Breathe by Sarah Crossan - Review

**A note on my notes: This review is spoiler free.**

"Oxygen is essential for most living things. For 2.5 billion years, it was the most abundant chemical element of Earth. Until the Switch."

Synopsis 

Breathe by Sarah Crossan is a young adult novel of the dystopian and science-fiction genre. It's told from multiple perspectives of teenagers living in a post-apocalyptic Earth where the planet no longer has enough oxygen to sustain its populations. In this world, the human race is confined to a large area that is 'domed'-off from the rest of the planet in which air is manufactured for them. In order to be able to breathe, everyone must pay a tax, and therefore there are strict rules that govern how much oxygen each citizen is allowed to consume, and these rules heavily limit the activities that people of different demographics can perform. 

The Good
First of all, I thought the concept of this book was brilliant. I've never read a book that dealt with the issues of deforestation and overpopulation in this way, so I really loved that. The setting complimented these major themes nicely and the world-building description was fluid and well-written. As with the majority of dystopian novels, a corrupt government was a major part of this world. While in some novels, the focus is too much on this corruption and takes away from the actual story, in Breathe, it only adds depth to the narrative.

The Bad
While overall, I enjoyed this book, I did have a few issues with it. I found that towards the middle, the story became a bit slow; however, that could just be me not finding enough time to read for a decent period. I also found that the characters relationships to be unbelievable at times, particularly between Quinn and Bea. I didn't really like Petra as a character at all, through she was necessary to the story and played an important role.

The Recommendation 
I gave this book a 3.5 star rating on Goodreads, which is pretty close to the average rating. While I did enjoy it, I didn't love it. I would recommend it to everyone because I think the themes and concept of the novel are really important for the people living in our world today. However, the plot isn't for everyone, so if you don't usually enjoy dystopian stories or young adult novels/main characters, then this book probably isn't for you.

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You can find Breathe on Goodreads here.