Resist Didn’t Finish How I Expected…

But before I dig into how Resist, by Sarah Crossan, ended, let’s review the overall story.

When I reached the end of the first book, Breathe, I was excited about where this journey would take Alina, Bea, and Quinn. I wouldn’t say I loved the book, but I would put it high in my rank list of YA books. So needless to say, I was excited to dig into this conclusion to the two-part series.

And I was only slightly disappointed, though not in a way that made me dislike the book.

Resist picks up right where Breathe left off. The Resistance has been destroyed, and the handful who remain set out in search of the second branch, known as Sequoia. But along the way, they encounter unexpected challenges that break the groups apart.

Bea is forced to stay behind in an abandoned mall with Jazz as Quinn goes ahead without them, seeking help for an injured Jazz. He finds Sequoia, along with the handful of survivors from The Grove who are already there.

But Sequoia is not what they all expected it to be, and they quickly find themselves in a very atypical post-apocalyptic campus with an unforgiving leader. Their primary objective becomes surviving this campus and escaping back to the city to bring down BREATHE.

Meanwhile, Bea and Jazz are discovered by a member of the special forces — a young man named Ronin who is the son of the former Pod Minister and knows Quinn very well. Ronin has had it with the Ministry and he helps Bea return to the city to tear down the government and restore power to the people.

But this is where the story starts to derail. As you would expect, nothing goes according to plan. I can accept that because the best-laid plans are often the folly of fools. However, when Sequoia makes a move on the Pod, the objective to tear down the Ministry becomes almost an afterthought, and it just sort of happens. Both books have built us up to this moment when the Ministry is overthrown, and I was disappointed by how little it took. In fact, there wasn’t a lot of attention given to it once Sequoia attacked.

Without giving too much away, I will say that despite this disappointment, the ending of the book was both beautiful and sad. If you read Breathe, you should definitely finish the series off with Resist. It’s still well worth the time.