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Review: Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky #3) by Veronica Rossi

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Title: Into the Still Blue
Author:  Veronica Rossi
Publisher/Year:  Harper Collins Pub 1/28/14
Length: 400 Pages
Series: Under the Never Sky #3

Overview

he earth-shattering conclusion to Veronica Rossi’s epic Under the Never Sky trilogy, and sequel to the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Through the Ever Night.

Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it’s time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to bring balance to their world.

My Thoughts

I’ve been waiting some time now for the conclusion to this trilogy, wondering what was going to happen, who was going to make it and who was going to double cross whom.  We weren’t left wanting in this conclusion.

At the end of Through the Ever Night , book 2, we see a merging of groups, the Outsiders and the Dwellers are left to work together in a sense, because Reverie has been destroyed by an Aether storm, and while some of the dwellers were able to escape with Hess, some were left behind, or chose to go with the Outsiders.  Soren, Hess’s son is one of those, and he comes to play a very important role in book 3.

Also in book 3, we are still dealing with the emotions between Perry and Roar, a brotherly bond that seems to be broken, and the rift somewhat caused by the death of Liv, Perry’s sister and Roars beloved, and partially by Aria – because she chose to leave to save Liv with Roar, and Perry thought that she was leaving him.

All complicated, but you do have to remember that they are still just barely adults – so this is a nice thing to deal with.  In addition to all the relationship struggles, the storms are getting worse, reminding everyone of what happened when the Unity happened, when the storms became somewhat constant and there was no way to avoid them.  That’s when Pods were formed and people were cast out into the wilds to fend for themselves.

This story takes us on the journey of the Tides and surviving Dwellers trying to survive literally, while trying to get their hands on a means of transportation to get them all to the Still Blue.  they also need to rescue Cinder since he’s the only one that is known to be able to control the Aether and has a chance of getting them through the barrier of an Aether wall that’s surrounding the Still Blue.  This is the basis for a majority of the story.

What i really enjoyed here is that while i like to pride myself on knowing who’s going to be on which side, and who can be trusted, i kept second guessing myself.  I never knew if Soren and Hess were on the same side, on the side of the Tides, or completely at odds.  While we knew Sable’s motives, and knew that they were evil, we didn’t know the motivations of all of those among the Horns, his tribe, and were left to wonder who was going to be a help or a harm.

There’s a lot of anxiety in the sense that you don’t know who’s going to survive and make it through, and even if everyone will find the Still Blue and if it’s what the expectations and theories say that it is.  I enjoyed the journey, but I don’t know if i enjoyed the end.  There’s a piece that i wish was a bit different, but i think that maybe it would have been a bit too much of a happy ending and who wants that right?  I think that there’s a need for certain characters to not make it to the end, and for some to find new friendships in odd places.

It gives you an interesting take on life in the future, although i still don’t know what caused the Aether storms.  I think that there was a hint about some magnetic field thing happening, but i typically prefer when a dystopian story gives us a back story to understand as well.  not a huge flaw here, just something that i’d like to understand more.  I guess the only question that remains is if we’ll get another novella about any other characters now that the trilogy has ended.  we had the nice story about roar and liv – so i wonder if there’s more that can be done given what we saw occur throughout this series and towards the end.

Review: Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2) by Veronica Rossi

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Title:  Through the Ever Night
Author: Veronica Rossi
Publisher/Year: HarperCollins Publishers, 1/8/13
Length: 341 pages
Series: Under the Never Sky #2

Overview

It’s been months since Aria learned of her mother’s death.

Months since Perry became Blood Lord of the Tides, and months since Aria last saw him.

Now Aria and Perry are about to be reunited. It’s a moment they’ve been longing for with countless expectations. And it’s a moment that lives up to all of them. At least, at first. Then it slips away. The Tides don’t take kindly to former Dwellers like Aria. And the tribe is swirling out of Perry’s control. With the Aether storms worsening every day, the only remaining hope for peace and safety is the Still Blue. But does this haven truly exist?

Threatened by false friends and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night? In this second book in her spellbinding Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi combines fantasy and sci-fi elements to create a captivating adventure—and a love story as perilous as it is unforgettable.

What I liked

One of the best things about what Veronica Rossi does is that she keeps things pretty edgy and ‘real’ with giving us just enough of what we expect and then throwing us for a loop.  What we get in this story is a relationship that’s meant to be but of course things can’t be that easy.  I’m not just talking about Perry/Aria but of Roar and Liv as well.  We know how things are among both couples, and you have to wonder if it’s enough.

We are reunited with Marron in this tale which is really nice since he brought a level of sophistication to it all, and we get to know the guys that Perry met on his trip back to the Tides as well, which gives us the rough and tumble crowd.  Brooke is featured in the sense that she’s our typical girl who’s jealous and completely unaccepting of a ‘dweller’ and that seeps out into a bunch of others.

In this installment, we see Perry come into his own, and you get the sense that he’s much older than his 18/19 years.  We come to have a new appreciation for Soren for any number of reasons (mostly because Aria’s mother let us in on a DLS secret), and we realize that Hess and Sable are even worse than we imagined.

So what’s next

I’m always curious about:

1) Where’s the Still Blue and is Cinder (and his whole pod) the means to get in?

2) How is Roar going to continue on?

3) What will Soren’s role be in everything

4) will we see Liv again (for some reason i think that we will….call it the soap opera watcher in me)

5) will Marron create some magical scientific thing to help save the Tides?

6) will we ever learn who Aria’s father is?  I’m thinking that it’s someone that we know…or is related to someone that we know

so….can’t wait until Still Blue comes up on my list.  enjoy reading!

Review: Roar and Liv (Under the Never Sky #.5) by Veronica Rossi

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Title:  Under the Never Sky:  Roar and Liv
Author: Veronica Rossi
Publisher/Year: HarperCollins Publishers, 10/30/12
Length: 80 pages
Series: Under the Never Sky #.5

Overview

Before Perry and Aria, there was Roar and Liv.

After a childhood spent wandering the borderlands, Roar finally feels like he has a home with the Tides. His best friend Perry is like a brother to him, and Perry’s sister, Liv, is the love of his life. But Perry and Liv’s unpredictable older brother, Vale, is the Blood Lord of the Tides, and he has never looked kindly on Roar and Liv’s union. Normally, Roar couldn’t care less about Vale’s opinion. But with food running low and conditions worsening every day, Vale’s leadership is more vital—and more brutal—than ever. Desperate to protect his tribe, Vale makes a decision that will shatter the life Roar knew and change the fate of the Tides forever.

Set in the harsh but often beautiful world of Veronica Rossi’s “unforgettable” Under the Never Sky (Examiner.com), this captivating prequel novella stands on its own for new readers and offers series fans a fascinating look into the character of Roar. Poignant and powerful, Roar and Liv is a love story that will “capture your imagination and your heart.” (Justineon Under the Never Sky)

What I liked

not only did we get a quick glimpse into the dynamic between roar and liv’s relationship since it was teased a bit in Under the Never Sky, we get to see the dynamic between the family (all of them) and with Brooke a bit which is nice.  i think that there’s something to be said about having a deeper dive into what makes relationships into what they are.

What frustrates me…

when i’m reading novellas like this, i feel like there’s so much more that we could get into, but that’s not the purpose right?  these are more like ‘tie me overs’ until the next installment comes out and it serves a purpose.  i’m sure that once i get into #2, Through the Ever Night i’ll feel better about things with all the relationships, but for now i feel like it was a bit light.  regardless, at least we know what the relationship between Roar and Liv really is, how that related to Perry/Vale/Brooke and what will happen next.

Review: Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) by Veronica Rossi

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Title:  Under the Never Sky
Author: Veronica Rossi
Publisher/Year: HarperCollins Publishers, 1/03/12
Length: 376 pages
Series: Under the Never Sky #1

Overview

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.

In her enthralling debut, Veronica Rossi sends readers on an unforgettable adventure set in a world brimming with harshness and beauty.

 What I liked:  

In the dystopian genre, I think that we tend to get pigeon-holed into certain traits of the leading female and male.  Most of the time they are naive girls who are just ‘coming of age’ and yet they are thrown into these situations where they are forced to act as adults, and save the world.  usually it’s because of a family member that’s been taken from them – and usually they find out that they’ve got some super strength or genius.  That’s kind of the case here for Aria, however what i found that i really enjoyed was that we get the sense that all the people that live in these protective Pods are genetically enhanced – but maybe things aren’t quite what they seem.  Throughout the story, we don’t get more than what’s expected of Aria, until there’s a nice surprise about 2/3 of the way through.  Regardless of that, she’s just a teenage girl, traveling with a teenage boy – that’s definitely more of a man.

So onto the man – Perry – what i really like about him is that he knows what he knows and he knows what he doesn’t.  he’s got this sense of authority, yet he knows that you can’t just take it from someone who has the power.  he’s an amazing family guy, a devoted and loyal friend and the kind of guy that i’d want to have around me if i ever got exiled from an environment that was safe and put out with the ‘savages’

I also adore Roar – who wouldn’t love a guy with that name.  he’s the light side of things that we really need and he’s supposedly quite handsome which would make for a great role in a movie.  I also like Cinder – and that we never quite get to know his story.  he’s dark and mysterious and has this power that no one gets or understands where it comes from.

That brings us to the ‘magical power’ section of this book.  I’m used to reading dystopian genre stories where people are enhanced and they have these super strengths or powers.  what we get in this story is partially that (but a minor part), a bit of evolution (meaning that people lose big parts of themselves because their environment has taken away the need) and some type of magical super power legacy that we’re not quite sure where it starts.

All this together, tied to anxiety and suspense of people out to get Aria and Perry during their travels (out to get translates to ‘trying to kill’) and then your usual teen romantic feelings (among a bunch of folks actually) turns this into a great story.

What i also really liked is that where this story ends up, it’s not final, but it’s not ambiguous.  you know that things have to change for all our mains, yet you don’t know what the implications will be.  you don’t know where they’ll end up, which friends will stay together, and what it means for civilization (both inside the pods and as an outsider).

so what i want to know:

1) do they find Liv

2) do they find the Still Blue

3) who is Aria’s father

4) what happens to the Tides

5) do they find the root of the Aether storms and how to control them

6) what’s Cinder’s story

7) do we get to see more of Marron?  I adore him!

happy reading all – i’m off to finish the novella between books 1 and 2 now.