Under the Never Sky Trilogy by Veronica Rossi

 

Book 1: Under the Never Sky

Book 2: Through the Ever Night

Book 3: Into the Still Blue

Author: Veronica Rossi

Amazon Synopsis:

Book 1: 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. 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.

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Book 2: It's been months since Aria last saw Perry. Months since Perry was named Blood Lord of the Tides, and Aria was charged with an impossible mission. Now, finally, they are about to be reunited. But their reunion is far from perfect. The Tides don't take kindly to Aria, a former Dweller. And with the worsening Aether storms threatening the tribe's precarious existence, Aria begins to fear that leaving Perry behind might be the only way to save them both.

Threatened by false friends and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night?

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Book 3: Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it's time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to find the fabled Still Blue and bring balance to their world.

I decided that I should review these as a set, even though they all made me feel very different.  The beginning had a feel similar to the feel of The 100 tv series(which was very loosely based on a book as well).

To start off I'd like to talk about the things I enjoyed about this series.  It has a very dystopian feel to it, similar and yet different, to series like The Hunger Games and Divergent.  I've been pretty partial to the concept of Dystopian since I first read The Hunger Games, about a year before its movie release.  Similarly enough one of the lead characters is a girl named Aria.  I enjoy book series that contain female leads.  It's a sort of delicious strength I like to surround myself in.  More and more these days stories are arising where female characters are our leads.  I think it's a positive message that females are just as important as their male counterparts. 

Under the Never Sky had me intrigued from the very beginning.  It had been a while since I found a novel that enticed me to read again. My rediscovery of books was rekindled with this book. New, and yet similar concepts to other dystopian novels captured me. I wanted to see what would happen further along.  It didn't take me too long to finish this. It's been a little while and I can't remember, but I think I might have gotten this as a free kindle book.

Having been taking on extra hours at work and with the looming pandemic arising, it took me a while to read this, even though I wanted  to.  I spent only a few moments every night, perhaps a chapter or two at a time, reading before bed.  It was very hard to put down and go to bed.  As soon as book 1 was completed I was hooked and I found myself buying Through the Ever Night on my kindle curious to follow Peregrine and Aria into their newfound relationship.  Even the ending of this novel had me intrigued to see what was going to happen into book 3.  I desired to know what The Still Blue had in store.

Into the Still Blue started out pretty slow.  I felt as if the first two novels were far more interesting and fast paced than this.  Some of the more exciting scenes in this novel are spread out and far too few in my opinion.  With Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night I felt butterflies and excitement coursing through my veins, this book however, left me tired and bored. The ending didn't make me feel happy or excited.  I felt uninterested while reading this and it took me longer to read than the first two books.  I felt like I was expecting something more out of the still blue, description-wise, only to be left parched in the desert.  I expected more description and something fascinating to come out of this new discovered land, but in the end there wasn't much.  For costing about the same as the first two novels combined, I was very sour and disappointed.

There are more books in this series, but this is a trilogy in of itself.  The others are stand alone types.  Maybe one day I will pick those up and read, but for now, it's time to take a break.

As a whole, I give this series 3 out of 5 pinwheels.  Id have given it more, but book three just ruined the allure of the trilogy for me. 

Shame to those who think evil of this.

The Sin Collector by Jessica Fortunato

Genre: Paranormal / Urban Fantasy / Supernatural

Liliana is a Sin-Eater meaning she collects people sins, but she hasn't done so in a long time.  She's over 100 years old, but Sin-Eaters can live forever. A man from her childhood comes back into her life and leads her into an unknown future. An older man from her past, who is much like a father figure to her, shows up at her hotel door to warn her that shes in grave danger. What kind of danger is she suppose to be afraid of when she's virtually invincible? She develops a very interesting, and possibly useful ability, but will she be safe?

Goodreads Synopsis:
"The Sin Collector" follows the life of Liliana, a born Sin Collector. She has spent over 100 years absorbing people's sins so they may rest in peace come death. However when she meets another Collector, one who insists everything she has been taught is a lie, Liliana must make her way from Sunny L.A. all the way to the streets of Madrid. Searching for answers to a question we all share. Why are we here? The friends and enemies she makes along the way only seem to blur the line between right and wrong. Can Liliana fight the Castus, an organization bent on killing off every Sin-Eater? Should she trust her head or her heart when the two most important men in her life are fighting alongside her? Then there is the worst question of all, who will be left when the dust settles.

I was lucky enough to get a copy of this book from Jessica herself, so that I may review it for her. (Thanks again Jess!)

There were some parts of this book that conflicted right at the beginning. It says Sin Eaters are never aging, but somehow they start out as children and must age to age 20. I guess when they get to age 20 they don't age anymore? Something weird like that.

The book felt very rushed at the beginning, and yet, the story started out so flat that it was incredibly SLOW. It does get better about halfway through the book though when things really pick up and get interesting. About that point things really start to flow better, but it's hard to get started and you must be really patient. Not much of a hook in the beginning, but if you're patient enough to get halfway through it really is worth it.

I felt like it could have used a little more background of Liliana's parents. I'd have liked to know more about how she came to be with Olexander as a kid.

I feel like the author could have done a little more research on certain things before taking misconceptions as truths, but this is a common mistake.

Some parts feel like they jumped around randomly, but it wasn't a common theme of the book, and didn't really hinder my pleasure later on.

At times it also felt like it was a misguided dream fantasy world. Details were left out that I would have liked to have been included to enhance my experience. This book requires a lot of imaginating at times. I like to be able to imagine things and see them as I'm reading, and at times this was difficult.

I felt like it was overly predictable at times. It didn't leave me questioning too much. I felt like I knew what was going on. It was a little of the back and forth of good guy or bad guy thing. In the end I am still unsure about how I should feel about one of the characters. Are they a bad guy or a good guy? I'll never know.

Regardless of the faults, after I got to the halfway point and things picked up, I really started to enjoy the story. I found myself captured in it, and found myself enjoying the characters(mostly).

I like some of the interesting elements the author put together. It's a story with originality, but also with some old elements I enjoy. For example, there's a little bit of kick butt action, and I can't disagree with the enjoyment of that. I didn't really find myself connecting with the main character as much as I would have liked, but there's still a possibility for that in later books I think. I can't really say too much about the things I liked without giving too much away, so lets just go ahead and say I enjoyed it and am interested in what the next book will bring!

Shame on anyone who thinks evil of this!

Twilight: Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer

Genre: Young Adult

Bella's still in love with Edward, and in this book we get to see how much of a jerk Jacob truly is. Edward still wants Bella to marry him before he turns her, despite her wanting it now, under what Edward considers fear circumstance. It's Bella's graduation year and young vampires are running rampant in Seattle. We discover Jaspers past and how it's linked to the up and coming battle with young vampires. The Cullens and the wolves form an ally-ship to fight a battle against these newborns. Still victoria wants to kill Bella. Bella discovers her love for Jacob and wants to set him free.


Wikipedia Summary:
The story opens with the revelation that Seattle, Washington is being plagued by a string of murders, which Edward suspects is caused by a new vampire that is unable to control its thirst for human blood. As Edward and Bella apply to colleges, Bella explains to Edward her desire to see her friend, Jacob Black, a werewolf. Although Edward fears for her safety, Bella insists that neither Jacob nor his wolf pack would ever harm her, and she begins visiting him occasionally. On one of these visits, Jacob tells Bella that he is in love with her and wants her to choose him instead of Edward, but Bella says she just sees him as a friend. To that, Jacob forcibly kisses her and she reacts by punching him in the face, spraining her hand while not even leaving a scratch on him. Meanwhile, Alice Cullen has a vision that Victoria, a vampire who is hunting Bella for revenge, has returned to Forks. A few days later, Edward proposes to Bella and, despite harboring an aversion to marriage, she accepts.

Bella and the Cullens soon realize that the Seattle murders are being committed by an "army" of newborn vampires, controlled by Victoria. The Cullens join forces with the wolf pack to combat this threat. As everyone else prepares for battle, Edward, Bella and Jacob camp in the mountains, hidden during the battle, where they are later joined by Seth Clearwater, a young wolf pack member, to wait out the fight.

In the morning, Jacob becomes upset when he overhears Edward and Bella discussing their engagement and threatens to join the fight and get himself killed. Bella stops Jacob by kissing him, and she comes to realize that she is in love with him as well. During the battle, Victoria tracks Edward's scent to Bella's forest hiding place, and Edward is forced to fight. Edward manages to kill Victoria and her vampire army is destroyed. Afterwards, Bella explains to Jacob that while she loves him, her love for Edward is greater. After receiving a wedding invitation from Edward, Jacob runs away in his wolf form to escape his heartbreak over Bella's rejection.
Let me start by saying this books freaking long dude. I saw the movies before I read the books, but it looks to me like the movies follow the books pretty well. I didn't mind this one, in fact it was my favorite of the series so far. The one thing I have against this saga is that it kinda circulates to the same junk all the time. Detailed circles that just keep reoccurring basically. What I mean by that is, Bella's always strung between Edward and Jacob before she even realizes her feelings for the one guy. Not to mention that someones always trying to kill her because shes 'fragile.' Also she's always blaming herself for the bad stuff that happens and I guess she does kind of draw it to herself. They need to get on with turning her into a vampire already so that the story can get some kind of change. Also, is it just me or does Jacob become more of an ass, as the series continues? Raging werewolf hormones much? If you're into vampires and werewolves and love triangles, you'll love this series, especially if you don't mind some trends that seem to stick with the theme of the saga. It's definitely a series that if I were a teenage girl, I would be crazy about. The flaws probably wont stop me from reading the next ones.

Shame on anyone who thinks evil of this.

The Buried Covenant - Shawn P. Keenan

Genre: Sci-fi, Religious, Occult, Young Adult


The book starts out pretty slow, but does get better. It starts out pretty much like most young adult novels do, focusing on things like relationships and friendships. Our hero, Jayke, is a boy who doesn't know much about his past and is really nervous around others, especially those his own age. He slowly starts to learn he has some kind of super natural powers. We meet a few ominous characters one being Amber, who we later find out goes by a different name, and a different character all together. A group called the Aduro really wants to stop him, because he's the key of the future. In this book it seems love is our hero's reason for strength. I will admit I didn't like this book too much at the beginning, and the entire book almost lost me when we discover it's religious affiliation, but with a title like 'The Buried Covenant' it should have been expected. It wasn't written poorly by any means. It was easy to get through, I read the entire book in a sitting. It's pretty cool that Jayke goes through a metamorphosis of understanding himself, and the things he's capable of. Heck, he even has a romantic interest, even though he must stay pure and cannot be with her, which must be difficult, for anyone.


Synopsis from Amazon.com:
Being hardheaded is a common character flaw, but most teenagers can’t crack a concrete curb with their skull. And while a skilled skateboarder appears to defy gravity, he can’t keep water from pouring out of an upturned cup.

Unintentionally tapping into latent powers has brought Jayke Wolff to the attention of the Aduro, an ancient society plotting an apocalyptic new world order. He’s now their number one draft pick, and they’ve dispatched their most seductive member to close the deal. It shouldn’t take much convincing a hormonal teenage boy to turn his back on a cryptic covenant for a future of self-indulgence and unchecked power. But if Jayke can’t be tempted by pleasures of the flesh, the flesh can be influenced in less pleasant ways as well. Armageddon can’t wait forever. Killing Jayke will also work.

I thought it was pretty slow at first. As I said before it does get better. It has good character developement as we see Jayke go from a shy and unsure guy to a strong character with more understanding of himself. I read it in a sitting, so that should tell you it's not a terrible book, at least I didn't think so by any means. I recommend reading this book if you're into the occult, religious affiliation and the supernatural. If you're looking to read this book, goodreads.com has it up for June 2011 for a free read here. 

Shame on anyone who thinks evil of this.

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