Review - One by Sarah Crossan

Title: One

Author: Sarah Crossan

Pages: 448

Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens

Release date: 27th August 2015

Blurb from Goodreads:

Grace and Tippi are twins – conjoined twins.

And their lives are about to change.

No longer able to afford homeschooling, they must venture into the world – a world of stares, sneers and cruelty. Will they find more than that at school? Can they find real friends? And what about love?

But what neither Grace or Tippi realises is that a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead. A decision that could tear them apart. One that will change their lives even more than they ever imagined…

From Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this moving and beautifully crafted novel about identity, sisterhood and love ultimately asks one question: what does it mean to want and have a soulmate?

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My Review:

 

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) and NetGalley*

3.5/5 stars

Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins.

Up until now they have been homeschooled but the cost has become too much so Grace and Tippi have to go to high school.

Grace and Tippi worry that they won't make friends and that people will make fun of them but it turns out that they have more important things to worry about, something that might change their lives forever.

One was a thought-provoking and emotional read.

I had never read a book with conjoined twins as the main characters before and it was interesting how they viewed their situation compared to how people on the outside did - Grace and Tippi were everything to each other and didn't care that they shared the bottom half of their body, whereas people who saw them thought it must be the worst thing in the world. Grace and Tippi were just happy to have lived so long when the doctors thought they wouldn't.

Grace and Tippi were likeable and I thought they were inspirational - their lives weren't the easiest but they had a good outlook and laughed a lot.

I liked Dragon as well and felt sorry for her being in the background. I would have liked to have seen more of her.

The plot was good and held my attention but I wasn't gripped. I liked the writing style and found it easy to follow.

Overall this was an intriguing read that I would recommend.

Review - Resist (Breathe, #2) by Sarah Crossan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Release date: 10th October 2013

Blurb from Goodreads:

Resistance to the Pod Leadership has come apart. The Grove has been destroyed but so has the Pod Minister. Quinn, Bea and Alina separately must embark on a perilous journey across the planet's dead landscape in search of the rumoured resistance base Sequoia. Meanwhile the Pod Minister has been succeeded by his capricious daughter. Her brother, Ronan, is supposed to advise her, but his doubts about the regime lead to him being sent out of the Pod in search of Quinn. In a world in which the human race is adapting to survive with little air, the stakes are high.

Goodreads

Amazon UK

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My Review:

3/5 stars.

*I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ)and Sarah Crossan*

Note - if you haven't read Breathe this will contain spoilers.

Resist takes place directly after Breathe and starts by following the survivors of The Grove as they make their way to Sequoia.

Again the book is told from different point of views - Bea, Alina, Quinn and this time Ronan, the old Pod Minister's son. I did like that the chapters are told from different view points, though some of them were quite short and I would have preferred them to be longer.

I feel slightly conflicted about Resist - I enjoyed reading as the story unfolded but I was a tiny bit disappointed as it felt like not that much happened and find that I prefer Breathe. It was good to see the characters grow and become stronger though and there was one death that I saw coming but another that was a surprise.

Overall this was a good sequel but slightly disappointing.





Review - Breathe (Breathe, #1) by Sarah Crossan

Blurb from Goodreads:

When oxygen levels plunge in a treeless world, a state lottery decides which lucky few will live inside the Pod. Everyone else will slowly suffocate. Years after the Switch, life inside the Pod has moved on. A poor Auxiliary class cannot afford the oxygen tax which supplies extra air for running, dancing and sports. The rich Premiums, by contrast, are healthy and strong. Anyone who opposes the regime is labelled a terrorist and ejected from the Pod to die. Sixteen-year-old Alina is part of the secret resistance, but when a mission goes wrong she is forced to escape from the Pod. With only two days of oxygen in her tank, she too faces the terrifying prospect of death by suffocation. Her only hope is to find the mythical Grove, a small enclave of trees protected by a hardcore band of rebels. Does it even exist, and if so, what or who are they protecting the trees from? A dystopian thriller about courage and freedom, with a love story at its heart.

Goodreads

Amazon UK

Amazon US

My Review:

3.5/5 stars.

Breathe takes place in a world where the oxygen levels dropped so low, because there were no trees left, that a glass Pod was created. The lucky people chosen to live inside the Pod had their names drawn from the state lottery. The rest were left to suffocate.

The story takes place years after The Switch and has three main characters; Alina who is part of the resistance, Quinn who is a Premium with a father high up in the government and has never had to worry about how much oxygen he breathes, and Bea an Auxiliary whose parents work hard so that she has enough air.

I enjoyed this book but not as much as I thought I would. I liked the premise but would have liked to have been told more about The Switch and how the Pod was made. Bea was my favourite character and I liked that the book was told from Alina, Quinn and Bea's point of views. Overall this was an enjoyable book with some twists that I didn't see coming.