Review--Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

In a world of danger
an unlikely alliance
breathtaking adventure
and unforgettable romance...

Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim.

Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive.

If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.

I finally decided to give Veronica Rossi's Under the Never Sky a try! I had heard quite a lot of praise for the series and thought I'd give it a go! For the most part, I liked it. I had a few issues with the world-building and trying to understand it, but other than that, I really liked it!

As I said, the world-building was my hardest obstacle to overcome with this series. We are immediately thrown into this new world and words are being thrown out left and right and I am stumbling to understand what is going on. The year is unknown, so I assume it's the future since this is a dystopian! But I couldn't understand some of the terms and what they mean for this world as they got tossed out. There's like two branches of society. The one where Aria lives in this dome like world and the one where Perry lives on the Outside.

Aria's mother has gone missing and Aria is determined to find her. After her first attempt backfired to the extreme she finds herself tossed out into the Outside. That is where Perry finds her. He needs her help himself in order to find his nephew who was kidnapped by other Dwellers--the nickname for Aria and her people by Outsiders like Perry. So the two come to a truce of sorts. 

Perry was an interesting character. Apparently most Outsiders have special abilities that enhance one of their senses. Perry is even more special because he's a Scire, which means he has two enhanced senses. Perry has had it rough, not only being an Outsider but even amongst his remaining family, namely his brother and nephew. We learn his sister is somewhere else and he hopes to find her one day too. But Perry takes the heat when his nephew gets kidnapped on his watch and he's determined to get him back, even if it means working with a Dweller.

As most people have said, the romance here is not insta love! Hurrah! Perry and Aria can barely stand one another at first. Although, Aria is more curious about Perry and his lifestyle after awhile and he's more annoyed at that point. Then suddenly--and this is what kind of nagged at me--Aria gets her period for the first time. Something about her being Outside and away from her home. Perry has heightened smell, so he knew. And then she suddenly starts smelling like violets--according to Perry. And then he starts being nice to her, bringing her a new set of clothes and shoes when she had none. No tampons though, so go figure for that part! And then he's slowly falling in love with her. So it was an odd sort of not insta love, but it definitely happened fast after she "blossomed". So that part nagged at me, but as usual, I still got caught up in the romance!

Perry and Aria are soon joined by Perry's friend Roar who was a special delight! He was just so fun and pretty much said whatever he felt like. He liked to needle Perry like friends do! I enjoyed his character immensely!

The pacing was fairly decent. What with the shaky world-building, Aria and Perry move forward quite a bit and run into enemies and obstacles. And the ending was pretty epic! I wasn't expecting the revelations that we got. Although one sort of made sense to me, but the others were still shocking. And I will admit to being a bit confused about things we thought we knew and now these revelations totally change that thinking! Luckily I got the next book ready at the go!

So overall it wasn't a bad read. I'm hoping I just had a case of first book stumbles when it came to the world-building and that things will roll more smoothly once I start the next book.


Overall Rating 4/5 stars