Review: Under The Never Sky - Veronica Rossi

Release Date: January 3rd, 2012
Hardcover: 374 pages
Publisher: Harper Collins

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.

I can't believe that I haven't written a review for Under The Never Sky yet! I read it in January but I only realized today that I hadn't written a review even though I really loved this novel. With an exciting and unique approach to one of the most-popular genre nowadays, Under The Never Sky is a dystopian book that will certainly blow you away.

The characters'  development in this novel was greatly-done You can see the growth that both main characters go through and by the end of the novel, you could say that they are barely recognizable. I loved how Perry's and Aria's relationship wasn't what I expected. I expected it to be an "insta-love" like most novels nowadays, but no, Rossi took me totally by surprise and even made the both of them hate each other at first! Their relationship developed in a slow-pace that totally kept me hooked and even awake at night to read how it would turn out. And it was so worth not getting any sleep to finish it!

Even though I loved that the characters developed throughout the novel, I couldn't really relate to any of them in the beginning but this does get better later, despite my difficulty to relate to them, they were still very likable. I really liked the secondary characters like Perry's best friend, Roar. And I felt like the novel was missing some important information but I guess everything may be explained better in the sequel.

Another great thing about this novel is that even though it is a dystopian novel, it doesn't resemble in any way other novels in this genre. And this is, to say the least, impressive. That is a difficult feat to accomplish, since there are so many novels in this genre to compare to nowadays. The idea of creating a city like Reverie is completely unique and new, which made the story even the more special for me.

Under The Never Sky was one of the most anticipated books this year and it sure deserves to be one of the best novels this year or maybe ever?! Furthermore I really loved the Rossi's writing, the beautiful and small cliffhanger and the cover is also really pretty! This novel was just the first in what I expect to be an exceptional series. If you enjoy dystopia and even more if you enjoy dystopian novels with really unique aspects, then Under The Never Sky is one novel I would certainly recommend.

VERONICA ROSSI was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (I'm even a bigger fan of her now!!). Growing up, she lived in several countries and cities around the world, finally settling in Northern California with her husband and two sons. She completed undergraduate studies at UCLA and then went on to study fine art at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. When not writing or painting, she chases after her boys, who make her laugh every day, and who teach her about love that's a million gazillion times bigger than the ocean. UNDER THE NEVER SKY is her first novel.  Website / Twitter