Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1)

I admit I almost passed this book over thinking it would be yet another dystopian tale. I took my copy to Starbucks to read while son was in school. Let's just say I ended up in the coffee shop for a few hours as I couldn't put this story down!

Aria lives in Reverie, a secure, domed world, where a Smarteye can take her to a virtual reality. This is a patch that is worn over the eye and can take the user anywhere he or she wants to go. The user can smell, see, feel, and even taste in these worlds. Aria has been taught that anything outside of Reverie would mean instant death. She fears leaving the safety of her world as she knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland are slim.

When tragedy hits, she finds herself banished from the only world she's known. A strange Outsider named Perry shows up and even though they fear and hate each other, they know have to put these prejudices aside if they want to survive.

I really loved this story. One main character of this story has to be the worlds of Reverie and the outer wastelands. The author paints a vivid description of the harsh landscape along with the dreaded Aether winds that destroy everything in their path. The contrasts of Aria's and Perry's world are extreme at the start but slowly we find they're not that much different after all.

Aria is a strong heroine who struggles to make sense of the truth of what is outside her former home. Perry is not really that different from her with his own hatreds of those who live inside the dome. Their forced relationship is tense and guarded at the beginning but slowly, once they learn they have to rely on each other to survive, that's when the chemistry starts to heat up. And heat up it does.

Another thing that I enjoyed had to be the whole concept of what happens to the brain if you only rely on living in a virtual reality.

Well-written futuristic tale with it's own unique twist. This is book one of a trilogy though I felt it could have very easily ended here.

Aria lives in a world full of endless possibilities. In the blink of an eye she can go anywhere, do anything, with anyone, the only drawback? None of it is real. The reality that Aria and the rest of the Dwellers living in the enclosed city of Reverie experience is a virtual one but it's the only kind she's known for the past 17 years.

When her mother's work takes her to the Bliss pod and she goes missing Aria devises a plan, using an illegal outing with friends as an attempt to gain information from Soren, son of the head Consul. She's convinced he knows something about her mother's whereabouts and hopes she'll be able to get him to share what he knows. Soren has others plans for Aria and as a result the outing goes horribly wrong ending with Aria being accused of a crime she didn't commit and her subsequent banishment into The Death Shop where danger lurks everywhere. Dwellers don't live long in The Death Shop because their bodies aren't genetically able to withstand the climates, the lack of food available or worse, the Savages that live there.

Peregrine, or Perry, is an Outsider, a Savage, who lives in what's left of the world, where they know hunger, pain; where they feel things because it's real. He's also familiar with the electrified storms, known as the Aether, that plague the skies, raining fire and scorching the earth and everything in it's path. He's part of the Tide, his brother Vale being the Blood Lord and while they used to be close, things haven't been the same since Vale's wife died.

Perry spends most of his time with his nephew, Talon, Vale's 7yr old son, and imagining how things would be different if he were the Blood Lord. He believes he could do so much good for his people if only given the chance. He has a rare gift, being able to scent people's emotions, and tempers and his gift comes in handy when hunting too. As tensions begin to rise between he and Vale, Perry considers leaving for good, thinking it the best way to keep everyone safe, but when Talon is abducted by Dwellers, Perry will do whatever it takes to get his nephew back, even if it means pairing up with someone like Aria.

Aria and Perry reluctantly agree to work together to help him find a way to Talon and she to her mother. Their journey will take them through some of the most dangerous territories left and they'll be forced to rely on each other's strengths to survive. Their prejudices against one another are strong and threaten to derail their efforts many times. He sees her as small and weak with her dark hair and pale skin, not built for his world. She views him as a beast with his wild blond hair, feral green eyes and his body that's covered in markings.

The more time they spend together, the more their preconceived differences are challenged as they slowly discover they have more in common than they realized. Along the way they both experience changes neither expected or knew they needed in their lives. Aria discovers what it means to live in the "real", marveling at real rocks, animals, and even real food. Perry learns what it's like to have someone believe in him, to see that he's good and capable of leading his tribe. When their friendship blossoms into an unlikely love, they'll test the boundaries of their kinds as well as all who live under the never sky.

I really enjoyed this book! Rossi does an excellent job of describing both Aria and Perry's worlds, painting vivid pictures that engage all of the readers senses. She also explains how the world ended up in it's current state, through our lack of care, instead of leaving us guessing like many dystopians do.

The characters are well developed and the romance between Aria and Perry is a believable one, growing slowly through trials and time spent trying to understand one another. It's a bittersweet love filled with moments of humor, passion and heartache.

This is the first in a trilogy and while it's always a bit frustrating to have to wait for the next book (patience is not my strong suit) this first one ends in a good place. It leaves just enough unanswered questions to keep your interest while tying up a few lose ends.