting and mysterious, I wanted to know more about the world Aria lived in, more about the technology, more about Aria herself. Then we met Peregrine and I wanted to know more about him and his world, more about their abilities and way of life. I found myself very intrigued with everything. I got rather excited as I read on and that's very rare for me.

The first three quarter's of the book was fast paced, exciting, and very interesting. I loved the adventure side that made it feel like an epic fantasy of David Eddings proportions, then I loved that there was the side that felt like a YA Dystopian with romance stirred in to the pot. This story was made up of the best parts of adventure, fantasy and dystopian with an underlying romance slowly building its way through. I felt thrilled when reading it.

The only thing that I didn't like, the reason I brought this book down to four clubs (It would have been a unanimous five if it hadn't been because of the following), which is a terrible shame, is the ending. The last quarter of the story. Everything about that quarter screams rushed or only written because it had to be. It felt like Rossi wasn't having any fun with it, like she just wanted to get it over and done with so she could move on to the next book or something. The ending felt rushed, boring, not written even half as well as the first three quarters and I lost interest fast. Getting bored at the ending of a book is very weird and has never happened to me before. I don't know what happened. I really don't understand what happened at all. I kept wondering where the adventure and excitement went. It just felt like a forced ending.

It also got confusing because it felt like the story suddenly had legs of it own and didn't need readers to really know what was happening. Things weren't outright stated, they were only hinted at as if we already knew, as if we were in on the secret already. It got a little confusing because it felt like we should have known something already as it sounded like we did yet it was never stated in the book as a fact. I found myself going "It sounds like this person has this but I can't be sure because it hasn't said that they do yet, even though they're acting like they know as well." I was waiting to be told but it never came. It felt like the character had discovered it away from the book, away from the readers' eyes.

Other than that very disappointing point which was the only reason I could not give this book a rating of five, I loved it and can not wait for the second one, Through the Ever Night! Seriously. This book is one of my favourites that I will now recommend to everyone to try!

I would definitely recommend this book to read and own. I had fun reading it and could barely put it down. It's a book that I now want to own on my own shelves!

Miss J
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