Book Review: Under the Never Sky

TITLE: Under the Never Sky
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Veronica Rossi
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian, adventure, romance
PREMISE: In the future Aria is sentanced to exhile from her pod and runs into Perri, a savage who may be her only hope of survival.
MY REVIEW: This is what I call a strong debut. Yes, the romance was predictable and probably the poorest thing in the book but even that was miles ahead of other romances I've run into in the past. Honestly that and lack of explanation for how this world came to be are really my only complaints and those are mostly personal peeves anyway. What the book lacks is more then made up for in the fact that this is some entertaining stuff. I totally see why this has been optioned for a film. Just please, Hollywood cast some unknowns for it. You all need some new blood in the teen scene.
The writing is a wee bit average and could use some polishing in some parts but for the most part it's solid. I love the world that Rossi created even if again, I still don't understand some parts of it. Aria was a refreshing lead as was Perri and again, the author just plain knows how to entertain. All the good writing in the world won't help you if you can't make your book entertaining.
So while some things give me a pause in this book, I give it a enthusiastic thumbs up. I can't wait to read more and I'm sort of hoping the second book will have more backstory on stuff so I won't be confused by things as much.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dystopian fans, Divergent fans, Hunger Games fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five pods