I won a thing!

Recently, I participated in The 100 Blog Tour, hosted by Hannah at The Irish Banana Review. It was delightful to read the various interviews, reviews, and other fandom goodies. The blog tour was working in concert with Alloy Entertainment, giving away box sets of The 100 books and...

I WON!!!!!

This is so great! I'm a recent convert to The 100 tv series and I'm so excited to start reading the books that started it all. 

September Secret Reader Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me

Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: Harper
Pages: Kindle edition
Rating: 4/5 Stars

Tahereh Mafi should be commended for writing the most first person of first person books that I've read. Mafi puts her readers inside of Juliette's head so completely that some sentences and paragraphs are little more than run on stream of conscious thoughts - that are occasionally crossed out in the same way all of us have tried to cross out or brush aside an errant thought that we don't want to be having. Shatter Me feels like a brilliantly poetic journal, containing some of the most beautiful descriptions, similes and metaphors that I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

Juliette will remind some readers of Rogue from X-men, in that she can kill people with her touch. It's that deadly power that, after years of torment and neglect in a rapidly decaying, dystopian society, catches the attention of the government. The Reestablishment seizes Juliette and holds her prisoner for three years, a year of which is spent in isolation in an insane asylum.

Until one day, Juliette isn't so alone anymore.

A boy joins her in her cell and she's beautifully aware of him in all of the ways that a seventeen year old girl would be aware of a super hot seventeen year old boy.

The plot of Shatter Me is a standard one as far as dystopian novels go - Juliette is special, she has something that the Reestablishment wants and they intend to get it at all costs. She's tempted with promises of luxury and power, but her heart is pure and she rejects it along with Adam - the one boy who can touch her and has always loved her and oh so conveniently gets thrown into a cell with her in the insane asylum.

The plush apartment that is her cell also doesn't have surveillance equipment in the bathroom. Also convenient.

I don't point these things out to mock or detract from Shatter Me, but to highlight what this story is really about and that is Juliette coming into her own after a lifetime of trying to be invisible. Mafi, while inventive with her futuristic dystopia, isn't reinventing the wheel here and she knows it. She makes the wise choice to stay entrenched in Juliette's experience, dolling out details of her world when it matters, rather than in long-winded exposition at the beginning of the book.

To me, the real story picked up about half way through when Juliette and Adam break out of the evil Warner's clutches and escape the Reestablishment's army. They find Adam's brother James and make plans to run off together - until a former soldier, Kenji, shows up on Adam's supposedly top secret door step suffering from a beating and bullet wounds. The timetable on their plans is shortened significantly and they barely get out of the apartment in one piece.

During the chase that follows, Juliette is forced to get over herself, basically, if she wants to survive and by the end, she realizes she wants to do more than survive - for the first time she wants to live.

A downside to Mafi's style is that our view of the world is limited to only what Juliette thinks, sees, hears and feels - even more so than other first person narratives. As a reader, I was thrust into this story without a hint as to what was happening and while I wouldn't call that a bad thing necessarily, in the case of Shatter Me I was left feeling that if you scraped away the fancy prose, the actual story was rather shallow. Typical, I guess, of so many other YA novels where the quiet, overlooked girl with the tortured past grows up and comes into her own.

I don't want to sound like I'm knocking it, because that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm stoked to continue the series and see what happens. Mafi totally surprised me with where our characters ended up and as such I'm not so sure that I know exactly what kind of story she's preparing to tell. That's a very good thing.

I do have to wonder how much more compelling Shatter Me could have been if Mafi had taken a little of the creativity she used in composing her beautiful prose and put it into the plot of her story.

Apocalypse Blog Hop!

Welcome to my Apocalypse Blog Hop, hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings, Love of Books and The Nocturnal Library. In honor of this hop, I'm giving away the dystopian/apocalyptic book of your choice from the Book Depository.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2)

Title: The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2)

Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 448
Rating: 5/5 Stars

I was incredibly excited to get an ARC of The Eternity Cure and I’d resolved to read/review it before it was released.

Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh?

My procrastination had nothing to do with the book, however, because as soon as I got around to firing up my Kindle and started reading, I didn’t stop. As with The Immortal Rules, Kagawa crafted a story that was unique and engaging and really kept me turning pages.

Er, pushing the arrow button.

After leaving Eden at the end of book #1, Allie sets off to find her sire, Kanin. She’s drawn to him because of their shared bloodline and even sees through his eyes in the night as she sleeps. She knows that he’s in trouble – captured by Psycho Vamp Sarren – and she’s determined to find him.

She feels she owes him that much.

Truth be told, I think Allie’s just looking for a new family. As much as she tried to be a detached Fringer during the first seventeen years of her life, and then a detached vampire, Allison can’t help but want people, family, a connection. She had a facsimile of that with Zeke and the group of humans that she helped get to Eden in the first book, but that was always a pipe dream, tarnished by the fact that she constantly had to choke down her Hunger and keep her true self secret.

Perhaps Kanin is a second chance at a family that she’ll never have to give up.

Having read two of Kagawa’s books, I feel I can say with some authority that she really likes to take her time with her plots. In any other book, finding Kanin would have been the introduction and the real plot would have started when she did exactly that. Under Kagawa’s guidance, however, The Eternity Cure stays focused on what it’s really about – Allison’s journey. Despite the fact that she’s constantly moving, Allison is not at the whim of her plot, her plot unfolds around her as she goes. As such, the book is half over when Allison and Jackal (what an unexpected and surprisingly enjoyable development) are reunited with their sire.

Zeke also makes another appearance and I found that I enjoyed him much more in The Eternity Cure than I did in The Immortal Rules. He seems more adult in this book and the connection that he and Allie share feels more genuine and organic. By the time I got to the end, I found that I really cared about Zeke and wanted him to stay around.

As much as Allie drives the plot of The Eternity Cure, it moves a lot faster than The Immortal Rules. I was immensely glad of that as I really didn’t need to have a play-by-play of Allie and Jackal’s trek from DC to New Covington.

There were a couple of plot contrivances that I would have liked to see handled differently. Zeke’s miraculous healing abilities could have been set up better – or at all. I don’t think it would have given away anything if Kagawa had mentioned the medical experiments that he’d volunteered for in Eden prior to his Lazarus-like return near the end. The fact that Sarren stayed in New Covington after his desperate escape from the Vampire Towers was…convenient.

Also, I really hate that Allison refers to Sarren as Psycho Vamp. There’s something really pedestrian about that.

Those are minor, but in light of how much I loved this book and how skilled Kagawa is as an author, that’s the best I can do.

Speaking of those skills, like The Immortal Rules, The Eternity Cure just feels solid. There’s this intangible difference between a green author’s debut and an author who has really honed her craft and Kagawa’s definitely honed. I love that and it deserves to be addressed.  Details are richer, plot unfolds more smoothly and the world is vibrant and alive. Awesome.

Now, I have to wait for the next book and after the plot twist at the end, I feel that it’s going to be a very, very long wait.

Sigh.

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 485

Rating: 4/5 Stars

The first time I read the description of The Immortal Rules I knew that I wanted to read it. When I finally got around to doing so I discovered that not only did the book live up to its description, it was also the most surprising story I’ve read in a long time – vampire or otherwise. Throughout Allison’s story, Kagawa kept me on my toes, never doing what I expected.

The story starts in The Fringe, the area on the outskirts of the vampire city of New Covington, with unregistered Fringer Allison scrambling daily for survival. Allison’s pretty amazing – strong, determined, fiercely independent. Even though she considers herself part of a family unit of fellow unregisters, she keeps herself separate because she doesn’t trust that anything in her world can last.

In a way, she’s right.

My first big surprise came when Allison became a vampire about a fourth of the way into the book and I realized how wrong I was about what I thought I was reading. After a Rabid attack that leaves her on the brink of death, Allison is given a choice by a seemingly benevolent vampire named Kanin: live or die. Allison chooses life, despite her anti-vampire convictions, and I totally love her for it.

I love that she chooses life. I’ve read so many different novels that focus on characters that are willing to sacrifice themselves for a principle that it’s refreshing to find someone who wants to live, despite the ramifications.

The next segment of the book focuses on Allison’s introduction to vampire life. Kanin becomes more than her sire, he’s also her mentor, training her to survive in her new circumstances. Again, I thought I knew where the book was going and again, Kagawa pulled the rug out from under me. Suddenly, Kanin and Allison get separated and she finds herself outside of New Covington.

Alone.

The third part of the book, and I guess I’d say what the story is really about, focuses on Allison joining a group of humans searching for a place they call Eden – not quite the biblical paradise, but a safe haven from vampires, an island city run completely by humans.

Among the group of humans is a boy that brings an added complication to Allison’s already precarious position of being a wolf amidst the lambs – love. I’d been expecting a romantic entanglement, but I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. I liked that The Immortal Rules was about Allison’s journey exclusively. I should have trusted, Kagawa, however, because while Allison did fall for Zeke, the romance never took over the narrative. Her feelings for him became just another aspect of her struggle as a vampire so close to her humanity. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that.

As you can probably gather, I think the plot of The Immortal Rules is excellent. The world building is equally impressive. Kagawa creates a rich and vivid dystopia with a backstory that’s simple enough to be utterly believable. A plague erupts that threatens humans and vampires alike and in the search for a cure, Rabids are created – mindless, deformed vampire-like creatures that prey on literally anything living – essentially destroying the world as we know it. There are a lot of dystopias going around these days and Kagawa’s isn’t necessarily the most original, but it doesn’t matter. Originality doesn’t count when it comes in a convoluted package. As I said, Kagawa keeps it simple and it pays off in spades.

I could go on and on about The Immortal Rules, digging into intricate plot details and the relationships between characters, but it would be a better use of your time to just go read it. Seriously. If you enjoy dystopias, vampires, romance, family, the struggle we all face to be the best version of ourselves no matter the circumstances and old fashioned good vs. evil, The Immortal Rules has it all.

In one book.

So go read it. I’m going to get back to my advance copy of The Eternity Cure.

Be jealous.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 487
Rating: 5/5 Stars


I went into Divergent as unspoiled and unaware as possible considering the insane level of hype surrounding the book. I was not disappointed.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said? With nearly 30,000 reviews on goodreads alone, I doubt I’ll come up with anything new, but I’ll give it a shot.

In Divergent, Veronica Roth has created a vivid dystopian world that is so different, so other, that it’s nearly impossible to see it as a future version of our own. Rather than calling that a detriment, I find it a testament to the event or events that led society to embrace the five factions in their effort to survive.

I loved the specificity and militant way each faction followed their own rules – the specific color choices for each faction, the way Abnegation took the stairs, rather than the elevators and stayed to stack chairs after an event, the way Dauntless always, always leapt onto and off of moving trains to get around and used tattoos and piercings to mark their accomplishments.

I also found it interesting that the remnants of the old world were allowed to survive – the old Ferris wheel and the ruined buildings outside of each faction’s home base. I frequently found myself wondering why no one had cleaned that up and if it was an indication of how recent the divide into factions actually was.
Also, is Chicago the only center of population that survived whatever apocalyptic event led to this future world? You’d think that with the virtual reality tech that Dauntless uses for their tests, they’d be able to communicate with other parts of the country…

So many questions that I hope will be answered as the series continues.

Our heroine, Beatrice Prior grew up in the Abnegation faction – the faction I’m pretty sure would be the last one I’d show an aptitude for – and the story begins on the eve of her aptitude test to see which faction she truly belongs to and will call home for the rest of her life. Choosing a faction is the single most important decision a person makes in Beatrice’s world and she goes into it appropriately nervous.

Bucking expectations, Beatrice follows her heart right into the world of the Dauntless, but this is not a case of never looking back. The story takes place during the rigorous Initiation process, where Beatrice – now Tris – is forced to face her fears and go up against her friends in a fierce competition to stay in her chosen faction.

And of course, that’s only the beginning of the story. ;)

The world of the Dauntless was an interesting one, defined by this strange juxtaposition of freedom and strict rules. Whenever Tris was out after dark or wandering alone within the Dauntless compound, I always found myself anxious for her safety because I kept thinking she was breaking rules, but she wasn’t. Apparently, I’m so indoctrinated to expect stringent rules with harsh consequences in dystopian fiction that I just expected it everywhere. It took me quite a while to get used to the fact that Tris wasn’t going to be thrown out on her ass for taking a walk through the Pit without an escort.

Or that kissing Four wouldn’t get her killed.

I really appreciated the way Roth handled Tris and explored her dueling, divergent nature – especially the way the random acts of insanity/bravery that the Dauntless perform on a regular basis exhilarated and excited her. Tris approached each challenge with a healthy dose of apprehension and delicious anticipation. She also had just enough Abnegation in her to keep her from being little more than a blunt instrument like some of her fellow Initiates.

There was a little bit of the “I’m so plain, why would he be interested in me” going on with Tris, but considering her background in Abnegation, I understood that. She wasn’t crippled by it, nor did she let it define her.

Speaking of the other Initiates, they ran the gamut. I liked them all – even the antagonists because they provided such great challenges for Tris. I really liked her close friends and was pretty heartbroken over what happens to basically all of them.

Apparently, Four is HUGELY popular and I can see why. I enjoyed him a lot in terms of a romantic foil and a character on his own. It was fascinating to watch him transform in Tris’s eyes from an enigmatic and mysterious presence to an ally and finally a love interest. I also loved that while he was special, he wasn’t Divergent like Tris. The coincidence of who he was and what faction he belonged to before the story began was enough of an aha! moment for me.

Plus, it let to that awesome confrontation between him and Tris at the end of the story.

Divergent succeeded from a technical standpoint as well. In fact, it really just succeeded all over the place. Everything about it was compelling. The heroes, villains and supporting players all stood on their own and fit into the ensemble beautifully. Roth’s writing kept me turning pages relentlessly until I got to the end, which is always the mark of a good story. I will definitely be reading Insurgent – in fact I already have a copy of it, but I’m holding off so that I don’t have to wait quite as long for the next one.

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

Title: Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles #1)

Author: Kresley Cole

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books

Pages: 384

Rating: 4/5 Stars

One of my very good friends was super excited to read this book and did NOT like it, so I approached it with trepidation. I’m pleased to report that despite a few minor annoyances, Poison Princess did not disappoint.

I haven’t read any of Kresley Cole’s other novels, but I went into this book well aware of her status as a published and popular author and her experience and skill as a writer was evident from the first page. Cole created a very vivid and lush world – both before and after the Flash – for her hero and heroine. Her characters are fully realized and real, with strengths and weaknesses that help and hinder them along the way.

Evie is an interesting heroine in that she embodies a lot of qualities – ultra feminine, shallow, materialistic and prejudice – that I wouldn’t normally gravitate toward, but Cole doesn’t turn her into a caricature. I understand her prejudices against Jackson and the other Cajuns when they suddenly transfer to her ultra-posh high school – she’s not looking to hate them, but they come with violent and scary reputations that they promptly proceed to live up to.

Evie is aware of how shallow and vain she can be, not to mention the fact that she thoroughly enjoys the creature comforts of her life at Haven House, but she’s constantly at war with a feeling that she should be striving for more. What I might normally find grating or annoying becomes understandable in light of the fact that she’s just returned from 2-3 months in an insane asylum, questioning her sanity. At the beginning of the story, Evie is craving normalcy and I applaud Cole for not making her apologize for that.

After the Flash, as Evie’s psychic/supernatural abilities continue to flourish, she balks against what she feels is her destiny. This is another thing that I would normally be annoyed with, but again, the way Cole handles Evie’s character, everything makes sense. While she’s not interested in joining in on the battle of the Major Arcana, she’s also driven by a need to know who and what she is and willingly runs toward the battle in the name of the people she loves.

Jackson Deveaux is a pretty typical bad boy, although I loved the added details of the scars on his knuckles from the fights that he’s been in and the fact that he has earned his reputation. He’s not some misunderstood hero with a heart of gold who gained his reputation by fighting for the underdog. He’s got a temper, he’s violent, he’s rude and crass, and as much as he’s drawn to Evie – and vice versa – he really doesn’t like her much. That mutual antagonism provided the perfect breeding ground for a slow-building, passionate romance.

After the Flash, Jackson rises to the occasion and the survival instincts that got him into trouble in civilized Louisiana society serve him and Evie well. Poison Princess is about so much more than the romance between this good girl/bad boy duo, but it progresses steadily throughout the novel so that by the end I could tell that while they still drive each other – and me – a little crazy, they’re no longer denying the connection they share.

The one problem that I have with Jackson Deveaux – other than his love of Ducati’s – is that Cole writes his dialogue almost phonetically. It’s really annoying and pulled me out of the story a lot. I finally just stopped paying attention to the bad grammar, ‘doan’s’ instead of don’t, and the oddly placed ‘me’s’ and you’s’. I assume Cole chose to write him this way to add color to her narrative and while I enjoyed the French Cajun that got thrown in from time to time, I could have done without the phonetically written speech patterns. It’s just not necessary and comes across as pretentious. I get that Jackson is ‘other’, but Cole could have made the same point strictly by utilizing the French Cajun. Aside from a California surfer boy – who’s biggest offense is uttering ‘dude’ too many times – who shows up toward the end of the book, Jackson was the only character who didn’t speak perfect English. This served to set him exaggerate how unlike the other characters he is – and not in a good way. Evie’s reluctance to share who and what she’s starting to think she is already puts Jackson squarely in the ‘outsider’ column. Cole’s choice to have him speak the way he does just made it worse.

Poison Princess begins nine months after the Flash and puts Evie in an immediately dangerous position. Whenever the story lagged – and as much as I enjoyed it overall, the post-Flash/pre-Jackson period dragged on too long – the promise of finding out how Evie ends up in danger kept me turning pages.

Cole doles out her information about Evie’s destiny judiciously and hits that sweet spot where just when the questions were about to drive me crazy, she put a few puzzle pieces in to keep my curiosity sated.

Poison Princess is very definitely the first in a series. While Cole gives us answers, the book does not end in a place of peace and calm – everyone’s fate is in question as well as Evie and Jackson’s relationship. Overall, the story had a rich plot, fully fleshed out characters, a marvelous and horrifying dystopic world and enough intrigue to reel me in and leave me excited for the next installment. 

Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Title: Crewel
Author: Gennifer Albin
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 368
Rating: 5/5

I purposefully made myself wait a little bit to review Crewel because I wanted to write a real review - not just a bunch of semi-coherent fangirl squeeing.

I think I might be ready now.

Crewel's premise immediately caught my eye due to its reference - at least in my mind - to the Fates or Moirai who control destiny in Greek (and subsequently just about every culture ever) mythology. The idea of women being called to weave time and matter in a present day setting fascinated me. I was very eager to see how Gennifer Albin would put that idea to paper. The result is The Matrix meets The Hunger Games with shades of the premise of The Handmaid's Tale (or at least what I think of as the premise as I've never read the book), complete with a relatable heroine, moral dilemmas between one's duty to self vs. society, an incredibly vivid post-apocalyptic dystopia and, oh yes, a rather delightful little love triangle that's more scalene than equilateral.

Although, Crewel is book one in a trilogy, so there's time for that to change.

The story begins with Adelice Lewys being called by The Guild to serve as a Spinster, a double edged sword that gives women in a strict patriarchal society the illusion of freedom and power. Adelice isn't interested in that illusion, however, which is why she was purposefully trying to fail at the testing that weeds out the Eligibles from the regular girls. She fails at failing, however, and the Guild comes, resulting in a mad dash escape attempt by her parents that leaves her father dead, her sister captive and her mother MIA.

The beginning is one of only two minuscule quibbles I have with this amazing book. I think Adelice as a character and Arras as a country would have benefited from a couple of chapters of further exploration before we are thrust into the action of the story. Adelice in particular is somewhat illusive as a character for the first few chapters and as much as I fell in love with her fairly quickly, I really didn’t know who she was as a person before being taken from her family by the Guild.

But truthfully, that concern was barely a blip on my radar while reading.

En route to the Coventry where Adelice will presumably spend the rest of her life, she meets the first player in the love triangle, Erik – although she doesn’t learn his name until later. She’s thrown in a cell for the first few days as punishment for her attempted escape and as she’s finally released she meets the second player in the triangle, Josten. It’s really amusing to watch Adelice interact with boys for the first time because she’s never had experience with them before. I appreciate that Albin doesn’t write Adelice as a tongue-tied idiot around members of the opposite sex. Her awkwardness is quickly outweighed by her curiosity and yet she never comes across as desperate or boy-crazy.

God bless Ms. Albin for this.

I don’t want to go too deep into plot details/spoilers from here on out, but suffice it to say that Adelice’s skill and her sharp tongue/quick wit put her at odds with her fellow Eligibles, the head Spinster and the face of the Guild, Mr. Cormac Patton. Her only allies come on the form of Enora, her mentor, Loricel, the Creweler, Erik and Josten. As the story progresses we follow Adelice as she navigates the world of the Coventry and the Guild, trying to keep one step ahead of the people who want to keep her squarely under her thumb. She learns that she’s not just any Eligible and that the Guild has really big plans for her.

Well, as big as they can ever be for a woman in Arras.

Before I gush about a few specific reasons why I enjoyed Crewel so much, I’m going to explain my one other quibble – the exposition. There are a couple of chapters where Adelice and Loricel are talking and through an extensive game of twenty-questions we learn a lot about how Arras was formed and its relationship to the Earth we know. We learn what the weave is – in a deliberately vague sense – and the purpose of a Creweler in keeping it functioning. These are heavy info dump chapters and as a reader, I was very aware of their purpose. It wasn’t bad so much as noticeable because throughout the rest of the novel Albin doles out the exposition quite artfully as events are unfolding.

Then again, Loricel is a very old, very wise woman who has taken it upon herself to teach Adelice about her future as a Spinster, so in that sense the chapters function exactly as they’re supposed to within the narrative. So, take that as you will.

No, onto some specifics that I loved…

Adelice Lewys. I love her. LOVE HER. I’ve read the two biggest YA series that have come out in recent years and the biggest problems I had with both of them came down to the heroines. I couldn’t fully relate to them because I couldn’t wrap my brain around their attitudes regarding their own self-worth. Adelice was a breath of fresh air for me – much like Katy in Obsidian – because while she didn’t think she was the most beautiful creature on the planet, she wasn’t crippled by constant thoughts of how plain and ordinary she was. Like most girls, Adelice felt that she lacked in certain areas, but when Erik and Jost showed an interest in her, she didn’t doubt that she could be a desirable creature to either of them.

She doubted her sanity in pursuing either of them, but that’s a whole different issue. ;p

Part of Adelice’s journey deals with how her actions affect her family and friends. While she is very concerned as to how the Guild can use her loved ones against her, she works toward goals that spell freedom for everybody – including herself – rather than contemplating grand schemes that leave her dead like some kind of martyr. Adelice doesn’t mask cowardice behind self-sacrificing delusions of grandeur.

Lastly, Adelice acts. She doesn’t wait for things to happen to her, she makes them happen. She doesn’t let her fear make her afraid of trying to create her own destiny.

Now the boys…Josten and Erik. I have to admit, I love them both. I have my preference as to who ends up with Adelice, but both characters are compelling. I was especially impressed with Josten’s past – there’s a twist in it that not something I’ve come across before. Erik is all charm and smoothness, navigating and circumventing the system from a place of prominence, while Josten is rougher around the edges, fighting his battle from the ground up.

Both boys are made of win and again, I appreciate the fact that Erik and Josten don’t fall into the traditional good boy/bad boy roles. They each play both sides of the spectrum and as such are fully rounded characters.

I could go on waxing poetic about this book for pages and pages. I could go on about the fascinating world of Arras and how I would leap at the opportunity to read an actual history book of the region so that I could learn how the society became so sharply divided upon gender lines. Adelice briefly mentions her grandmother telling her about a time when children weren’t segregated by gender and there were no Purity Protocols to follow and I’d love to read about the politics involved in that change. I could go on about the concept of Arras and the idea of certain women being able to alter the very fabric of its existence. I could talk about the evils of the Guild and how their quest to map Spinsters calls into mind the idea of genetic mapping and designer babies. There are just so many fascinating concepts within Crewel that I just can’t say enough good things about it.

Crewel is one that will stick with you for a long time after you’ve finished reading it and if you’re anything like me, you will be counting down the days until the next book is available.

I. Cannot. Wait.  

Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Title: Breathe
Author: Sarah Crossan
Publisher: Greenwillow
Pages: 400 pages
Rating: 4/5 Stars

The concept that fuels Breathe is fascinating - in an attempt to grow food for the Earth's ballooning population, the entire planet is deforested for farmland. The logic is that there will be enough oxygen being produced by the oceans to sustain life.

That logic proves faulty.

Oxygen levels in the atmosphere deplete to 4% and the world descends into anarchy and chaos. Domes - called pods - are erected across the planet to sustain life and oxygen becomes more valuable than gold. An oxygen tax is imposed upon the populace and class lines become even more clearly drawn. Oxygen is pumped directly into people's homes and closely monitored by the government, speed patrols exist on the street to prevent people from walking more than 3 mph and exercise becomes a privelege of the wealthy. Aided by air tanks, holidays are taken outside of the Pod to take in the carnage left behind after The Switch.

A resistance exists among those in the Pod - of course - and the three main characters of Sarah Crossan's novel get caught up in it. One by choice, two by accident. The story follows Alina, Bea and Quinn as they discover dark truths about the lives they have led and are forced to question their beliefs.

I really enjoyed Breathe. I read it in one day - partly, I'll admit, because I'm so behind on my reading goal. While certain things are constant in dystopic novels - the governing body that controls the populace with half-truths and an iron fist and the resistance that works against them - I'm always fascinated to explore each author's vision and discover what happened to bring about this dark future. I'll admit, I scoffed at the idea of the entire planet being deforested. I know that it's a problem - a scary, disheartening one - but the notion that an entire planet with a population so vast that it needs all of the land mass available for farming food could subsist on the oxygen put off by the ocean is so far-fetched as to be unbelievable.

But whatever. I'll let it slide.

Alina, Bea and Quinn are great protagonists. Crossan writes each chapter from a different character's POV which isn't anywhere near as confusing as I thought it might be. I think maybe once or twice I had to go back and double check who's perspective I was getting, but that was usually because I was so eager to find out what came next that I didn't pay close enough attention to the chapter title. It was really cool to see each character from a different character's perspective, to explore their strengths and weaknesses from all sides. It made the characters more real and put personality quirks that could have become annoying into perspective.

Breathe is more than just the title of the book, it is also the name of the main governing body within the Pods. Throughout the course of the book, we learn more about Breathe and the unsavory methods they're using to stay in power. What I found interesting, however, is the way Crossan also undermines Alina's - and I'll admit my - assumption that the resistance is perfect. Petra, the leader of Alina's faction of the resistance, is pretty awful, having become as much of an iron fist in her desire to protect the trees as the Pod Minister has in his ruling of the people. (It reminded me of District 13 in Mockingjay.) We see Alina's view of the world falter in the same way that Bea and Quinn's falters.

Crossan creates a very vivid world, both within the Pod and without. She's paid close attention to detail and taken advantage of her premise to highlight the ways we take oxygen for granted. Homes have airlocks to aid in the careful monitoring of oxygen use, plants and pets are forbidden. Couples must apply to have children and any show of affection must be carefully weighed against the oxygen tax that may be levied due to the increased consumption. The barren landscape outside of the Pods is equally vivid and macabre. One of my favorite moments in the book occurs when Bea arrives at The Grove and sees the trees for the first time. I really felt the awe, joy and shock at coming face to face with something that she had considered a fairy tale her entire life.

Some things that didn't work -

While Crossan makes the wise choice of dolling out her exposition throughout the course of the story, there are some questions that are never answered to my satisfaction. One, I already mentioned. How did anyone convince the world that we could get enough oxygen from the ocean to survive?

Another question that is never answered is why time is divided into before The Switch and after The Switch. Now, I do grasp the concept that The Switch is being used to identify the moment when oxygen became the most valuable thing on the planet, but Crossan never explains the use of the phrase 'The Switch.'

Crossan's three main characters read young. Very young. That's not a problem, necessarily, but it's something that stuck out to me. They're supposed to be sixteen or seventeen and I felt like they were thirteen or fourteen.

There is a love triangle, but it's weakly executed and somewhat unnecessary. I can't decide if I think it was thrown in there because all YA novels must have a love triangle/romance or if Crossan really felt that it was a dynamic part of her story. Either way, it's a minor subplot that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel any more than my incredulity over the premise.

Breathe is the first in a series and while this book does wrap up the action with an air of finality, it definitely doesn't stand alone. That's not a fault, that's just a fact. I am definitely interested in reading the next book in the series. Crossan is a very capable writer and I very much enjoyed her characters and the world she created.