Under The Never Sky and Through The Ever Night - Veronica Rossi [Review]

This review may contain spoilers.

Under The Never Sky #0.5, #1 and #2 by Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) ★★★★☆ 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.

Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2) ★★★★☆ 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.

Roar and Liv (Under the Never Sky #0.5) ★★★★☆ 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.

Review:

I absolutely loved these books! After I finished book 1 I had to start book 2 immediately, I just needed to know how it continued. And after I read the prequel I loved this series even more.

The books are a mix of dystopia, sci-fi and fantasy/magic elements and this makes a fantastic story.

Under the Never Sky starts with Aria, who is cast out of her protected world, the Reverie and cast into Savage land. There she is saved by Perry, who is looking for his kidnapped brother Talon. Together with him and his best friend Roar, they search for Talon, Aria's mother and Liv, Perry's sister and the girl Roar loves. And during this search Aria and Perry fall for each other.
Through the Ever Night starts a few months after book 1's end. Perry and Aria are reunited again and Perry takes her to his tribe, of which he is now the leader. After Aria is not accepted she flees with Roar, to find Liv and the Still Blue, the safe land. Perry is left to care for his tribe, which is getting harder and harder.
Roar and Liv is the story of how Liv was sold to Sable and gives us more information about Roar and Liv's relationship.

I admit I had to get into the first book. The beginning was a bit confusing, me not knowing anything about Aria's world. But piece by piece the reader gets more information about the world and after Aria and Perry meet (officially this time) I got completely sucked in. I could not put it down until the end and after that I just had to read the sequel.
The pacing in the first book was good, in the second book in the middle it went a little too slow in my opinion. The whole Perry/tribe story was not as interesting as Aria's story and I caught myself skipping certain parts. But later the pace picked up and everything was well again.

Both Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night have 2 POV's, both in third person: Aria and Peregrine (Perry). The POV switched per chapter, this made it easy to follow who was talking. The 2 POV's were very different, they thought about things differently and a lot of time they were in different places. I liked knowing how they both felt and how both their beliefs changed over time. 

I absolutely loved the characters! The main and secondary characters were all very well-developed and complex and they all added something to the story. 

Aria was such a great character. She was a brave and likeable person. She was dumped into a new world and she adapted very quickly to it. She stood open to learning new things and she was not constantly whining about everything. She also did not change in the negative way after she began a relationship with Perry, like some YA protagonists...

I'm not sure what to say about Perry. There is not really something wrong with him, but I can't swoon over him or gush about him like the other characters. I liked his POV and his relationship with Aria, but his personality was not special or anything, nice and protective, that's what I can come up with. But he was not a jerk, so he is already better than most YA love interests.

Roar was my favourite character. He was so funny and charismatic, but at the same time serious and willing to sacrifice for his loved ones. He always lightened up the story and he was the ideal friend for Aria and Perry. I loved his relationship with Liv. We did not see much of it in the 2 books, but the prequel explained a lot and his stories about her proved that they really loved each other.

I was disappointed that we never really got to know Liv in the books. All the stories about her and the prequel made me love her and I would have loved to see more of her and her relationship with Roar, Perry and Aria. 

I loved the relationship between Aria and Perry. No insta-love! No love triangle! No unexplained attraction! At first they hate each other, because they are from different world, but as they get to know each other they discover they are not that different after all. Their relationship developed over the course of the book and it seemed very real and unrushed. 

I really liked the concept of the world in the books. You have the perfect, closed world and the savage land surrounding it with all sorts of diseases and special Senses. This was the dystopian part of the story. The world building of the 'savage land' was great. The reader got to know everything about the Senses and the way the land was split up. I would have liked to know more about the Reverie (the perfect world). The whole thing with the Realms was quite confusing at first, but that was explained and I liked the sci-fi element it brought into the story. Other questions they did not answer, like: how did the world came to be, why didn't the 'savages' do anything to get into the world, how was it lead? I hope the third book will give some more details about this. Also the concepts of the Aether storms and the Still Blue are still a bit vague. Only late in the second book I got a bit of an idea what those two things actually were. 

I would definitely recommend reading this series. And if you have already read book 1 and 2 and you love Roar, you should read the prequel. The world, the story, the characters and their relationships are all amazing!

Overall stars: 4/4.5 out of 5