Review: Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Title: Under The Never Sky

Series: Under The Never Sky #1

Author: Veronica Rossi

Publishing Date: January 3, 2012

Rating: 3 Stars

Amazon - Goodreads - Shelfari

Book Blurb

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 abarbarian, 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.

My Thoughts

I'm not too sure how to rate this. There were parts I liked, parts I didn't and then parts that I don't even know what to think. 

My main problem was the world building. I just could not get into the book as much as I could have because the world building sucked. I still don't know how the Pods are inside. How do they sleep? What do they do with their lives? I mean they can apparently live for up to 200 years, and you want me to believe they live for 200 years doing NOTHING? I would eventually get tired of the Realms, and probably get claustrophobia from being in those Pods 24/7. How exactly does that eye thing work anyway? Is it like a contact lens with nano technology or something? 

That whole limbic system explanation was a bunch of bs towards the end. Instead of turning savage they should be going into a vegetative state and be super slow in reacting not the opposite, but whatever, I am willing to overlook that. What I can't overlook is the Aether. At times it was described like they were aurora borealis, yet they act like solar flares? I don't get how they could be solar flares, and yet they can all still live outside...It just doesn't compute! 

While seading this I was just picturing the characters in normal backgrounds (the forest, Marron's place) then they would get to a Pod or the Aether would strike and I'd be jarred out of the book. I just couldn't picture it, which is what stopped this book from being awesome. 

I liked the characters for the most part. At first I actually didn't like either of the MCs, but they both grew on me eventually. The romance was a bit iffy. The only change I could see was that Aria started smelling differently and then suddenly BAM hot girl, hormones flying, etc. 

That's another thing. What is up with her smell? Did she smell like that because of the shampoo/soap she used back in the Pods or was it something else? The way Perry said it, it made it sound like it was something like her body chemistry. Which I'm guessing it was? But again why did she change like that? Where they drugging them back in the Pods or something?

The plot was also a bit out there. I mean there was no true purpose, it was more like whatever problem arose at the time that's what they addressed and went from there. To me it didn't really have a timeline, no true beginning or end. The way the book ended, now that's a beginning.

Even with all it's issues I still found myself mostly enjoying the book, which is why it's a 3 and not a 2, cause really, it had quite a bit of issues xD

Tweet