Into the Still Blue: A Review

I apologize for the low quality of the photo. My current theme tends to stretch them so it could fit the template. I am yet to adjust according to these changes.

This is probably one of the longest reviews I've ever written. Proceed only if you've read Into the Still Blue. There are spoilers under the cut. 

What do you think is under the title?

• Just like the previous novels in the Under the Never Sky trilogy, I think the title refers to the adventure. To the things they had to go through to get to the Still Blue.

Summarize the story in your own words:

• Into the Still Blue is the third and final book of the Under the Never Sky series and it's basically about, well, their journey to get to the Still Blue--wherein it is believed that there is no Aether and the promise of a new beginning exists. (Man, am I not so vague.)

In general: (didn't like it, okay, liked it, loved it)

• All the love for this novel. I would give it all the love.

Why?

• Veronica Rossi is such a good author it is possible for you to turn from a sobbing mess to a gushing teenager within seconds.
• Let’s talk about Aria!!! What I love most about Aria is her intellect. She is smart and she knows it. And she uses it to her advantage. She’s so kick-ass. She is brave and alert. She’s a very strong female protagonist. I love how she’s pretty and the kind of girl who everybody almost automatically likes (ha ha, no not really), but she’s got her own set of flaws and she finds her ways to stand up to them. It’s funny how several people see her as a Mary Sue kind of character when everything she’s done is to try to fit in and fight for the things and people she love.
• Should we talk about Perry? Yes, but not here. (There are several Perry bullets in the “last words” section. Oh joy!)
• Roar and Liv. I will never get over this thing. In this novel, we see Roar slowly start to accept the fact. He can never get over it, we all know that. His love for Liv isn’t something childish and immature. Surely, we all feel and see just how much he loves Liv and it just hits me every time he talks about her. It makes me so sad that I feel like crying every single time he tells Aria one memory. This is one of those OTPs I'll forever cry on about. I actually ship them harder than I ship Fourtris. (Sue me. I will go down with this ship and not a ship war will jar me from it. You have no idea how Roar/Liv makes me feel.) Those moments wherein Roar starts to gets his sass and witty remarks back are the moments when happiness just spread through my chest. It's just really saddening to see him suffer.
• One of the many reasons why I love this trilogy is its ability to focus both on the romance and the goings-on in their world at the same time. I mean, I think we can all tell that the romance plays such a huge role in the plot and well, it is important, but at the same time we can also tell the relevance of it to the actual things that are happening within the characters’ stimuli.(And how it keeps them up on their feet when they need encouragements to keep them going.)
• Brooke and Soren. It's a ship. The wiggling-the-fingers-as-a-greeting was really cute oh my goody
• Soren is the official sass king of this trilogy. (Okay, maybe he's par with Roar?) His conversations with Roar just bring the all the bacon home.
• Veronica Rossi is such a good author I just feel this strong urge to want to strangle all her antagonists. Really. They've got substance. They know what they stand for and they will fight for it.
• I like that we get to know about Aria's father. I've not really realized that I wanted to know about him until he came up with the confession.

Roar's mouth pulled into a smile--a beautiful smile she hadn't seen in weeks.
"Beautiful, huh?"
She drew her hand away, giving him a small push on the shoulder. "Don't act surprised."
"I'm not. Always nice to be reminded,though.”
“I give up,” Soren said, shaking his head. “Congratulations. You two are the first code I can’t break.” 

• This bullet is dedicated to the first code Soren cannot break--Roar and Aria's relationship. I love these two so much--the relationship they share, especially. It's very special. They're very much tightly woven into each other, but you can feel that closeness without malice. Yes, you know that they're very much close to each other, but you won't mistake it for something more that either filial or platonic. The major reason why I love it so much is may be because it's something a lot of people--girls, specifically--want. It's just beautiful. I mean, it's deep and open and special and just... them. You can feel and you know that they love each other in a sibling/best friend/all around way and I think it's necessary that people have that sort of relationship in their lives.
• Let us talk about all the deaths that happened in this novel. One word: why. (Except for the last sub-bullet. That didn’t need a 'why'.)
  • I didn’t even like Hess in the first place, but I cried when he died. Maybe it more because of Soren—because he lost his father, or because we had hope in him. Hope that he would change, that he would turn the game around. Wait, he did. But when that happened, he died right after.
  • Reef and Gren. I HATE IT SO MUCH. It was so abrupt. I really have not seen any of those happen. I didn’t even know that Sable had killed Reef until Aria said it. I hated it so much. My god, I’ve grown so attached to the Six, I don’t even want to think of them without Reef and Gren.
  • Sable’s.  Now this, this is everything I’ve been waiting for. For killing Liv off, for giving bull dung in everybody’s lives. He was so manipulative and talk shit I just wanted to strangle him right then and there. In summary, yes, I literally jumped up and down the couch when it happened.
• Let's talk about Cinder. I remember not knowing what to do with him during Under the Never Sky. He just followed Roar around and is well, moody and dark and isolated. But as the series progresses, we learn to understand him. We start to get emotionally invested in the Aether-controlling human that is Cinder, and it hurts. It hurt to see him say good-bye. He was thirteen and yet a lot of things are going on in his life. Whether we admit it or not, we all felt it. We all figured, one way or another, that he's gonna die after all. He played a very important role for everyone else to be able to get to the Still Blue and I swear, it hurts to see him die after everything. Because if you followed the series, you're gonna see how he progresses, how he develops as a person and find a home and finally find a family with the Tides. I hated it so much to see him die, but oh well. (Actually, we didn't see him and I sort of didn't like how it happened that he's just gone. I thought it was too abrupt. But what other way to kill off a favorite character than to make it agonizingly slow, right?)
•  On to the last chapter. I tell you, don’t flip to the last chapter of the novel unless you’re meant to actually get there. Because it will give you bad things in mind—especially if you theorize and over exaggerate a lot like I do. (Because Perry wasn’t there, that’s why. You get my point. It almost killed me.) Anyway, I didn’t really feel for the last chapter. It was beautiful, just like everything else, but it felt more like an epilogue rather than a whole chapter itself. I thought it would’ve been better if it ended on the last chapter Perry had narrated. Maybe it’s because I thought that Veronica had ended it with Roar and Aria. Not that it’s wrong. It isn’t. I mean, we all know that Aria and Roar’s relationship is important that it was something that matter, but it was more like a somehow minor part. Because it somehow gave me a message that’s to say that that something in that chapter was to matter so much. I get it. The last sentence needed saying, yes, but maybe it would have been better if it ended it a more… uplifting vibe. It was really cute, yes, but it felt like another filler to me--you know, like those cute little scenes the author puts in the middle of very tense parts so we could calm down a little. Although I’d like to admit the house surprise made me grin so widely. I don’t know. I just thought it would’ve been better if the story closed in with either an Aria/Perry scene or a day in the tribe where everyone is happy and contented. (Or just like what I have just stated earlier, the last chapter Perry had narrated wherein everyone is there and planning for the tomorrows that are to come. [Although it was really depressing to think that Cinder is gone. That kid matters to me more than I could ever tell.])

Favorite scenes: (There's quite a lot.)

• Roar and Soren's sassy conversations
• When Roar and Perry finally talked (or just walked around together).
• The last two pages of chapter thirty-four and of chapter thirty-five. Right there, we just saw a different side of Aria and Perry's relationship and it was so cute. (And funny.)
• "Then I love you, my little Night Crawler." I still cannot.
• Perry's last chapter

Least favorite scenes:

• The first time they exchanged "I love you"'s. I mean it was good, but veeeery sad at the same time.
• Every scene with Kirra in it. I hate her guts oh my gosh.

Quotes you liked:

“Fear is dangerous. It sparks violence much faster than anger.” 

“There is no way forward that isn’t through pain.” 

“An oath is a promise—and a promise can be made regardless of feeling.” 

Make a three to five song playlist for the novel:

• Young Volcanoes- Fall Out Boy
• This Is The New Year- A Great Big World
• Somewhere Only We Know- Keane
• Someday- The Summer Set
• Beating Heart- Ellie Goulding

Rate it by stars/rubber ducks:

• novel:

• trilogy:

I would give this trilogy all the rubber ducks I could if possible.

Would you recommend it?

• ALL the "yes"-es!!

Last words:

• Kirra is the next Brooke. I can feel it.
• Roar's Markings. Yes, I took time to savor that little cameo his Markings had.  
• tHE CITY OF CINDER!!! I still cry.
• Perry bullet! (Because this huge mushy cute thing needs one.)
  
  • Perry is possibly the cutest and most adorable human being to have ever crossed the fictional world. (And Roar the most charming. Yep.)
  • Am I the only one who cracks up a little when Veronica uses the sentence “Perry grinned.”? Yes? Okay. (Can I get any lamer than this?)
  • There was one instant where I was so convinced that Perry was gonna die I literally cried myself to sleep. There's this paragraph in chapter thirty-five where Aria observes and describes Perry so intricately, I thought Veronica Rossi's foreshadowing something. And then the sacrificial deal between him and Sable happened. And then we had to bawl our eyes out a little. And then Roar and Soren found them. And then they fought Sable and hE DIDN'T DIE! You have no idea how happy I was when I proved myself wrong upon thinking that Perry was gonna die. I really thought he was gonna say goodbye just like how Tris did. So yes, I jumped up and down with Roar as he says, "Yes! I knew it!" (Don't blame me. It was 2 in the midnight and the brain's really creative during these hours.)

• I found an exploratory scene from Through the Ever Night as I was ruffling through the Under the Never Sky tags and blogs on tumblr and if you haven't read it yet, you can here! (It's about Willow and Cinder!)
• I will absolutely miss this series. I will miss everything in this world--the characters, the crazy plot and its even crazier (and absolutely adorable/painful/cheesy/feels-wrenching) romance. This is one of my most favorite trilogies ever and I am sure to take this journey again someday. Funny though, just about three hours after finishing Into the Still Blue, I felt like reading the novels all over again. I've mentioned in my Allegiant review that finishing series/trilogies are of big deal to me because they have affected my life and helped me through several things in a way. This series is one of those that I have ([un]fortunately) invested my emotions on quite hardly so, really, this is really special to me.

Read my reviews for Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night as well!

'Til next time!

:-)