Review: Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Breathe by Sarah Crossan
373 Pages
Release Date: October 2nd, 2012
Publisher: Greenwillow
Genre: YA Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic
Rating: 3 STARS

Goodreads Summary:

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?

Dystopians are quite a hit these days and the YA industry have been booming with them, especially after the Hunger Games movie/series. And honestly, I'm not one of the biggest dystopian fans becauze they usually have the same kind of story to it but with different worlds and concepts. I was pretty hesitant to read Breathe and not because it was a dystpoian but because it was in 3 different point of views. 2 was enough to deal with but 3....But the whole idea of having limited air supply and the fact that you had to buy air tanks captured my interest in a heartbeat.

     

Sarah Crossan creatively creates a breathtaking (no pun intended) and unpredictable turn of events. As different as Alina, Quinn, and Bea are, they manage to create this bond and connection and end up finding strength/support within one another. Alina is just a rebel who wants to be able to breathe freely, Quinn's the rich Premium who has his whole life planned out for him and also Bea's best friend, Bea's the rule follower, just wanting to do well so she could support her family and also falling for her best friend. 

Since Quinn has taken an interest in Alina, things aren't quite looking up for her. And honestly, I disliked Alina from the very start of the book, she acted as if she knew everything and took advantage of Quinn to cover up her mistake. At the same time, I wanted to slap some sense into Quinn for falling for a girl just because she was pretty. But throughout the story, you end up warming up to her and see that she isn't so bad. My favorite character had to be Bea, she might have been a stickler for rules but she was so sweet and compassionate. 

   

What I didn't like about this book? There are times it was a bit bland and boring. And some of the character's actions were a bit irritating. It also took a bit time adjusting to the 3 POVs and I think the story would've been fine with either Bea and Quinn's point of view or Bea and Alina's. 

As for the romance, let's just say that I'm a sucker for best friend relationships. And Sarah Crossan most definitely didn't let me down. Throughout Quinn's journey, he comes to terms that he might have had a crush on Alina but he really loved Bea all along. 

All in all, Breathe didn't necessarily blow my mind but it was a good story that had potential to be an amazing story. It took time to adjust to the the different characters but it's a book I would recommend to people into environment dystopian type stories. Happy Readings!