Under The Never Sky

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.

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Let me tell you about a book I found many many weeks back. It was a book I thought was going to be overly cheesy or simplistic but fun to read. Kind of like the Selection series. Or The Maze Runner. After reading the synopsis, however, I was intrigued and purchased the first book during one of my bookhauls.

The book did all but proof my predictions right.

Under The Never Sky is a book told from two POVs. One is Aria, a teenage girl who lives inside a dome called Reverie. Inside it are hundreds of people who haven’t been on the outside ever since the world was invaded by chemicals they call Aether. Aether is everywhere since it spreads through the sky, coloring it a deep purple while cloaking away the sun and all that comes with it.
Because Aria -and most of her people- has never been outside, they have come up with a solution to keep people entertained. A very enhanced computer program running through eyepatches (a.k.a Eyewatch) they stick onto their left eye. This program allows them to travel to Realms, places build from imagination. It can also be used to set up meetings in office Realms. That’s how Aria keeps in contact with her mother. When that contact fails, Aria begins to worry something might have happened and tries to get information by flirting with a Consul’s son.

An action that leads to her banishment from Reverie.

On the outside and alone, Aria meets Peregrine. A Savage. But he’s her only hope of survival. More important, she’s the only one who can help him get his nephew back from wherever Aria’s people kidnapped him to.
That’s where the unlikely companionship begins. Aria and Peregrine hate each other’s guts and can barely stand the sight of one another, yet they manage to keep their calms, and keep themselves -and each other- alive.

Throughout the tough and dangerous journey, Peregrine begins to notice how strong Aria is. She never complains about being on the outside. Not even when her feet are blistered, cut and sore all over or when her Reverie bound body begins to die from the Aether in the air. Soon he finds he’s willing to do just about anything to keep her safe.

I really don’t know why I thought it was going to be a super cheesy book. Maybe it had something to do with that cover I initially found… or maybe not and I was just being judgemental :p

Anyway, I’ve completely changed my mind about this book (and hopefully the series) because it is nothing less than epic. The switch of POV is a very nice touch. It’s great to be tied to the story from two sets of POVs who are so different from each other. One is a Dweller (Aria) and the other an Outsider (Perry). I loved getting to know this dystopian world through both sets of eyes. Perry -who knows what the Aether can do and has survived multiple Aether storms which sear through layers of Earth, trees and buildings made of the strongest rock- can teach you all about the world as it is now. Through him you get to see how it all works. How people have organized after the initial storms. And through Aria you get to know the world in an entirely different perspective. Through her you get to see how the ‘Chosen’ side survived the intitial storms. How people hid away in protective Pods and developed hallucinatory programs to keep themselves entertained.
It’s fascinating.

AND OMG ROAR!!! Roar is my baby ❤ He’s kind of like a side character but holy HELL he’s so funny and sexy ^^ I love him to death!!

I’m seriously in love with this book. When I started reading this for real I couldn’t stop. It was like an addiction I had to feed every time I had a moment of spare time. I couldn’t even sleep right. The story had a strong hold on me.

I think I even dreamt about it xD

I’m still mindblown. Like this book has completely put my world upside down. I’ll never judge a book by its cover A-GAIN!

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I rated this book 4 stars out of 5. I still think it is one of the best books I have read but it wasn’t as great as some of the books I have rated 5 out of 5 so 4 it is. If I could give half a star it would be a 4.5.

Would I recommend this book? Ehhh… duh!! :p

With love,
Leanne