Under the Never Sky

Under the Never Sky takes place in what I am assuming is our future, during a time when dangerous Aether storms make it dangerous to live outdoors. Most humans have retreated into "pods," where they waste their days using a device called Smarteyes to enter the Realms (aka: The Matrix). Aria is a pod-dweller who has lost contact with her mother. In a desperate attempt to communicate with her again, Aria enlists the help of Soren (a complete and total JERK) and, when things go very, very wrong, she finds herself kicked out of the pods and forced to live outside. Some humans still survive in the wilderness, however, and Aria soon meets Perry, the boy who could be her salvation...or her destruction. First of all, I really don't recommend the audiobook version of Under the Never Sky. The narrator was completely awful. Every chapter told from Perry's point of view was told in a weird husky voice that was incredibly distracting. But honestly, I don't really recommend this book as a whole, either. I had a lot of issues with this book, primarily with the world building, pacing, and character development. Let's dig into the world building first. Pod life could have been so interesting to learn about, but few details were given and the ones that were didn't make a ton of sense. There were so many really cool technological developments, but nothing was explained. I would have also really appreciated a little bit of history about when the Aether storms started and the humans retreated into pod life. Even just a page or two of explanation here or there would have made such a difference and let me get more immersed in the story. Something that was also incredibly confusing was the fact that some Outsiders are Seers. However, Seers in this story are people with a heightened sense of sight. Seer is not used in the traditional sense, like it is in every other piece of literature you've ever read. The main problem is that this wasn't explained until the 50% mark! I read half the book thinking characters were doing something different! If you are going to use a word and give it a meaning other than its traditional one, you NEED to explain that before the halfway point of the book! I found the pacing to be incredibly off in Under the Never Sky as well. The story started out with an action-packed scene and then NOTHING HAPPENED FOR HUNDREDS OF PAGES. There was a little bit of excitement around the 70% mark and then, once again, nothing happened. I felt like I spent hours of my life just watching Perry and Aria wander around the wilderness. Pages and pages and pages of no action or plot development to speak of. I was so bored during most of this book. The characters also left a lot to be desired. Aria was so mind-numbingly STUPID. Her idiocy was so distracting that I honestly can't even think of any other characteristics of her character. All I know is that she smells like violets. Which leads us to Perry and his super-sniffer. Perry has superhuman smell, to the point where he can smell a person's emotions. These powers are once again not really explained and don't make much sense. But if I had to hear Perry talking about how Aria smelled like violets ONE MORE TIME, I was going to have to throw my phone out the window. I get it, smell is very important to him. But FIND A DIFFERENT WAY TO DESCRIBE HER. Using the same descriptors on every other page is sloppy and uncreative writing.

Several times through the 1st 4-5 chapters I wanted to stop reading. But I usually try to hang on as long as I can. I'm glad I did. I enjoyed seeing Aria and Perry's relationship grow from disgusted hate to deep love and respect. Looking forward to the next book.

I'm not finished yet, but this book is intense and will keep me busy. Definitely worth getting the next book ahead of time.