Deidra Reviews Into the Still Blue

Author: Veronica Rossi 
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: 28 January 2014
Series: Under the Never Sky #3
Source: Edelweiss 

Summary: The earth-shattering conclusion to Veronica Rossi's "masterpiece" Under the Never Sky trilogy and sequel to the New York Times 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.

The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe-haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do-and they are just as determined to stay together.

Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. And when Roar returns to camp, he is so furious with Perry that he won't even look at him, and Perry begins to feel like they have already lost.

Out of options, Perry and Aria assemble a team to mount an impossible rescue mission-because Cinder isn't just the key to unlocking the Still Blue and their only hope for survival, he's also their friend. And in a dying world, the bonds between people are what matter most.

In this final book in her stunning Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi raises the stakes to their absolute limit and brings her epic love story to an unforgettable close.

There were lots of lines that I loved, but due to the fact that over Christmas, I made the switch from my Nook to a beautiful Kindle Fire HDX, I don't have my notes and highlights anymore.  But considering the writing is Veronica Rossi, the writing was as beautiful as always!

I got this book awhile ago, and I was so excited.  But then I put off reading it... and then some more time.. and then even more.  Ending a series is so hard on my heart at times.  And after what Allegiant did to me, I was hesitant to reach anymore series finales.  Finally though, I took the plunge, and I'm so glad I did.  Perry and Aria are two characters that I love very, very much.

SPOILERS FROM BOOK 1 and 2 follows:

The characters that are created among the pages of this series are incredible.  The depth they have and the many layers to the relationships that join such different lifestyles together makes me incredibly happy.  Through the Ever Night left the readers hanging as they wondered how resolution would be found.  With Sable and Hess joining forces to enter the Still Blue with Cinder in their captivity, the Tides faced a lot of challenges at the opening of this book, with the huge elephant in the room that was the Dwellers that had joined their numbers.

The book is full of action and twists that are not so much unexpected but even worse because you dread it coming.  The ride is well worth all the gut-wrenching moments.  Perry, Roar, and Aria show us the highs and lows of what our humanity means.

Veronica Rossi also knows how to end a series without causing me immense heartbreak and refraining myself from writing nasty tweets on the Twitter.  She knows how to satisfy her readers and give them resolution (and not torture us with a love triangle).  I adored the way she ended the series, and I can not wait to fangirl over whatever she writes next.  FANGIRL FOR LIFE over here.

Need a Second Opinion?

Jenna Does Books

       

Blake Reviews Under the Never Sky

Author: Veronica Rossi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 3 January 2012
Format: ARC
Series: Under the Never Sky #1
Source: BEA

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.

I didn't think I would like this book once I started it. I thought I had opened the pages to another helpless girl that didn't know what to do with her life now that bad things were happening to her. In my mind, I was going to follow her around while some guy continuously came to her rescue, and kept her from having to actually deal with anything herself. I was wrong, and pleasantly surprised.

Aria starts off scared and alone, which is understandable given her previous life and the crapfest that was just thrown her way. However, Aria doesn't wallow in self-pity, or rely on other people to take care of her. She's constantly on guard, and wary of almost everyone and everything that she comes into contact with. She doesn't take things at face value, people have to earn her trust, and she also has to learn how to trust herself.

Her mind and body have started to change since she found herself on the outside of her pod. She has had to adjust to a lot of changes all at once, and she never complains about being uncomfortable. Once she mentions being hungry, but that was after days of barely having enough food to eat. It was understandable.

Perry I loved from the beginning. He is who he is, and he isn't going to change for anyone. He will fight for his people, his loved ones, and the things he believes in. He has shown a great amount of self control throughout his life, and he hasn't had the easiest life. Crappy dad, thinks he's cursed... but he deals. He also saves Aria countless times without even blinking. His instincts tell him to protect the innocent and kill the evil. He's really good at doing both.

I like the world the author has created. A world that steadily gets more complicated, because things in the pods aren't as carefree and under control as others would like us to believe. Life on the outside isn't peachy, but it's a lot better than being cooped up and living in some alternate reality. I would choose a shorter life on the outside over a prolonged one locked in a fancy cage. The freedom Aria discovers, the feelings, the life... it's all worth so much more than what she had before. Yes, now she has had to deal with intense feelings like fear and loss, but also love and happiness.

Under the Never Sky might start off like other YA books that I've read, but the story is unique and entirely its own. The characters are vastly different in every way, and they grow on you throughout the book. It's a learning process for both sides. I can't wait to see where the story picks up, and how Perry and Aria solve their current problems.

Review: Through the Ever Night + Trailer

Author: Veronica Rossi
Release Date: January 8, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 352
Series: Under the Never Sky #2
Source: Purchased
[add on Goodreads]

Summary:  It's been months since Aria last saw Perry. Months since Perry was named Blood Lord of the Tides, and Aria was charged with an impossible mission. Now, finally, they are about to be reunited. But their reunion is far from perfect. The Tides don't take kindly to Aria, a former Dweller. And with the worsening Aether storms threatening the tribe's precarious existence, Aria begins to fear that leaving Perry behind might be the only way to save them both.

Threatened by false friends, hidden enemies, 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 dystopian elements to create a captivating love story as perilous as it is unforgettable.

My Favorite Lines:

“Love is a rebellious bird that nobody can tame.” 

“He brought a sense of rightness. She felt it every moment she spent with him. Even the wrong ones. Even the painful ones, like now.”

Why I Loved It:  If you saw my post last week, you know just how excited I was to get this book!  You can see that here.  Veronica Rossi won my heart in Under the Never Sky.  It was such an incredible book.  Rumor had it that the sequel was just as good.  I was begging God that the book wouldn't suck.  It was so incredibly important that Under the Never Sky stayed untainted.  I would say that the sequel actually ended up being better.  Entering the world of Aether swirling in the sky, of Tides and other Outsiders and Dwellers, and of the constant drive for survival was so very welcome.

Veronica Rossi is a brilliant writer and especially when it comes to her characters.  Reading this book was like visiting some really good friends again.  Aria has developed so much in the gap between the last book and this one.  Perry is now the Blood Lord of the Tides.  He has grown into someone even braver and stronger and more devoted to the people he had sworn to protect.  They both have the fate of other people on their hands.  Such a responsibility has such an impact on their relationship.  It's not just about them anymore.  There is so much more on the line.

For those who loved Under the Never Sky, the second book gives you more insight into some other characters.  Throughout this book, I got to know Roar so much better.  Roar was one of my favorite characters in the first book, and I enjoyed getting to know his handsome self.  You start to understand his connection to Liv (Perry's sister) so much more, and she pops up in this book too.  Now I feel I have to read the novella Ms. Rossi wrote about Liv and Roar.

There are really no words to truly explain why the book was so awesome.  It just was.  Ms. Rossi knows how to spin a story and trap you in the book.  Everyone.  Read It.  Love It.

Please enjoy the book trailer too!  Just in case I haven't convinced you.  

       

Colossal Surprise!

Today is January 8, 2012.  It's a fabulous day for many reasons.  (I'm alive, breathing, I have a whole off to just name a few)

But the very best reason that today is fabulous and has me feeling very much like this:

Is this:  sitting in my mailbox was this wonderful and beautiful hardback copy of Veronica Rossi's Through the Ever Night.  Apparently it was pre-ordered for me.  People love me.  

Here it is:

Review: Under the Never Sky Review + Giveaway

Author: Veronica Rossi
Release Date: January 3, 2012
Publisher: Murdoch Books
Pages: 384
Format: ARC
Series: Under the Never Sky #1
[add on Goodreads]

Exiled from her safe home in the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria finds herself in the outer wastelands known as the Death Shop. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent energy storms will.   There she meets a savage, an Outsider named Perry – wild, dangerous – who is her only chance of survival.  But Perry needs Aria, too, and they are forced into an unlikely alliance that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

My Favorite Line: "She absorbed the terror and beauty of him and his world. Of every moment over the past days. All of it, filling her up like the first breath she'd ever taken. And never had she loved life more."

Why I Loved It:  I could explore Veronica Rossi's world forever.  Sometimes authors write books with alternating perspectives, and I hate it.  Not so with this book.  I craved knowing both sides.  The story would be following Perry's perspective, and things would be happening with Aria.  I would be dying to switch back.  She had a way of telling the other person's story when it wasn't from their perspective and making me feel like that was the real truth.  I'd give examples, but everything I can think of is a spoiler.  It just wouldn't have been the same from just one of their perspectives.

I thought that as a debut author, she showed some incredible skill in writing.  As an avid reader, I like to be able to read a book and think, MAN, this author knows what they are doing.  It's nice to be able to do that, and there were moments when I truly felt loved as a reader.  Her instincts are either really good, or her editor is amazing.  I felt she knew just when I really needed to laugh or move forward.  There was just the right amount of action for me.  I personally hate violence in books.  Not because I think it doesn't belong there, but because I feel so much when I read that it's hard to get those images out later.  If it belongs, I go with it.  I felt she mastered what Suzanne Collins was able to do for me.  If you are going to use violence, do it just right.  Make it push the story forward.  And she did so *applause* with a sincere nod of approval.  

Her characters were amazing, her world was amazing, and I still kind of feel like I'm staring at aether in the sky.  I'm pretty sure you could write some kind of song from the imagery in the book, but people would probably think you were either on drugs or talking about being on drugs.  I especially like the twist at the end.  Yes there is a twist of a sort.  DUN DUN!!!        

Who Should Read It:  I'm not saying it's like the Hunger Games.  Because it's not.  But I think other Hunger Games fans would also enjoy this book.  Also I'm going to recommend this book to lovers of Across the Universe.  Sci-fi fans, dystopian fans, and lovers of a good romance, here you go.  I present you with this fantastic book.  Well not all of you, but one of you for sure.       

To enter to win an ARC of Under the Never Sky, fill out the form the Rafflecopter form below.