Nocturnal Book Reviews

It was a good, well written book, which I enjoyed. My problem is overabundance of YA dystopians with pretty similar concepts. Particularly, Under The Never Sky comes to mind as something slightly more inventive.

The ideas of Breathe feel important, but I would have loved more explanation as to what actually happened to reduce the saturation of oxygen in the atmosphere that much. I would even take a foreword like in Terminator - a description of bleak, futuristic world and how we came to this point, plus the ever persistent question - what of the rest of the world? For the love of all holy, give me some idea of the global picture, not just one city-state.

Quinn, Bea and Alina are pretty decent characters, but again all three lack that desperate edge which makes dystopian teens so awesome. Alina is supposed to be the toughest of the bunch, but it's sheltered, pampered Quinn who has the most drive.

I loved the world of The Resistance and really wanted to concentrate more on their developing an ability to breathe in 6% oxygen. The leader, I kid you not, reminded me of Tilda Swinton as Sal in The Beach.

She's got that slightly unhinged, ruthless personality which allows her to keep her people under control and relentlessly grow the trees, her babies.

Ironically, it's the secondary characters which shine in this book: the villainous alcoholic Pod Minister, half-crazy Savage pensioner and a revolutionary leader of The Resistance. They were fabulous, and felt more alive than generic Quinn, Bea and Alina.

Pardon the pun, it might not be a breathless read, but it's a very good book, despite me feeling neutral about it. Give it a chance especially if you are a teen.