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hln234's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
taterbeans's review against another edition
4.0
My full review in all of its glory can be found on my blog!
*I purchased a copy of this book for myself. This is my honest review.*
I have heard many a great things about this book and have been lucky enough to see Veronica a few times but NOTHING prepared me for the sensual stimulation I got while reading this book!!!
I seriously loved this book. It was so different and so wonderful. It's one of my favorite dystopian reads. The world is set up perfectly, I can smell what the world is like, feel what this world is like in addition to seeing what this world is like. Veronica did such an amazing job using all of our senses to describe what these characters were feeling and seeing. It is pure perfection!
I didn't always like Aria but enjoyed watching her grow into this new person. She was a bit of a spoiled brat at times, but thank god that didn’t last through the whole book or me and Veronica would be having an extended conversation!
Perry on the other hand was really the character I connected with!! Utterly captivating!!! His drive, his experiences, just everything about his was so raw and real! It was great being in his head.
I got totally lost in these pages and forgot the world around me. I was excited and unable to put the book down.
I really LOVED the smelling part of this book. Bringing in the whole sense was just amazing and really makes this book stand apart. Without that it would have been an ok book. The world building and emotional connection generated from the description of scents and other senses was new and refreshing! It brought me into this book in a whole new way. And connected me with the characters.
A wonderful exciting debut and wonderful dystopian read! The books to come are only going to get better!! If you want a great dystopian where the world is fully developed and the characters are complex pick this book up! Plus there is this really hot guy named Roar, OH BABY!!!!
Favorite Quotes
"Now what I feel most is this...this relief. I know why I'm alive. And why my body started changing. Now...it's like I have the day ahead of me again. Like I can take a breath and know for sure it's about living. But there's so much more I need to work out. I never thought my mother would be capable of lying to me. I can't figure out how she did it." She turned her head, looking at him. "How do you hurt someone you love like that?" ~281
Perry nodded absently, imagining a world without fear. Was that possible? If there was no fear, how could there be comfort? Or courage? ~131
*I purchased a copy of this book for myself. This is my honest review.*
I have heard many a great things about this book and have been lucky enough to see Veronica a few times but NOTHING prepared me for the sensual stimulation I got while reading this book!!!
I seriously loved this book. It was so different and so wonderful. It's one of my favorite dystopian reads. The world is set up perfectly, I can smell what the world is like, feel what this world is like in addition to seeing what this world is like. Veronica did such an amazing job using all of our senses to describe what these characters were feeling and seeing. It is pure perfection!
I didn't always like Aria but enjoyed watching her grow into this new person. She was a bit of a spoiled brat at times, but thank god that didn’t last through the whole book or me and Veronica would be having an extended conversation!
Perry on the other hand was really the character I connected with!! Utterly captivating!!! His drive, his experiences, just everything about his was so raw and real! It was great being in his head.
I got totally lost in these pages and forgot the world around me. I was excited and unable to put the book down.
I really LOVED the smelling part of this book. Bringing in the whole sense was just amazing and really makes this book stand apart. Without that it would have been an ok book. The world building and emotional connection generated from the description of scents and other senses was new and refreshing! It brought me into this book in a whole new way. And connected me with the characters.
A wonderful exciting debut and wonderful dystopian read! The books to come are only going to get better!! If you want a great dystopian where the world is fully developed and the characters are complex pick this book up! Plus there is this really hot guy named Roar, OH BABY!!!!
Favorite Quotes
"Now what I feel most is this...this relief. I know why I'm alive. And why my body started changing. Now...it's like I have the day ahead of me again. Like I can take a breath and know for sure it's about living. But there's so much more I need to work out. I never thought my mother would be capable of lying to me. I can't figure out how she did it." She turned her head, looking at him. "How do you hurt someone you love like that?" ~281
Perry nodded absently, imagining a world without fear. Was that possible? If there was no fear, how could there be comfort? Or courage? ~131
chickharley's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.25
amy_the_dreamer's review against another edition
4.0
Aan het begin van het boek had ik moeite om het verhaal te kunnen volgen. Je wordt meteen in een bepaalde scène gegooid zonder dat je van iets afweet. Beetje bij beetje wordt alles uiteindelijk wel duidelijk. Ik ben twee keer aan dit boek begonnen. Of het nu daaraan ligt, of omdat ik net daarvoor ook een sciencefiction boek heb gelezen dat zich in een fictieve wereld afspeelde, laat ik in het midden. Het verhaal duurt op zich lang, maar dit stoorde me niet. De hoofdstukken worden afgewisseld tussen de twee hoofdpersonages. Ieder heeft een sterk eigen karakter. Hoe zijn ze zo geworden, hoe zien ze elkaar daardoor, hoe evolueert hun karakter in elkaars gezelschap en door wat ze meemaken... Niets had ik kunnen zien aankomen. Bijna niets was voorspelbaar. Het verhaal bleef me boeien, bladzijde na bladzijde.
wanderlustlover's review against another edition
3.0
My problem with reading the prequel first, maybe, started really, really early in this book.
I was utterly confused to who Aria was. I was utterly confused to how there were dome's and there was a society that had technology, when there was not a whiff of any kind of industrialization mentioned *anywhere* in Roar and Liv. Then there were Roar and Per details that didn't match up in Book one, for how they played out in the prequel that confused me even more as the story was rolling out a reveal between our two characters. Which became a bigger problem later on in it for me.
I really did love the middle of this book though. I do think the two characters fell in love too quickly for their situation, but how they met. This massive animosity and will to survive. The tromp/trudge through the desert. All the mistakes Aria makes. All the concession he has to give to keep her alive. The way they only slow give each other any answers. They way the presence of each other changes them. This would have been such a great background for a slow enemies, to comrades, to friends, to love for me, I think, if it hadn't been forced to take place in the space of two weeks instead of two books.
I have other minor complaints about convenient storytelling, and how details and people pop up really conveniently. I saw the big twist coming way too early on in the book, and found it, strangely, too convenient on its own. I wish we could see more about how the politics worked. How the domes and the systems there were. But I really left this feeling as not happy about this book as Roar & Liv had left me happy, so it may be a very long time before I consider reading the next one.
I was utterly confused to who Aria was. I was utterly confused to how there were dome's and there was a society that had technology, when there was not a whiff of any kind of industrialization mentioned *anywhere* in Roar and Liv. Then there were Roar and Per details that didn't match up in Book one, for how they played out in the prequel that confused me even more as the story was rolling out a reveal between our two characters. Which became a bigger problem later on in it for me.
I really did love the middle of this book though. I do think the two characters fell in love too quickly for their situation, but how they met. This massive animosity and will to survive. The tromp/trudge through the desert. All the mistakes Aria makes. All the concession he has to give to keep her alive. The way they only slow give each other any answers. They way the presence of each other changes them. This would have been such a great background for a slow enemies, to comrades, to friends, to love for me, I think, if it hadn't been forced to take place in the space of two weeks instead of two books.
I have other minor complaints about convenient storytelling, and how details and people pop up really conveniently. I saw the big twist coming way too early on in the book, and found it, strangely, too convenient on its own. I wish we could see more about how the politics worked. How the domes and the systems there were. But I really left this feeling as not happy about this book as Roar & Liv had left me happy, so it may be a very long time before I consider reading the next one.
kairosdreaming's review against another edition
3.0
In the world of young adult dystopians, this one has a few new ideas. But overall, it didn't wow me, although it did engage me enough to want to read on in the series.
Aria has always been inside the domes. Outside means death, and the virtual simulations they play in are invigorating enough for her. But her mother, on a research trip, hasn't been heard from in awhile, and she needs to know what happened. So when a wild boy invites her to break out into one of the outside domes, and he could have information she needs, she decides to go. Only for it to change her entire life.
Both of the main characters in this book I had trouble connecting to. Perry because he was a bit too unapproachable (with vast personality changes in the book), and Aria because she was a bit too positive and strong for what I would have expected given the environment she grew up in; a little too unbelievable that she would react to things the way she did. They were both nice, and their romance seemed solid, but aside from that, just kinda meh. Roar was actually my favorite character; I can only hope he shows up more in the other books as I enjoyed his personality and actions.
My main complaint about this book was the world building. There's so many aspects that are never fully described. And what is described comes in waves. It's a blurt of all things relevant to the world, and then nothing for pages. I still don't understand the Aether waves, storms, whatever they are. Maybe it will be in another book, but I feel like it's kind of necessary to know why a dystopian book is dystopian, so it's frustrating that there wasn't a lot of attention paid to it here.
As said before, I'm definitely going to continue with the series, mainly because I want some answers to some of my questions, but I'm hoping it improves from here. It's a neat concept, just aggravating in some ways.
Review by M. Reynard 2020
Aria has always been inside the domes. Outside means death, and the virtual simulations they play in are invigorating enough for her. But her mother, on a research trip, hasn't been heard from in awhile, and she needs to know what happened. So when a wild boy invites her to break out into one of the outside domes, and he could have information she needs, she decides to go. Only for it to change her entire life.
Both of the main characters in this book I had trouble connecting to. Perry because he was a bit too unapproachable (with vast personality changes in the book), and Aria because she was a bit too positive and strong for what I would have expected given the environment she grew up in; a little too unbelievable that she would react to things the way she did. They were both nice, and their romance seemed solid, but aside from that, just kinda meh. Roar was actually my favorite character; I can only hope he shows up more in the other books as I enjoyed his personality and actions.
My main complaint about this book was the world building. There's so many aspects that are never fully described. And what is described comes in waves. It's a blurt of all things relevant to the world, and then nothing for pages. I still don't understand the Aether waves, storms, whatever they are. Maybe it will be in another book, but I feel like it's kind of necessary to know why a dystopian book is dystopian, so it's frustrating that there wasn't a lot of attention paid to it here.
As said before, I'm definitely going to continue with the series, mainly because I want some answers to some of my questions, but I'm hoping it improves from here. It's a neat concept, just aggravating in some ways.
Review by M. Reynard 2020
geneags's review against another edition
4.0
I was very surprised, didn't expect to end the book loving it. I thought I was really going to dislike this book, the story dragged on for almost halfway through before it just took off and became a very sweet love story. I kept reading because there were a couple of things that kept me going and hoping the story would get more exciting and it did. One of the things that I believed kept me reading was Aria's inquisitiveness and her incessant babbling, Aria was getting on Perry's nerves, it was the most adorable interaction between them in the first half of the book and I could see hope.
I'm assuming the author didn't want it to be love at first site or have them secretly falling in love with each other immediately, she wanted their love to develop slowly. Guess that slowed the story down a bit, but in the end it really helped to make the love story more real.
Never Sky was written in third-person narrative style between Aria and Peregrine, which possible slowed the pace of the story and it was narrated in the present of each characters current situation it never goes backwards.
Scent is one of the things authors tend to use to create imagery of the intense love between characters, stuff like he\she smells like summer, roses, cotton candy etc., so I was stupefied that Perry didn't like Aria's scent when they first met, he actually thought she smelled like decay (I mean really? Decay?)and I wonder how can a relationship even happen between. It turns out living in pods without fresh air causes a decaying smell that only outsiders can smell (yeah).
I can't begin to explain how good this book is or got. So patience is the virtue you will need when reading this book. At the beginning the secondary characters seemed immature or psychopathic but it turns out there was a reason, which was eventually revealed. There were many surprising secrets and events that made it a fun read.
I'm assuming the author didn't want it to be love at first site or have them secretly falling in love with each other immediately, she wanted their love to develop slowly. Guess that slowed the story down a bit, but in the end it really helped to make the love story more real.
Never Sky was written in third-person narrative style between Aria and Peregrine, which possible slowed the pace of the story and it was narrated in the present of each characters current situation it never goes backwards.
Scent is one of the things authors tend to use to create imagery of the intense love between characters, stuff like he\she smells like summer, roses, cotton candy etc., so I was stupefied that Perry didn't like Aria's scent when they first met, he actually thought she smelled like decay (I mean really? Decay?)and I wonder how can a relationship even happen between. It turns out living in pods without fresh air causes a decaying smell that only outsiders can smell (yeah).
I can't begin to explain how good this book is or got. So patience is the virtue you will need when reading this book. At the beginning the secondary characters seemed immature or psychopathic but it turns out there was a reason, which was eventually revealed. There were many surprising secrets and events that made it a fun read.
flwr_pwr's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5