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thecryptsleeper's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved this book. It took me a while to get into it, because it was one of those books I picked up, because it sounded kind of interesting and the cover was gorgeous. As soon as the action started, however, I couldn't stop reading. This book is packed with action from beginning to end!
I really fell in love with characters in this book. Peregrine was my favorite with Aria running a close second, which is rare for me. Not often do I choose the main characters in a book as my favorite.
The character of Cinder was the most fascinating to me and with the second book, which I really hope there will be, because it sure seemed like there should and would be, I hope to find out more about him! More specifically his amazing abilities.
The way Veronica used Senses in this book really pulled me in. Peregrine's abilities are fascinating and I really loved how he used them.
I can't wait to read more books from this author!
I really fell in love with characters in this book. Peregrine was my favorite with Aria running a close second, which is rare for me. Not often do I choose the main characters in a book as my favorite.
The character of Cinder was the most fascinating to me and with the second book, which I really hope there will be, because it sure seemed like there should and would be, I hope to find out more about him! More specifically his amazing abilities.
The way Veronica used Senses in this book really pulled me in. Peregrine's abilities are fascinating and I really loved how he used them.
I can't wait to read more books from this author!
breezy610's review
5.0
an excellent novel that had me keep turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next between Perry and Aria. I can't wait for the next book.
butterfly_bombshell's review against another edition
5.0
I've been wanting to read this book for a while and I'm so glad I finally did. It was a really good book and I would recommend it to anyone.
tennilles's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
beaktastic's review
4.0
This was an enjoyable book, if a short one (compared to what I've been reading lately anyway).
'Under the Never Sky' is about a dystopian future, where humanity has basically been split into two. One half of the human population live inside Pods, where they spend their whole lives inside Realms, basically virtual realities where they can do whatever they want or desire. The other half lives outside, hunting for what food they can find and trying to survive the dangerous Aether storms that threaten to destroy their villages. Aria is from the Pods and has always lived in comfortable ignorance and bliss, where as Perry is an Outsider who has always struggled to survive. Aria suddenly finds herself outside the safety of the Pods and their two worlds are suddenly brought crashing together and they need to depend on each other.
I thought the world this book was set in was really interesting and quite different to other stuff I've read and was rather well thought out. I felt it took a little while to grasp everything that was going on here and to understand everything as some stuff isn't explicitly explained straight away, which makes sense in a way as we are dropped into the action and characters wouldn't just explain everything about their lives for no reason if you know what I mean.
I thought the characters were really well written and thought out as well. Aria starts off as somewhat annoying which makes sense given where she's grown up, and Perry can be harsh as well, but they both grow softer and nicer as the book goes on and they adjust to each other's company and they fall in love. Both main characters grow and develop and change as well which was nice to see. Which I thought was another well written aspect, as it does take it's time to develop and it isn't instantaneous. Roar was a good and amusing character, the perfect joker best friend really. Cinder was an interesting character as well, who I look forward to seeing how he develops and his past is explained in future books. Marron was a good character too.
I thought the overall story was really good and the events were pretty true and realistic for the world. I thought the ending part was a tad rushed though but it'll be interesting to see what happens in future books. I thought the ending, although a bit rushed, was good though and set up the characters in a nice way for the next book... until the very last page though which was just cliched and silly and just obviously so it would have a happier ending.
Overall, I thought this was a good book, well thought out and the characters were good and really interesting, and I'm interested to see what the next book is about.
'Under the Never Sky' is about a dystopian future, where humanity has basically been split into two. One half of the human population live inside Pods, where they spend their whole lives inside Realms, basically virtual realities where they can do whatever they want or desire. The other half lives outside, hunting for what food they can find and trying to survive the dangerous Aether storms that threaten to destroy their villages. Aria is from the Pods and has always lived in comfortable ignorance and bliss, where as Perry is an Outsider who has always struggled to survive. Aria suddenly finds herself outside the safety of the Pods and their two worlds are suddenly brought crashing together and they need to depend on each other.
I thought the world this book was set in was really interesting and quite different to other stuff I've read and was rather well thought out. I felt it took a little while to grasp everything that was going on here and to understand everything as some stuff isn't explicitly explained straight away, which makes sense in a way as we are dropped into the action and characters wouldn't just explain everything about their lives for no reason if you know what I mean.
I thought the characters were really well written and thought out as well. Aria starts off as somewhat annoying which makes sense given where she's grown up, and Perry can be harsh as well, but they both grow softer and nicer as the book goes on and they adjust to each other's company and they fall in love. Both main characters grow and develop and change as well which was nice to see. Which I thought was another well written aspect, as it does take it's time to develop and it isn't instantaneous. Roar was a good and amusing character, the perfect joker best friend really. Cinder was an interesting character as well, who I look forward to seeing how he develops and his past is explained in future books. Marron was a good character too.
I thought the overall story was really good and the events were pretty true and realistic for the world. I thought the ending part was a tad rushed though but it'll be interesting to see what happens in future books. I thought the ending, although a bit rushed, was good though and set up the characters in a nice way for the next book... until the very last page though which was just cliched and silly and just obviously so it would have a happier ending.
Overall, I thought this was a good book, well thought out and the characters were good and really interesting, and I'm interested to see what the next book is about.
chai_latte_auroras's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This book was so fun to read. It has a Hunger Games meets Divergent feel with the special gifts of the main characters and the constant fighting to survive in the woods. There’s also a fated-mates(or as they call it, rendering) romance.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence and Cannibalism
eesh25's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars
Under the Never Sky is a novel set in a dystopian world which is divided into the inside and the outside. After a series of Aether storms made the outside world unfit fit survival, a large part of the population went to live in domes carved into, and under, mountains, while the other part braved the outside world. Why those people didn't go into domes as well, we don't know. The people inside have since had a lot of technological advancement and spend most of their time in highly realistic virtual worlds. The people on the outside have regressed to move primitive times.
The protagonist, Aria, is from a dome and has never been outside. But due to a complicated situation, she's kicked out and now has to find her mother, who she hasn't heard from in weeks, to know what happened to her and to get her life back. She makes a deal with an outsider, Peregrine, who is looking for someone himself.
And they both team up in a very convenient way. Convenient because the situations that led to the team up felt very planned and exaggerated. The "evil government" was evil for no reason than to be evil. It was almost like a parody at first; like the author had an idea as to what she wanted to happen so she made it happen. Thankfully, near the end, a lot of the events that happened in the beginning were given valid enough reasons. They really saved the book.
And the characters did. I liked both Perry and Aria. At first, Aria came off as whiny and incompetent, but that could be chalked up to the fact that the life she lived didn't actually require her to do anything. She really grew as a character as the book progressed and I started to like her. Perry, too, didn't have the best first impression but, by the end, I really cared about him.
The story was interesting. I liked the world that the author created, even if she didn't elaborate much on things. The tech, to me, seemed too advanced. Like something out of a comic book or cartoon. And the Aether wasn't explained at all; we have no idea where it even came from. It's in the sky and to me, it looks like an Obscurus (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) but one that attacks like a lightning storm.
The pace of the novel was really good, even when they were travelling. The writing was okay in the beginning and only got better. I got more and more invested in the story and, despite the rocky start I had, ended up liking it. It felt too planned at times but that got better toward the end as well. It's a book worth checking out and I'm curious to see what will happen next in the series.
groovyjenni's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, I would give this opening book of this series a 3.5 star rating. It was a hard world to want to crack into and it took almost half the book to really begin to be invested in the characters. The world was barely explained, yet a megaphone was explained...even though I know what a megaphone is. I would have liked a bit more in the beginning, but as the book progressed, I made my own concessions. I am invested enough in the characters that I want to see where the next book will take them.
bookph1le's review against another edition
2.0
After reading many a glowing 5-star review for this book, I was very excited to read it, particularly when I saw it being compared to such books as Divergent and The Hunger Games, which I think are some of the best of the genre. When done right, YA dystopian fiction can provide one of those rare reading experiences, where the reader intensely loves the book and doesn't want to put it down, where the world is so intricate that that the reader gets lost in it. This is what I was hoping for when I picked Under the Never Sky up. Alas, it's not what I got. Be aware that there will be spoilers in this review.
The book started off on a very promising note. I liked the idea of the domes and the Realms, of Aria leading such a sheltered life. The Realms in particular intrigued me, because I really thought Rossi was touching on a deeper idea here, about how being hooked on mindless entertainment can keep people compliant and oblivious to the turmoil surrounding them. Unfortunately, this is a theme that was never really developed, which I think is a crying shame. I think it might be possible to build an entire trilogy around this concept and to do it well, but this is not the trilogy.
Instead, what happens is the book goes a bit downhill from there. While the writing is good and the world-building is quite well done, none of it seems particularly well developed. I get the impression that, in her head, Rossi has the whole thing laid out, but because she's eager to present it to the reader, we just get little nibbles of it. Whenever she brings something interesting up, like the Croven, it is quickly set aside in favor of the next big thing, like a jaunt to Marron's domain. All of these things are interesting in and of themselves, and none of them are adequately fleshed out. The impression left is rather like a jaunt to the countries of the world in Epcot Center: you see the landmarks, eat some of the food, and then move along to the next country. It has all of the initial joy of discovery and none of the wonder that comes from looking at something in a little more detail.
Additionally, I just could not warm to the characters. Aria felt very bland to me, with a tendency toward being slightly too perfect. True, Rossi does set up limits for her, and she doesn't exactly become proficient by the end of the book, but she does somehow manage to go from being a helpless, weak, sheltered Dweller to a pretty decent Outsider in an inconceivably short amount of time. While I'm all for my female protagonists fending for themselves, I just didn't buy that she could reach the level she was at by the end of the book.
Perry is also pretty bland, in my opinion. Parts of his family drama feel tacked on, as if they're there to make him more sympathetic. There isn't enough exploration of how his experiences made him what he is, and when his secrets are revealed, they're all flung out into the open at once rather than being slowly doled out. I also really did not like his reaction to Aria's leaving because it felt far too stereotypical for me. I'd rather have seen him deal with his misery in a more mature, complicated, nuanced way.
Given this, it's probably no surprise that the romance did nothing for me. I could not see why either of the characters wanted to be together, other than the fact that they were thrown together by circumstance and each happened to think the other was pretty cute. I didn't feel like there was any real connection between the two of them, and I actively disliked the revelation of Aria's Sense because it felt like yet another device being used to hammer home the idea that they simply cannot be together--except that it's blatantly obvious that they will be. Wouldn't it have been so much better to show how two people from such different worlds with such different philosophies slowly came to understand one another's points of view? I'm admittedly really annoyed by what I see as the overly simplified romances that exist in many young adult novels. I really think the books' readers can handle a more mature, nuance portrait of the trials and tribulations of love.
Still, I can't deny that this is a very imaginative book, and that Rossi is a more than proficient writer. Part of my disappointment with the book simply stems from the fact that it just didn't appeal to me which is, of course, a matter of personal taste and not a fault with the book itself. For a good portion of the book, I thought of giving it three stars but then, about 3/4 of the way through, the flaws became more apparent. I'd say turn to a book like Shipbreaker or Divergent if you're looking for the same sort of creative world building but with stronger, deeper, more highly developed characters.
The book started off on a very promising note. I liked the idea of the domes and the Realms, of Aria leading such a sheltered life. The Realms in particular intrigued me, because I really thought Rossi was touching on a deeper idea here, about how being hooked on mindless entertainment can keep people compliant and oblivious to the turmoil surrounding them. Unfortunately, this is a theme that was never really developed, which I think is a crying shame. I think it might be possible to build an entire trilogy around this concept and to do it well, but this is not the trilogy.
Instead, what happens is the book goes a bit downhill from there. While the writing is good and the world-building is quite well done, none of it seems particularly well developed. I get the impression that, in her head, Rossi has the whole thing laid out, but because she's eager to present it to the reader, we just get little nibbles of it. Whenever she brings something interesting up, like the Croven, it is quickly set aside in favor of the next big thing, like a jaunt to Marron's domain. All of these things are interesting in and of themselves, and none of them are adequately fleshed out. The impression left is rather like a jaunt to the countries of the world in Epcot Center: you see the landmarks, eat some of the food, and then move along to the next country. It has all of the initial joy of discovery and none of the wonder that comes from looking at something in a little more detail.
Additionally, I just could not warm to the characters. Aria felt very bland to me, with a tendency toward being slightly too perfect. True, Rossi does set up limits for her, and she doesn't exactly become proficient by the end of the book, but she does somehow manage to go from being a helpless, weak, sheltered Dweller to a pretty decent Outsider in an inconceivably short amount of time. While I'm all for my female protagonists fending for themselves, I just didn't buy that she could reach the level she was at by the end of the book.
Perry is also pretty bland, in my opinion. Parts of his family drama feel tacked on, as if they're there to make him more sympathetic. There isn't enough exploration of how his experiences made him what he is, and when his secrets are revealed, they're all flung out into the open at once rather than being slowly doled out. I also really did not like his reaction to Aria's leaving because it felt far too stereotypical for me. I'd rather have seen him deal with his misery in a more mature, complicated, nuanced way.
Given this, it's probably no surprise that the romance did nothing for me. I could not see why either of the characters wanted to be together, other than the fact that they were thrown together by circumstance and each happened to think the other was pretty cute. I didn't feel like there was any real connection between the two of them, and I actively disliked the revelation of Aria's Sense because it felt like yet another device being used to hammer home the idea that they simply cannot be together--except that it's blatantly obvious that they will be. Wouldn't it have been so much better to show how two people from such different worlds with such different philosophies slowly came to understand one another's points of view? I'm admittedly really annoyed by what I see as the overly simplified romances that exist in many young adult novels. I really think the books' readers can handle a more mature, nuance portrait of the trials and tribulations of love.
Still, I can't deny that this is a very imaginative book, and that Rossi is a more than proficient writer. Part of my disappointment with the book simply stems from the fact that it just didn't appeal to me which is, of course, a matter of personal taste and not a fault with the book itself. For a good portion of the book, I thought of giving it three stars but then, about 3/4 of the way through, the flaws became more apparent. I'd say turn to a book like Shipbreaker or Divergent if you're looking for the same sort of creative world building but with stronger, deeper, more highly developed characters.