Breathe (Breathe, #1)

by Sarah Crossan

[layawaydragon]

I received this book as a free gift from Mikey @ I’m A Book Shark. This is a hard review to write, torn between how I mindlessly enjoyed it while reading and how hard realizations hit afterwards. I will be continuing the series with Resist. It’s in the mail now from Hanna T. @ Oh It Is Wonderful

The Good:

+Love triangle subverted
+fast paced easy read
+lots of action
+character development
+ Events after getting out the gate felt natural/flowed
+ Liked how it was about climate change, conservation, and income inequality.

The Bad & The Other:
-dystopian government procedure falls apart when you think about it
-the beginning getting out the gate, the start of it all, felt…constrained.
-Still don't know why there's two guys and a girl on the cover.
-Showing not telling


I flew through Breathe quick with action packed scenes and movement on every page after briefly introduction our troublesome trio. However, when sitting down to write this review problems starting appearing like Pop Up Video.




I want to call this shot gun pellet book: quick whipping it out and convincing but once it goes off, it scatters. Ah, 2AM writing. Anyways…


We start with the standard trio and romantic subplots: Alina the tough solitary stringent rebel with a cause that catches Rich Boy’s eye, Quinn the privileged oblivious girl-hopping boy with daddy issues, and Bea, the proletariat naïve tree-hugging goody-goody madly in love with Rich Boy.

The only thing I was really happy about before and after with these three is the love triangle psych and Quinn’s growth.

Before:
Loved how they played off each other and mingled to grow and become more balanced.

After:
Alina’s thawing out wasn’t so smooth (0 to 60) and I can’t pinpoint why she changed exactly.

Bea didn’t grow at all, she just got what she wanted and stopped mopping/whining about it.

Starting off the plot with Quinn’s dick leading the way feels stupidly forced after meeting Alina for the first time ever at school. It was obviously going to happen and had to happen. Everything that follows flows naturally but getting out the gate just didn’t sit right.



Worldbuilding:

A dome isn’t new but I loved how it was about the environment and class inequality. It felt solid while reading but…




You’d think they’d do a better job with propaganda and proving the need for the control methods like the vaccines. It was really weak. Alina gave the equivalent of a “have you seen it?” and Quinn’s all over it and parrots her. And so Breath’s major policy to keep people dependent have been disproven with common sense from a 16-year-old.

Why can’t they tell the difference between fake and real plants? Isn’t there a smell at least the soil? Really convenient that the old dude next door worked out so well. Okay, maybe they haven’t seen plants in so long but…eh. Alia & The Resistance should’ve known, especially given how close the balconies are.

The thread with Abel was dropped for this book and should come back into play but it felt very…haphazard and lazy?? Since it matters so much to Alina. You’d think she’d want to know. It’s like after moaning and grieving for him the whole time, she just stopped caring after that tantalizing tidbit.

Love Triangle:

Psych! I LOVE Breathe’s version. I LOVE the resolution and Quinn’s character development there.