Breathe by Sarah Crossan
- Method of Obtaining: I received my copy via the publisher from Edelweiss.
- Published by: Greenwillow
- Release Date: 10/2/2012
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?
- I’m always on the lookout for another good dystopian read.
The cover, the synposis, and the idea of a world without air enticed me to pick up Breathe by Sarah Crossan, but then as I began to read… I had the strangest feeling of deja vu. So let me start this review with a warning – if you’ve seen The Lorax lately, or read the book, then I would advise you to pick up this book with the warning that the world inside might look a little cartoonish, as it’s very, very similar.
That said, Breathe is told from the three separate viewpoints, Bea, Quinn, and Alina. A twist on the typical love triangle is held inside, with each person desiring another or none at all, and each come from completely different walks of life within the Pod. What is the Pod? Well – according to the science in this book, there is only 6% oxygen in the air outside of the pod, not enough for humans to live on. Now, I’m not a scientist, but I seem to remember that rain and raincloads is made up of 2/3 hydrogen and 1/3 oxygen, so if there is very little oxygen, the rain and snow that forms outside the pod … is just an example of why you might need to research science a little bit. Also, according to the bit of research I’ve done, without rain or clouds or.. really an ozone layer (which is made up of oxygen), the world would be desperately hot – not cold as Sarah Crossan makes her earth to be. Do you see why I have an issue with this book?
Crossan tries to make an interesting story, and I give her credit for that. Science aside, there was enough action and factions to make things interesting – but I was distracted, repeatedly, by the presents of things that just couldn’t exist that were making the lives of Alina, Bea, and Quinn difficult. And that distraction (especially since I am most definitely not a science-minded person, so it had to be a pretty heavy distraction to get my notice) made this book lose it’s appeal and, in essence, I had to force my way through the last half of it just because I had a slight interest in one of the main characters.
Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!