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
-Amazon Book Description
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
I feel like the year was 1956 when I read this. So long ago. And I don’t even have my notes with me…but I think I can still write a fair review.
Aria and Perry are the heroes of this story. (It’s told in first person, alternating points of view.) Aria lives quite the sheltered life inside the Reverie– the world outside is actually quite dangerous for once. It’s not just propaganda. There are dangerous Aether storms and the world is decidedly harsher. But one thing leads to another and Aria finds herself kicked out of the Reverie’s safety and into Perry’s world. Naturally, he is unwilling to keep her around as they have separate agendas, but she grows on him and vice versa and they end up both seeking a better world (one without the Aether storms) with their friends…I think– it’s been a while.
So basically this story is an adventure with Aria and Perry walking around. A lot.
Anyways, Aria and Perry are good narrators. I think I prefered Perry a little bit more as Aria’s single-minded determination to achieve her goals seemed kind of fruitless, but probably because I could guess at what was going to happen to her and her goals long before it did. So she was pinning after something that I knew wasn’t going to end well. Did that make her unbearable? Not really, just not as good as Perry.
Perry for his part was humorous. I don’t know if that was intended or not. Probably wasn’t. But the way he could barely keep his hands off Aria– when that happened, I laughed. Like at one point, they were training with swords or whatever and he was like, too close, can’t handle it and handed the job off to his friend. Okay, so it’s one of those things where you have to be there to see the humor, but I guess you hardly see a male lead weak-kneed over a girl, so it was funny. And nice.
And since we’re on the topic of the love story, (though I hardly know how we got here) it was one of the better ones I’ve read. Solid. Not too whiny.
The final stages of the story I felt were a little passive, a little hurried. Like the author was trying to wrap things up. I didn’t see the point since there was obviously going to be a sequel. Just cut it off when the going is good if there is gonna be more to come anyways.
Have I covered everything yet? I feel like I’ve talked a lot without really saying much. Or I’ve just said a lot and made no sense. I’m reading what I wrote and man I sound nuts.
The writing was good. Definitely read-able. The plot was engaging, though the back story has some explaining to do. But maybe in later books?
To be honest, this book may be better than I’m making it seem, but it reminds me very strongly of two books I’ve read with two very similar concepts. So first, the Aether storms sweep through the change the people and the landscape and they’re dangerous and magical right? But I experienced that in the amazing story of The Storm Thief. I mean, it’s basically the same thing, except The Storm Thief was better. And then Perry, he’s supposed to be a savage. But to be honest, he wasn’t that wild. Maybe the society was a little more violent, but if you want real savages in heart-stopping action, then I’d choose The Inferior any day– it’s such a good book.
So you see my dilemma here is that this book is a lesser combination of stories that I loved. But most people probably haven’t read either of those books. I highly recommend them, guys. But if you’re set on this one, I suppose you could do worse. Maybe the sequels will blow me away.
Yeah so to end this, if my feels for this book were a salsa, they’d be mild.
Word.
Ri’s Rating:
QQQ/QQQQQ
3/5
0. Couldn’t get past chapter one for fear of wanting to kill myself. Book induced suicide…
1: Yuck. Ew. Below Average. Probably didn’t even read the middle and skipped to the end.
2. Ok. Would’ve been better if I’d written the ending and everything else.
3. Not bad at all. Very enjoyable. Quite nice. Recommendable.
4. My kind of book. Near ideal, but something was a little off (annoying names, bad ending, that sort of thing).
5. WOW. Makes me wonder why people watch T.V when this is out there. Really liked it. Don’t expect to see this often.
6 and above. What I want my book to be.
The Spotted Mushroom 