Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Overview:

Aria and Perry's story picks up right where it left off at the end of book one (If you haven't read Under the Never Sky, you need to start there). They are both searching for the Still Blue, and a way to save their people from annihilation. The characters are engaging, and I love the world this series is set in. The only downside I found to this book was that it suffers somewhat from middle-book syndrome: it doesn't quite feel complete on its own. Rather, it is the necessary bridge between the beginning and end of a larger story.


Characters & Voice:

This book alternates between the same two P.O.V. characters as the first book in the series, Aria and Perry, and their story picks up right where it left off. Aria has grown from her various trials, and she is no longer the whiny, entitled, Dweller from the first book. She is capable and determined, but she is still young and reckless and not all of her decisions are well thought out or wise. In some ways, Aria felt like a camera in this book, carrying the reader to places they need to be so they could gain important information. I was a little disappointing that I didn't see significant character growth on Aria's part this time.

The second character, Perry, is now the Blood Lord of the Tides. He faces judgement and ridicule for every choice he makes, and the pressure of being responsible for all his people is wearing him down. He spends a lot of the story trapped in the conflict created between his free-spirit personality and the responsibility of his office. I like that no matter the pressures weighing down on him, Perry stays true to his character.

This book also spends more time exploring the secondary characters of Roar, Perry's best friend, and Liv, Perry's sister. I won't go into this, as it has a major impact on the plot, but I was very happy to get to know them better.


World-building:

The world of this series was well established in the first book, so the author could get by with fewer descriptions. These books definitely don't stand alone, but if you jumped right into the second story I think there'd be enough information for a reader to muddle their way through.

Basically, half the world's population lives inside protected shelters while the other half scrape by on the hostile surface. Both groups are threatened by increasingly devastating ether storms that are tearing the land apart. In this second installation, we get a much closer look at life in the Tides, and an introduction to the northern tribe ruled by Liv's fiance. We also learn more about the Still Blue, a fabled land that is free of storms that everyone is looking for.


Language & Mechanics:

Rossi writes in smooth, clean prose. Her descriptions are lovely while staying short enough not to stall out the story. The pace was brisk, and the flow pulled me right along with hardly a hiccup. I didn't notice many mistake, and there were none large enough to jolt me out of the story. Overall, I really enjoyed the writing.


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