Review: Breathe by Sarah Crossan

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.

Alinahas 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.

Quinnshould 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.

Beawants 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?

**There might be minor spoilers, so consider yourself warned :)**

I really had high hopes for Breathe, what with the concept of air being a rare commodity ~ it just sounds like the basis for an amazing story, right?... Unfortunately, although it hit the high notes in the beginning, the excitement and adrenaline fizzled out as we progressed through the story.

Crossan has the potential for a great story here. It's typical dystopian with an oppressive government and a group of rebels that defies it at every turn, but what fascinated me was the idea that oxygen was a privilege, not a right. If you can't afford the amount of air it would require to run a mile or dance or even walk at a brisk pace, then you simply remained stagnant.

However, even with this promising premise, there was really no world-building to speak of. What caused all the trees and plants to wither and die? Crossan dubs this event "The Switch," but while we see the results, we never have the opportunity to discover what caused this horrific event.

The characters really grabbed me at first, especially with all the differences and dynamics between them, but some of them had a hard time living up to the personalities that were laid out for them.

• Bea is lower class, wicked intelligent, and in love with her best friend, Quinn. She's more than a little insecure and is completely illogical, despite her supposed super-smarts, when it comes to making tough decisions. I didn't really understand her whole obsession with Maude, especially because the old bag tried to kill them all, and while Maude and Alina came to respect Bea as a courageous asset to the rebels, I couldn't see the change in her that caused this shift in perspective from her peers. 


• Quinn is the rich, privileged kid who doesn't take danger seriously. He goes all googly-eyed when he first sees Alina, and follows her around like a lost puppy dog. He's completely oblivious to Bea's feelings for him and has a naiveté that I was surprised didn't get him killed. However, he was the one character I could believe, and I did have to respect the change that occurred in Quinn. The truth slams into him with such a force that there was no way he wouldn't come out on the other side a different person, and it turns out, I ended up liking him in the end. 


• Alina is the rebel, the beautiful girl that Quinn goes ga-ga over and follows into the disaster of the world outside the pod. She's cold and guarded, and rightly so after losing so many people close to her heart. While I could understand her grief, she didn't make me believe that's what she was feeling behind her stony exterior. Then suddenly she flips a switch and turns from this "do-what-needs-to-be-done" kind of girl to being completely afraid and questioning herself at every turn. When did this happen? Why? I'm all about characters changing and growing, but it was like she was two characters under one name and there was no indication as to what caused such a drastic change.


• Petra is someone I have to mention since I am talking about inconsistencies. She's supposed to be this badass rebel leader, fearless and determined to fight until the end. I'll just say, she might as well have been completely deleted from the book for all the difference she made.

Most of the characters experienced inconsistencies such as Quinn's dad and Jazz, Petra's little pet. The characters' actions just didn't add up to who the author created them to be.

*On a side note ~ what about Abel? His tragedy is supposed to be this huge deal that could possibly lead to a mind-blowing revelation and then *pffff*.... nothing. 

I will say that the author's writing style is fluid, descriptive, and easy to follow. There's definite potential and the ideas are good, but there just really needs to be more world building, character development, and consistency. 

I'm not a fan of giving negative ratings but... here it is:

But, according to some of the reviews I read, a lot of people really liked Breathe. As with any book, you really just have to read it for yourself. This one wasn't my cup of tea, personally, but check out GoodReads and see what others had to say.

Happy Reading Everyone :)