Through the Ever Night

The second book in a trilogy often sags, but Rossi keeps this one moving by splitting the lovers early. Perry, now responsible for hundreds of hungry people, discovers that leadership means hard choices and lonely decisions. Aria, unwelcome among the Tides, leaves with Perry's best friend Roar on a dangerous mission to another tribe, hoping to learn where the Still Blue lies, a place rumoured to be safe from the storms.

The world grows larger and more dangerous along the way, with rival leaders, failing domes and storms that set the land on fire. Rossi alternates between Aria and Perry, and the chapters build real tension around trust and loyalty: each has to make choices the other may not forgive. The romance is central but not syrupy, and the friendships, especially between Aria and Roar, are as important as the love story. There is some violence, but it is never graphic.

It ends with the stakes raised and the journey still unfinished, leading into Into the Still Blue. Read Under the Never Sky first. About 368 pages in the HarperCollins paperback.