Under the Never Sky, by Veronica Rossi

Since she'd been on the outside, she'd survived an Aether storm, she'd had a knife held to her throat, and she'd seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland - known as The Death Shop - are slim. If the cannibals don't get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She's been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He's wild - a savage - and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile - everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria's help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

In the future, there are two types of people. There are those who live sheltered inside domes and in a virtual reality, and there are those who never entered the domes and live in the wilderness under the Aether (the electric sky-it confuses me too) trying to stay alive. Aria is the former; Perry is the latter. After a mix-up which ends with Aria being framed she is kicked out of the bubble where she has lived her whole life and thrown into the wilderness to die. Perry is fed up with his brother's leadership in his clan but feels obligated to stay because of his dying nephew, Talon. When his nephew is kidnapped by the dome-dwellers Perry teams up with Aria, the girl dying in the middle of the desert to save Talon and clear Aria's name. Of course, they fall in love along the way despite the millions of reasons why they absolutely cannot be together, but you probably knew that was coming as soon as I mentioned that the two main characters were a girl and a boy.

The description I read on the inside flap of the cover told me both everything and nothing. Although I sort of knew what I was getting into, I still had almost no idea of what it would actually be like. It wasn't as abstract as I was nervous it would be (that's a plus) but it was also too similar to all the other books I've read that take place in dystopian futures. All I'm asking for is some originality. It felt like parts of Uglies and Skinned and other books which I can't remember right now were mashed up to create "Under the Never Sky". The most unique part was the Aether which could have had more effect on the story but didn't, thus making the book seem like another cliche.

I couldn't help it, but it took a hundred pages for me to stop thinking of Pretty Little Liars every time I read the name Aria. I know, it has meaning in the book and it isn't only a pretty and pretty uncommon name, but still-I couldn't help it. Also, Peregrine? Seriously? That is one of the corniest names ever. So is Talon. When an author has the freedom to choose any name and they end up being this pathetic, I am extremely disappointed.

4.3 stars.