Book Review #330 - Breathe (Breathe #1) by Sarah Crossan

When oxygen levels plunge in a treeless world, a state lottery decides which lucky few will live inside the Pod. Everyone else will slowly suffocate. Years after the Switch, life inside the Pod has moved on. A poor Auxiliary class cannot afford the oxygen tax which supplies extra air for running, dancing and sports. The rich Premiums, by contrast, are healthy and strong. Anyone who opposes the regime is labelled a terrorist and ejected from the Pod to die. Sixteen-year-old Alina is part of the secret resistance, but when a mission goes wrong she is forced to escape from the Pod. With only two days of oxygen in her tank, she too faces the terrifying prospect of death by suffocation. Her only hope is to find the mythical Grove, a small enclave of trees protected by a hardcore band of rebels. Does it even exist, and if so, what or who are they protecting the trees from? A dystopian thriller about courage and freedom, with a love story at its heart.

 

 

My Rating: 3/5

 

 

I really liked the concept for this dystopian world. It seemed much more realistic than other dystopian novels. Not so much people living in pods, but the lack of oxygen because of destruction of trees.

 

 

Overall though I thought this book could have been better. It just didn't feel fleshed out enough. It was told from three different character's perspectives, and at times it felt like too much.

 

 

I found it hard to connect with all of the characters. They develop very slowly throughout the novel. Alina felt like a third wheel at times. Bea was clingy and Quinn was clueless and probably just a typical teenage boy.

 

 

It had a very political aspect to it which was a little more strongly portrayed than other most other dystopian books I have read.

 

 

There was a character whose story was never resolved. We never find out who Abel really was or who he was working for. I'm not sure if this was an intentional cliff-hanger or just unresolved.