Friday, October 18, 2013

Review: Resist by Sarah Crossan

Title: Resist (Breathe #2)
Author: Sarah Crossan
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia
Source: Bloomsbury Sydney. Thank you!
Goodreads | The Reading Room

The sequel—and conclusion—to Sarah Crossan's Breathe. Three teen outlaws must survive on their own in a world without air, exiled outside the glass dome that protects what's left of human civilization. Gripping action, provocative ideas, and shocking revelations in a dystopian novel that fans of Patrick Ness and Veronica Roth will devour.

Bea, Alina, and Quinn are on the run. They started a rebellion and were thrown out of the pod, the only place where there's enough oxygen to breathe. Bea has lost her family. Alina has lost her home. And Quinn has lost his privileged life. Can they survive in the perilous Outlands? Can they finish the revolution they began? Especially when a young operative from the pod's Special Forces is sent after them. Their only chance is to stand together, even when terrible circumstances force them apart. When the future of human society is in danger, these four teens must decide where their allegiances lie. Sarah Crossan has created a dangerous, and shattered society in this wrenching, thought-provoking, and unforgettable post-apocalyptic novel.
Review by Nara

It had been quite a while since I last read Breathe, so when I first dived into Resist, to be perfectly honest, I had no idea what was going on. Who is Alina? What exactly was the Rebellion doing again? Who are these fifty billion minor characters?! Thankfully, Crossan does quite a good job of weaving a recap into the first couple of pages, so I was soon able to keep track of most things- but seriously, if it's been a while since you've read Breathe, I'd recommend that you reread that first before getting into this book.

One of the problems I had with this book was that unfortunately, despite there being four different points of view, they all sounded pretty much exactly the same. There were no nice nuances to distinguish them, and to be honest, if the chapter titles didn't include the names of the characters, I would have had no idea who was narrating. I mean, this issue wasn't a particularly large one, and it was definitely one I was able to ignore, as there were other more engaging aspects of the book, but it still did affect my ability to really connect with the characters.

There was a minor romance playing in the background which I quite liked, as it never hijacked the main plot and never turned the book into this massive sappy love story. I mean, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy love stories, but in this novel, I was much more interested in the Rebellion and the Pods and the "future of human society" being in danger. And thankfully that's exactly what we got. While reading, there is constant action and some rather surprising deaths. I'm not sure about "shocking revelations", as described in the blurb, but we do see get some slightly surprising information about the apparent safe haven that the characters were heading towards at the end of Breathe.

While perhaps not as compelling as the first book, Resist was still most definitely a strong conclusion to the series- with most loose ends nicely wrapped up. If you enjoy reading more science oriented dystopians, I'd certainly recommend this series.

Liked it

Ratings
Overall: 7/10
Plot: 3/5
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 5/5





17 comments:

  1. This sounds like an interesting series, and it's always nice when a romance doesn't take over a storyline!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It definitely is! It's so annoying when the romance takes over in a dystopian. And I feel like it happens too often...

      Delete
  2. Gah, sounds like lots of characters to keep track of! Sounds like you enjoyed it though, even with all of its flaws. Great review Nara!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah there were a lot of minor characters, but to be honest, they weren't really that important anyway haha. It was still a good book! Not as good as Breathe, but definitely still good!

      Delete
  3. BAHAAH Same here! I was like so confused on what was happening. I thought that Alina was with Quinn -.- FAIL.

    Awesome review, hun! <33

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahahahha nice one Mel.
      But yeah, easy mistake to make I guess :P

      Delete
  4. Great review! Yeah, it always sucks when you can't remember anything from the first book -.- I don't know if you've heard of the Recaptains? http://recaptains.blogspot.com/ They have some great and detailed recaps :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have that site bookmarked, but I'm silly and forget that it exists every time I actually need to use it haha

      Delete
  5. Oh, I wish you liked this one better! This is one of my favorite dystopian series. I think I fell in love with Crossan's writing and the characters equally in Resist, but I can see how it would be confusing and disconnected if you didn't remember much of Breathe. Which would happen after such a long gap between books.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I probably should have reread Breathe before reading Resist. Don't know why I didn't haha

      Delete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm dying to read Resist! >< Breathe was one of my favourite books of 2012!
    But then again, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Resist as much... I guess it's a little bit of a problem to other readers too!
    Now come to think of it, I think there really was not much distinguishing factors between the different perspectives of the characters. Sarah Crossan has a wonderful writing style, but if not for the names given at the beginning of each chapter, I don't think I would have been able to tell which of the characters were narrating!
    Also, I'm glad to hear that the plot, not the romance, takes center stage! I think sometimes dystopians tend to lean too much towards the romance aspect of the novel, which really can be quite unnecessary!
    I'm glad you enjoyed Resist overall, Nara! :) I think that's a really great sign that it ended on a decent note!
    Fantastic review, Nara! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Despite two of them being male, they still sounded the same as the female ones as well haha. It was basically just the same person talking...

      Yeah the ending was quite good! I have read some reviews saying it wasn't quite as definitive as they would have liked, but I guess it's more so a personal opinion thing- and I thought it was fine. :)

      Delete
  8. Oh man, FOUR POVs?! I do like the occasional change of narrator but not when each character blends in with the other. I'm glad you did end up enjoying it though, I've got Breathe on my TBR list, but haven't gotten around to it yet! Great review Nara x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed! The POV changes would have been completely fine except they all sounded the same. I mean, the transitions and things were quite smooth and she ended each chapter on a mini cliffhanger and then went to another character- so that kept the pace rolling :)

      Delete
  9. Haven't read this series; that's a lot of points of view

    ReplyDelete