Author: Veronica Rossi
Release Date: Dec 2011 AUS / Jan 3rd US / Feb 7th UK
Publisher: Murdoch Books AU / HarperTeen US / ATOM UK
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Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.
Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.
A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.
In her enthralling debut, Veronica Rossi sends readers on an unforgettable adventure set in a world brimming with harshness and beauty.
Aria lives in Reverie, where lives are predominantly lived through a Smarteye that can transport you to any virtual realm. You can go anywhere, do anything, possess any talent you desire and never have to feel pain. Perry lives on the Outside, where pain is an almost everyday thing. Land is divided up amongst tribes, food is scarce and danger is a constant companion. Whether from those on opposing tribes or from the sky above, where electrifying energy known as aether swirls constantly and could strike out in a deadly storm at any time. After Aria is wrongly accused of a crime in Reverie, she is exiled to Perry's world. With no skills, weapons or food and only the terrifying myths she's heard of the Savages who populate the lands, Aria knows she won't survive long. Until Perry finds her and so an
extremely reluctant agreement is made between two people whose aversion to one another screams from the pages. But they need the other's help in order to each find the person they love the most, so they're going to have to suck up their differences and together fight their way under the never sky.
Aria has this bright curiosity that is so amusing to read from Perry's perspective, because while she is a girl of many words, he is a boy of few... and would prefer her to be that way too. I loved seeing his internal reactions toward her. Aria really grew into a strong young woman throughout the course of the novel. From a frightened, desperate girl thrust into a scary, unknown world to a knife-wielding
survivor. And she was just so likable! I loved being inside her head just as much as I did Perry's. She has genuine
personality and that's why I found myself so taken by her.
Veronica knows how to write her men. Peregrine... oh,
Perry! I am in love. He is a beautiful beast of a boy, with a scary, intimidating exterior that belies the sweet, complex guy that lay within. His heart, humour and courage made my insides all kinds of toasty warm. He's a compelling mystery you want to uncover, but slowly, so slowly, so you can enjoy every breathtaking layer. And Roar. ROAR! Don't you just love his name? And I promise, you will love the gorgeous man attached to it. He's this bright, charming spark that I don't think anyone could possibly find reason to dislike. Best friend to Perry, these two make for an awesome team <3
Under the Never Sky has written one of the
best romances I've had the joy of discovering. The slow burning attraction between Aria and Perry will drive you crazy and to me, that is the best kind. It's a relationship that begins with prejudice and fear and animosity and slowly morphs into a beautiful creation of mutual respect, trust, strength and desire. They have that
zing of chemistry that is likely what's causing those aether storms in the first place. Narrative switches back and forth between them both and I found myself anaylsing every action the current narrator did, wondering and guessing what the other was really thinking about it. I could not get enough of these two!
My expectations were high going into this, but Veronica Rossi shattered them into a billion pieces. She so effortlessly draws you into this bewitching world where exist two vastly different realities, so intriguing in their own ways and so unlike our own, but at heart it's the pure emotion that is familiar, so easy to relate to. The characters are deep and tangible. Perry, Aria, Roar, Cinder, Talon... they each leap off the page with ferocity. They will make you laugh and gasp and devastate your heart with their pain and sorrow, haunting you long after you close the cover. The adventure they lead you on will keep you poised on the tips of your toes and draw every sense of your being into their compelling journey.
Under the Never Sky is a mesmerising debut that will be read again and again and again. The kind of world you will lose yourself in so completely. It is incredible in every sense of the word. A world so amazingly crafted, an adventure so thrilling, with a mystery that will captivate and characters you never want to part ways with, Veronica has written a knockout debut that has already cemented itself was one of my new favourite novels.
5/5 Golden Apples!
