Review : Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Breathe (Breathe #1)
Author : Sarah Crossan
Publisher : HarperTeen
Publication Date : October 2nd 2012
Goodreads - The Book Depository

Inhale. Exhale. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe . . . The world is dead. The survivors live under the protection of Breathe, the corporation that found a way to manufacture oxygen-rich air.

Alina has been stealing for a long time. She's a little jittery, but not terrified. All she knows is that she's never been caught before. If she's careful, it'll be easy. If she's careful.

Quinn should be worried about Alina and a bit afraid for himself, too, but even though this is dangerous, it's also the most interesting thing to happen to him in ages. It isn't every day that the girl of your dreams asks you to rescue her.

Bea wants to tell him that none of this is fair; they'd planned a trip together, the two of them, and she'd hoped he'd discover her out here, not another girl.

And as they walk into the Outlands with two days' worth of oxygen in their tanks, everything they believe will be shattered. Will they be able to make it back? Will they want to?


Personal Thoughts

After reading many mixed reviews for the book, I went into Breathe with a lot of trepidation, expecting like others not to really enjoy the book. Imagine my surprise when I ended up enjoying the book although it wasn't completely flawless !

Breathe is set in a dystopian society where oxygen is a privilege. After The Shift, tree have disappeared and the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere has plummeted to a mere 6 % (as compared to the usual 21 %). Fortunately, a company known as Breathe has found a way to manufacture oxygen. They build a Pod, a dome-like structure, in which the citizens can survive. Alina is a member of The Resistance, a group secretly growing trees outside of the Pods. Quinn is Premius, a high-class citizen of the Pod and Bea is an Auxiliary, one of the lower-class citizens of the Pod. When Quinn and Bea plan a camping trip outside of the dome, they don't expect to wind up helping Alina, an escapee. Soon, their rescue attempt makes them realize that Breathe's intentions aren't what they seem.

Breathe is told in the POV of Alina, Bea and Quinn. Usually, I tend to shy away from multiple POVs because of how hard it can be to grasp the characters' personalities fully. With Breathe though, I didn't seem to have that problem. The main reason for that was that all the characters had a unique personality making it less likely that I confuse the characters. Alina was part of the Resistance and therefore had a somewhat impulsive personality. She was brash, did not mince her words and had strong beliefs in the Resistance. What I loved most about Alina was definitely how loyal she was to the Resistance. She gave her heart and soul to whatever task was assigned to her because she wanted happiness for everyone. Compared to Bea, she was a physically stronger character. She was the kick-ass character between the two of them. Bea, on the other hand, was gentle, kind and compassionate. Although she knew that Quinn was enamored with Alina, she still decided to help the girl, knowing that she was bringing Quinn and Alina closer. She was so self-less that I couldn't help but find her to be a beautiful character. I found her to be entirely too loveable. Bea started out as a vulnerable and innocent girl who's had a major crush on her best friend since forever, but watching her slowly shed her layer of vulnerability was an absolute delight. She transformed into this emotionally strong and confident young woman who knew what she wanted without losing her gentle and compassionate nature. Out of the three characters, Bea was my favorite because there's nothing more I love than a character who matures as the story progresses. Quinn, Bea's best friend and crush, was also a very likeable character. I can't say much about his personality except for the fact that he was such a boy! Although he was a Premium, one of the rich kids in his society, he never discriminated against the poor. I think his friendship with Bea had taught him that all human beings are equal. My favorite trait of Quinn was his views on equality. Plus, he was a really sweet guy who had a really big heart although he could be blind at times with regards to Bea.

The world that Sarah Crossan has created was fascinating and very scary. Scary because it's something that could await the future generations with climate change and global warming turning our lives topsy-turvy. I think it has dawned on all of us the future of Earth is very bleak if action is not taken to change our societies. In Breathe, all trees have disappeared and oxygen has depleted after an event known as The Shift. However, the company known as Breathe has successfully found a way to create oxygen inside a Pod. Leaving the Pod without oxygen tanks would mean death because of the low percentage of the oxygen in the atmosphere. Doesn't that sound realistic and very freaky? Even though the idea behind the world was absolutely amazing, the world building itself was lacking. I had many many questions that were left unanswered in this installment. For instance, what caused The Shift? How has Breathe managed to produce the oxygen? How come Pods were built? Now, I reckon that it's highly likely that these questions will be answered in the next installment but I felt like it was somewhat fundamental for them to be answered in the first book itself so that the reader is comfortable with the world-building and has enough background information to fully grasp the situation in which Alina, Quinn and Bea are. These holes in the world building were very disappointing. There were also a few plot-holes in the story with the death of one character early on in the story being one.

Despite my issues with the world-building, I must say that I found the plot to be very entertaining. The fast pace of the story was what made my reading experience so enjoyable. Alina, Quinn and Bea were constantly on the run to find the Resistance's base, being chased by all kinds of government officials. So, it was the adrenaline-rush giving kind of book. I also loved the growth of the main characters as I mentioned above. The romance in the book was sort of bittersweet. Bea has always been in love with Quinn while the latter has never really considered as more than a really good friend. When Quinn first met Alina he became infatuated with her. Her rebellious nature was probably what appealed to him. It broke my heart to be in Bea's mind when she realized that her best friend was falling for someone else. Because they had been friends, I was actually vying for Bea and Quinn to be together. Now, although this book sounds like it has a love-triangle, trust me when I say that it doesn't really. There's only one couple from the beginning that was meant to be, so I wasn't worried at all. One other positive thing about the romance was that it didn't take over the plot and it wasn't a major aspect of the book.

For a debut novel, Sarah Crossan's Breathe was genuinely well-written, in my opinion. It has an interesting cast of characters and an entertaining plot-line. This series only needs some work in the world-building department which I'm hoping will be solved in the next installment of the series. It's very promising for sure! Because of the issue that it deals with, I definitely think Breathe is worth-reading.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5