Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

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.

My Review:

Under the Never Sky is a great addition to the sci-fi and dystopian genre.  The book alternates between the third person perspectives of Aria and Perry, two people with very different upbringings.  This book has great characterization, world-building, and relationships.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

The worldbuilding of this book was done well, really allowing readers to get to know the world.  At the beginning, it was slightly confusing because the characters used many world-specific terms.  Once you heard these words in use for a bit, you got acquainted with their meanings.  This world is a place where people live in pods and spend their time in Realms that don't actually exist.  All the people in these pods wear Smarteyes to go to the Realms.  Outside of the pods, there are people known as Savages.  They live in tribes and the tribal leader is called a Blood Lord.  They have to worry about the Aether storms that are out there.  

Aria is someone who has lived in a pod called Reverie for her entire life.   In Reverie, she always had her Smarteye, but she was having trouble contacting her mother who was in another pod.  She had a guy from Reverie, Soren, break into Ag 6 (a dome) with her so she could get information about her mother.  He almost burned the dome down by starting a fire, and Aria got kicked out of Reverie for this.  She ends up where Savages live, outside the pods.  Aria grows a lot over the course of this book.  She learns how to live in the wild, and she becomes less judgmental of the "Savages."  She realizes that real may actually be better than the Realms.

The other protagonist is Perry, a member of a tribe outside the pods.  He loses his brother's son to people who live in the pods, and he is determined to get Talon (the son) back.  He goes out to find Talon, and that's when he meets Aria.  He saves her life multiple times.  During his journey with Aria, he learns that not all the people from the pods are bad.  He and Aria fall for each other, and this is a sweet romance.  Perry also learns to be less judgmental.  They both dislike each other at first, but this changes as the story progresses.

If you like YA dystopian, read this book.

Katie