Breathe

Breathe follows on the story told in Undine. Trout is having a problem sleeping and every night after his parents and brothers fall asleep, he slips out of the house and becomes part of the night, walking the streets and listening to the sounds of night in Hobart, Tasmania. He feels disconnected from life. A few months ago, he nearly died and he feels that was a cheat and he should have died. His grades are plummeting and it's his 12th year. He's in love with the girl next door and she just wants to be friends -- only it's hard to be friends with someone who doesn't love you back, who has magic at her command, and who doesn't really see you. So, Trout goes through the motions until he gets pulled into a relationship he doesn't understand or control and finally chaos, true chaos, seems to be taking over his life. Since this is a second book using the same characters, it's expected that they'd be well developed. However, these teens were so real, you almost expect to meet them on the street. The feelings were spot on -- even though it's been years since I was that age, I don't think it's changed that much. The world is different and in this case there's the magic to contend with but it's still the same family problem, the same thoughts about whether you're a disappointment, the same fear about what happens next in your life. Trout, Undine, and Maxine have got real problems in their lives. Each feels they have to solve these problems on their own. None of them realize that others have been there before and may be able to help. Yet each one goes on alone trying to do what they feel they must to go on with their life. Russon's story may be listed as fantasy but the root problems are reality, the reality of most teens' lives. It only takes a chapter to begin to care and by chapter two you don't want to put the book down because you have to know what going to happen next. As with so much of life, not everyone gets a happy ending and while the ending fits with the world as it is -- I wished for more closure. But then what's life but a continuing story that doesn't have a neat happily ever after though some of us may get close.

After the events of the last summer when her best friend Trout almost died, Undine promises her mother that she will not use her magic until she finishes twelfth grade. It is a hard promise to keep because it is bottled up inside her needing to be let out. Her father Prospero wants her to visit him in Corfu with her mother and brother for four weeks; Undine wants desperately to go and her mother finally agrees. Undine finally tells Trout she wants him for a best friend but not a boyfriend. She sees he is trying to understand the magic and she fears for him but he closes her out. He meets a young woman Maxine who wants to learn all about magic and just as Trout begins to trust her, she betrays him. At the same time on Corfue, Undine realizes some promises are made to be broken and by using her magic she saves Max's life at a strange cost to herself. Although there are fantasy elements in BREATHE, the magic is a symbol of being different and not belonging to a peer group because of that difference. Undine is accepting of her differences though her mother fears that the magic inside her daughter will cause her heartache and alienate her from those who love her. Trout tries to understand the magic that saved his life and in doing so wants to make Undine care for him the way he cares for her. While entertaining, there are lessons to be learned from this fascinating tale. Harriet Klausner