Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Oh my God! This book was so amazing I can barely make my thoughts coherent enough to form a post! It takes place in a dystopian future where the environment has gotten so bad (plagued by Aether storms etc.) that people have resorted to living in Pods and experiencing things virtually (in the Realms). However, unlike the Dwellers, some people lived outside these things - they're known as the Outsiders or Savages and are a primitive, tribal people. Some of them have been Marked by the Aether with special abilities. Unfortunately for Aria, a terrible situation leads to her being exiled from her Pod, where she meets Perry, a "Savage." At first, they both just use each other to try to get back something of theirs, but, you know what they say about opposites.

My Thoughts:

1. I picked this book up on a whim from the Teens' New Releases section on Barnes and Noble's website. It came at 6 PM from UPS yesterday, and I've just finished (8:45 PM Thursday). This book was just so riveting and gripping. It's like the entire thing could have been italicized it was such an invigorating rush of a read. 
2. This book was perfect. Absolutely perfect! I can barely go into what I liked about it because everything was just a seamless whole. It was an experience! An enigma! Oh my God! Go read this book! Stop reading this review and go and read this book!
3. Aria was a great heroine. She was tough, but relatable and she opened up to Perry/was sweet to him in a decent amount of time. (As you know, I love the hate turns to love type romance, but if they're awful to each other for too long, I tend to not go for that.)
4. Perry. Oh, wow. Just wow. He was perfect. Handsome in a rugged sort of way, brooding, protective, caring, sweet, strong, sensitive - oh, he was just wonderful! There was a line of his that was just so lovable I might have wept a bit from happiness. *squee!*
5. The romance was beautiful. It was sensuous and sweet and passionate and heart-wrenching. This relationship was so beautifully rendered I can honestly say I had moments of doubt about my intended future of solitude and cat lady-dom. The build-up was great, but the crowning moments were even better. It was magnificent. 
6. The world. Oh, my God! It was perfect. You don't know everything and it's tantalizing yet not annoyingly out of reach. It's rich and fully realized in a way that the young adult genre rarely sees. 
7. The plot was also very captivating. So much is left to discover, but the journey they've already taken was very fulfilling. It's like a classic, fairy tale quest but re-imagined so fully as to warrant its own genre. 
8. It was just so almost luscious in tone. I can't place it, but my heart was in my throat the entire time. It just felt luxuriant in it's emotion. It was genuine and engaging and just something I've never really experienced before (and I read A LOT).
9. It has it. That undefined, undefinable essence that I peruse shelf after shelf searching for. I finally understand why the Romantics appreciated the unclassifiable. 

Who Should Read It:

• Literate people of the world: you NEED to read this book. If you have an ounce of emotion in your body, you will appreciate this book. 

Final Score: There is no numerical value I can give this book that will do it justice. This is a masterpiece. This will be the classic of our generation. (Apart from Harry Potter, of course, which is a given.) I'm not sure if people who read the literary canon as new releases knew what they held in their hands, but I know that Under the Never Sky is something special. 

For more info, check out the author's website here. I have tons of new books, but I'm thinking either Overbite by Meg Cabot or Entice by Carrie Jones will be next.