Under The Never Sky Review

Author: Veronica Rossi
Release date: January 3, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Most appropriate for ages: 12+
How I got it: For review through Netgalley

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 am very weary of dystopias lately because:

• There's A LOT of them being released right now.
• It's been a long while since I've read one I reallyreally liked because
• I--quite honestly--feel like authors have gotten sloppy when writing with several elements, especially world-building.

Veronica Rossi's debut, however, had a decent enough world. But there were several things about Under The Never Sky that just didn't fit together and a huge lack of connection between me and this story.

Let's start with said "decent enough world." You've got your people who live in pods and can really only get out through some kind of (pretty awesome) virtual world. Great, cool! Then you've got your Outsiders, who for whatever reason, didn't make it into these pods. They live in tribes and their ways are old and sometimes barbaric. Great, cool! Then you add in super-powers and cannibals. Um, what? Where did that come from? So when I say "decent enough", it doesn't really mean "good", it means more along the lines of...okay.

Also, I think a big reason I couldn't get into UTNS was how disconnected I was to these characters. They weren't bad characters, but there was nothing unique or exciting about them, but they also weren't plain enough to be realistic. It didn't help URNS that its pacing was so not good.

Under The Never Sky was just simply not for me. This book definitely has found its fans though, as shown by countless positive reviews, so I feel like I'm in the minority here. If you're on a dystopian kick and you're looking for something kind of different, then maybe you should try Under The Never Sky...but if you don't like it, don't say I didn't warn you.

Plot: Unique, but also kind of weird, and it was paced very oddly.

Characters: Blah.

Writing: Easy to read.

Ending: Appropriate, but it didn't really make me NEED the second book.

Kid friendly: There's some killing and mentions of it, as well as sex.

Overall:

I was striking up conversations with people while reading.

This book was just not for me, and it never seemed to be able to hold my attention. Check it out and see if it's for you, though.