Breathe (review)

In an environmentally devastated future marked by severely depleted oxygen levels, the remaining humans, their numbers vastly reduced, live in pod cities. There the population is divided into rigid, brutal social strata: Premiums are the privileged few who can afford the extra oxygen needed for things like exercise and sex, while auxiliaries live in constant breathlessness. And then there's the Resistance, who know that the powerful company Breathe doesn't just manufacture oxygen, it manufactures its scarcity as well. Quinn, a goodhearted Premium, and Bea, his auxiliary best friend who believes she can reach Premium status with enough hard work, are leaving the dome for a camping trip (air tanks and all) when Alina, a Resistance member on the run after she steals tree cuttings, uses them to get through security. Out in the desolate world, Quinn and Bea are drawn into the Resistance as they try to help Alina reach its headquarters. The narration rotates among the three teens, each of whom experiences a distinct and compelling character arc. Bea, defined by her compassion, finds strength in rage as she realizes that the system she's worked so hard to ascend is a lie. Quinn, who's led an easy life and knows it, struggles with his own weakness ("I want to promise to die for the cause, but who knows what I'd do at the end if I were starving and desperate?"), while Alina relearns the idea of friendship and becomes disenchanted with the Resistance's means. With short chapters, tight pacing, and expertly sustained tension that makes the most of the trio of narrative viewpoints, this joins the ranks of Roth's Divergent (BCCB 5/11) and Wells' Partials (BCCB 5/11) as a provocative, character-driven, and action-packed dystopian series opener to watch out for.