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| US Cover |
Release Date: Jan. 3, 2012 (UK: Feb. 7, 2012)
Publisher: HarperCollins
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: Purchased
Pages: 384
Buy: Amazon / Book Depository / Fountain Bookstore
Description: Goodreads
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.
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| UK Cover |
I first heard about this book a very long time ago. I’m talking the beginning of 2011 when it was announced in Publisher’s Weekly and I made a mental note to look for it in the future as I was dying to read it. I was delighted when more details were finally released about the book, including the cover. I should say at this point that both UK and US covers are beautiful but I prefer the US cover (left) which is more of an accurate image to the book. Under the Never Sky is an impressive debut novel set in a dystopian world that I read in ONE SITTING. Yes, I couldn’t put it down and I enjoyed it immensely.
Under the Never Sky reminds me a little of Crossed by Ally Condie as it shares the same sort of harsh landscape and desperate fight for survival. The world building was fantastic, very easy to visualize and the idea of the Smart eye was fascinating. This is a little device that the wearer fastens over one of their eyes so that they can fraction themselves and effectively co-exist in a virtual reality. A form of escape for those lucky enough to have one.
I have to say that I had no difficulty getting into this book and was immediately transported to Reverie in the first few pages. I loved how Aria and Perry were first introduced and how their relationship developed slowly over the course of the book in a very natural way. Society has conditioned them to be enemies and so they had a hard time warming up to each other at first but they needed each other to survive. I’m glad to say that there was no instalove here and whilst it was what I like to call a “slow burn” it wasn’t agonizingly slow; Veronica got the balance just right.
