Book Recommendation 

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

There's a lot to be said for Veronica Rossi's Under the Never Sky. The imagery throughout the book is fascinating and vivid yet simplistic enough for most audiences to grasp reasonably well. The writing was well written and understandable for all age groups. It was a good novel on goodreads I gave it four out of five stars it was an excellent read but I don't know if I'd put it under my favorites although it did a good job evoking emotions and it was inspiring. 

The first thing that caught my attention about this novel is the title, Under the Never Sky, it's compelling. It makes you want to read what it's going to be about. This book isn't strictly post-apocalyptic fiction; it doesn't exactly fit into what I would call a dystopian novel. I kind of like how Rossi never explained the Aether. You never get a clear answer as to what is it, how it came to be or how does it work. And I think that helps the creativity that this novel brings out. The Aether can be different things to different people, giving power to the reader is a really cool thing and a tricky thing to accomplish, Rossi did it just right.

So what's it all about? Aria is a Dewller, a girl who grew up in virtual realms her whole life. She lives her life through the make believe worlds she selects through her Smarteye, the eyepatch that lets her take trips into a virtual reality. Aria get's thrown out into the real world after an act of treason. There she meets Peregrine, a Savage from the outside world they call The Death shop, where reality is harsh, disease-ridden and deadly.  The two unlikely pair set out to rescue the people they care about most, and on the way they find out questions they didn't know they should be asking. 

I love that this story doesn't start off a love story. Aria spends a lot of the booking hating Perry. She thinks he's sinister and sort of disturbing. Perry, in turn, finds Aria outright disgusting in the beginning. After working together to survive and finding a common interest they start to open up to each other. The stories focus is not on the love between Aria and Perry although that is important to the solution to their problems. But throughout the novel Aria and Perry fight to stay alive while trying to fix the havoc others have created in their life. 

A.B.