Under the Never Sky

From the book cover:

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.

You know I have a weakness for these dystopian post-apocalyptic books. It always fascinates me to see the way these different authors project our world into the future. Under the Never Sky does it better than so many of the others out there. It felt realistic and I could easily see how our current world could turn into this. In general, Veronica Rossi did an amazing job building her world. She didn't slog things down with long descriptive passages (in fact, she left quite a few of my questions unanswered), but she let me discover the world gradually until it felt very real and I could see it all.

Not only does she have a cool name, but Aria is a great main character. She doesn't remain static, but changes and matures. She begins naive and a little annoying, but gradually becomes a fighter and a survivor. The story is told both from her point of view and from Perry's point of view, which really worked and I liked seeing things from both of their perspectives. 

Another plus for this book is that while it has a wonderful romance, the plot is more of an adventure story. The focus isn't on some lust-filled, fast-moving, doomed love story. No, in fact, the love is very real. Perry and Aria really are from different worlds and at first they hardly even see each other as human. They are brought together by need, and trust and friendship build slowly throughout the novel. So, instead of being overwhelmed by the love story, the intricate plot is perfectly enhanced by slowly-revealed real love.

This book isn't groundbreaking or original for this genre. There are lots of things here I've seen before, but I gave it five stars on goodreads because it does those things better than so many other books in this genre. Plus, I can't deny that I zipped right through it and enjoyed every moment.

Read-alikes: Blood Red Road, Matched/Crossed