Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Title: Breathe (Breathe #1)
Author: Sarah Crossan
Publisher: Greenwillow
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Source: ARC from Publisher
Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Chapters

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 Aline 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.

Be a wants to tell him that non 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?

Who doesn't like a good dystopian read? That's my opinion when it comes to dystopians, but I'm still a little worried they're all going to start sounding the same. But Sarah Crossan's Breathe was something new and different. And it was a story that completely drew me in.

Their whole lives Aline, Quinn and Bea have been told that it's impossible for them to survive outside the pods. Now that all plant life has died, there's just not enough oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere for humans to survive. But that might not be entirely true. In an effort to help Alina escape the pod, Bea and Quinn disvoer that life outside the pod might be possible and the Resistance is dead set on proving it. But things don't always go as planned and before they know it, Alina, Quinn and Bea have started a war and a revolution. And now they have to be prepared to fight for their lives and find a way to survive outside the pod.

So. Breathe. Let me just start off by saying that it was s fantastic read. The whole idea that we would run out of oxygen on Earth is one that is quite realistic and it made the story that much more powerful. Running out of oxygen is definitely something that could happen, and while I was reading, it's something that really made the story come to life. But beyond the almost realistic quality of the story, it was also one where it always felt like something was happening. And there was definitely plenty of action. The other aspect of the story I really enjoyed were the multiple narrators. Each brought something different to the story.

Alina, Quinn and Bea each had their chance at telling the story, and like I've already said, each brought something different to it. Alina had the knowledge of the Resistance the will to fight. Quinn has led a privileged life as the son to a high ranking Breathe official and doesn't want to believe his father has lied to him his whole life. Bea's family has always struggled for money and all she wants is for Quinn to be more than just her best friend. It was just interesting to see the story from each of their perspectives because each one saw things differently and that gave the story more depth. It was also just interesting to see how all the different relationships between these three characters played into the story as a whole.

Overall, Breathe by Sarah Crossan proved to be a fantastic dystopian read. Right from the start it grabbed my attention and the realistic quality of the story kept me reading all the way through to the end.