Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Breathe: Review

Synopsis:

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?


***

This is a weird book. Not the bad kind, obviously. But not exactly all good-kind either. Well, the setting is very good actually. Not just any dystopian novel. Many are based on freedom of doing something or anything. But this is about fighting for what we need most: Oxygen. There are pods too, where people living in ignorance, having no idea there is the Resistance out there trying to show them the truth. This is one great background.

The characters... well, there are two girls and one boy, and then you might think there will be an epic girl fight for that boy. Not in this book, though, which is a relief. Actually, I like Bea. She's not your heroine. But she's got good heart and she befriends Alina, whom she shouldn't trust (but does, anyway). 

Alina is mysterious though. The book is mostly about Quinn and Bea, especially in part IV. I can't say I don't like her, because she's not like other people in the Resistance, having only being invisible and trees on mind. She's independent, but that's a known fact. She's from the Resistance for crying out loud. But I can't say I like her either. She's not a bitch or anything. She's just... mysterious. And there's not much emotions from her. 

Quinn... Quinn is a good guy. I can give him this credit. But damn, somehow this is like the reverse of Under The Never Sky. You know, Aria is originally from Reverie, which is... one of the Dweller Pods. Only this time it's Quinn, a boy. He's brave too. I can also give him this credit. But just that he never lives in my heart or anything like that. In fact the characters in the book holds a very faint existence in my mind. Which is weird and not a good sign, considering I'm a big fan of dystopian novels and always remember what the characters are like.

The book is cool. I can make through it, at least. But there's nothing very exciting in the book, even in part IV, where things are supposed to get more interesting. So I guess I can consider it's a slow start of a series, then? I don't know if this is good or not, but if Resist, the sequel of Breathe, is gonna be awesome and thread through things in Breathe finely, I think I will like this book more.

The Resistance is very interesting. It actually surprises me. I mean, not that those guys are supposed to be kind to dwellers in those pods. But their attitude and words full of venom stings like hell (of course not to me, but still). How can you imagine the Resistance being even crueler than Breathe itself? A very interesting Resistance here, which is a good part in the book, even though Petra is a bitch.

I'm not sure if I will read Resist, because Breathe isn't exactly the best dystopian novel I've ever read despite the cool background of the story. Hope that Resist will be better than Breathe.

Rating: 5.5/10

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