Review: "Under The Never Sky" by Veronica Rossi

Questa recensione giace da millenni tra le bozze del blog e credo che sia finalmente ora di farle vedere la luce, dopo un lunghissimo parto durato mesi.
“Under The Never Sky” mi è stato spesso consigliato da Anncleire (di Please Another Book), ma poi, parlandone anche qui con il giveaway che avevo realizzato, ho notato che molti sono i fan di questo libro di Veronica Rossi. Purtroppo per i fan italiani della serie, al momento, la serie risulta interrotta (come un gran numero di altre stupende serie) e si ferma quindi con solo questo primo libro tradotto da Sonzogno, con il titolo “Never Sky – Sotto un cielo selvaggio”. Se avete amato questa serie, potete firmare la petizione, che trovate qui, perché vengano pubblicati gli altri due libri.

This review has been lying for “thousands of years” between the drafts of the blog and I think it’s finally time to make it see the light, after a very long childbirth lasted months.
“Under the Never Sky” was often recommended by Anncleire (di Please Another Book), but then, talking about it here with the giveaway that I realized, I noticed that there are many fans of this book by Veronica Rossi. Unfortunately for the Italian fans of the series, at the time, the series is interrupted (such as a large number of other wonderful series) and then stops with just this first book translated by Sonzogno, with the title “Never Sky – Sotto un cielo selvaggio”. If you love this series, you can sign the petition, that you find here, so that the other two books are published.

Title: Under The Never Sky
Author: Veronica Rossi
Language: English (and Italian)
Source: Purchased
Genre: YA, Dystopia, Post Apocalyptic, Sci-fi/Fantasy.


WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.

DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.


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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Aria has always lived within the safe confines of the protected dome of Reverie. She never knew the art of survival, nor has ever experienced wild life, away from the comforts of a society which provides for her needs. Of what was the past, before the Great Catastrophe, there is only a pale imitation in the so-called Realms, virtual worlds where anything is possible and the risk does not exist. The whole existence of Aria, however, will be shocked by the sudden disappearance of her mother, who went to work for a short period in another protected dome. Trying to find out a little more about what is happening outside of Reverie, she will find also in trouble because of Soren, the son of the Chief of Security, who should be her informant, but which ultimately represent a danger to her life and that of her best friend, Paisley.

Magic.
That was the word that came to Aria’s mind. An old word, from a time when illusions still mystified people. Before the Realms made magic common. […]
Then she saw how the burning leaves curled and blackened and disappeared.
This was wrong.

Living without risks, quite often in the Realms, brought the young people of Reverie to have no limits and, when the group ventures into a damaged dome without knowing what to expect, the ignition of the fire (and to some extent of the primary instincts of the boys) becomes the beginning of a real hunt in which Aria and Paisley are the preys. Only with the fortuitous intervention of an Outsider, the “wild” Perry, the girl will be able to save herselves from the situation.

He was a real Savage.
The Outsider’s torso was almost as dark as his leather pants, his hair a blond Medusa’s snarl. Tattoos coiled around his arms. He had the reflective eyes of an animal. They were bare eyes, both.

One of the things that I preferred of their encounter is the fact that it is not love at first sight, although clearly revealing that between the two there will be something. At that moment they observed each other, I could say fascinated, but not immediately in love in the stile of “you’re my hero, we’re young and beautiful, so let us love for life.” And, to be honest, Perry is not the hero without stain that might seem: he saves her from the fire, but it is always Aria, who have to pull out of the other problems that are created. They counterbalance each other perfectly, showing the limits of their experiences: one always locked up in a safe environment; the other forced to learn to survive at all costs.
It is a real battle, rather than a meeting, between cultures and very different ideas. Aria will now have to adapt to Perry’s life, and she will make it her own, even if she doesn’t want to understand what is often forced to do or learning from her mistakes. Their collaboration, based on a very accurate agreement, will lead them to change themselves and their world view. Their mission, to discover what happened to their loved ones, will join other people, among them there is the longtime friend of Perry, Roar. Roar is definitely a character to love: funny and cute, a very good friend, who was also looking for a person.

“Some of us are Marked,” he said softly. “That’s what the bands on my arms are. Markings. They show that we have a dominant Sense. Roar is an Aud. He can hear things more clearly and from farther away. Sometimes miles off.”
Roar gave her an apologetic shrug.
“What about you?”
“I have two Senses. I’m a Seer. Night-Sighted. I can see in the dark.”
[…] “And the other?”
He looked right at her, his gaze brilliant green. “I have a strong sense of smell.”

Usually I don’t read books in which the characters have special powers, especially because the topic is often treated in the wrong way or not fascinate me for various reasons. With this book, however, I found myself not to turn up my nose to the supernatural element. In fact, it reminded me a lot of my favorite series of science fiction, “Darkover” by Marion Zimmer Bradley. There, as here, the powers appeared to have developed naturally because of the environment that surrounds them. Obviously I have not finished the series, so I don’t know if this is precisely the interpretation which will give Rossi, but at the moment I got this idea.
As for the setting, the worldbuilding is very well done: clear distinctions and a rich vocabulary of new words distinguish the two worlds. I have read here and there that many people were not satisfied by this choice, but I find very interesting the idea of a ​​full immersion into a different reality starting with a vocabulary different from ours.

The only sore point, perhaps, is related to the double POV. On the one hand I loved the idea of ​​reading the story told from two points of view clearly different; on the other hand, however, especially in the beginning I was struggling in reading. I expect, then, a double POV narrated in first person and I was a little disappointed. All in all, however, these considerations are more related to my personal taste, that a real problem of the book.
“Under The Never Sky” is a book that knows how to surprise, able to build a rich world with real characters. I recommend it especially to lovers of science fiction, who certainly will appreciate a universe different from ours as the one in which Aria and Perry live.

Rating:

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In italiano

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