The Declaration

Anna is a surplus, she shouldn't existed, but she does. In a world where most people are over the age of hundred, and children are considered surplus, Anna must slave away forever at a jail like home because of her parents breaking the law, having children when your on 'Longevity'. Anna was going perfectly and was destined to become a brilliant surplus and to work at someone's home instead of Grange Hall. But when Peter arrives, Anna starts to rebel against the law and changes her destiny

The idea of having a drug that was meant to cure cancer, becoming the cure to age. I thought that was an astonishing idea. I also loved how that having children when you are taking the drug was banned, I thought that was very clever way to stop overpopulation. This book cleverly fights rights and freedom for children who are destined to slave for the rest of their lives because of their parents misdeeds. Anna is an example. I liked how Peter came in and changed Anna's view on how she was worth nothing but everything, the future, her future.

I loved Peter. His personality was powerful and beautiful. His views on life were creative but that made him get in trouble with the teachers quite a bit. He was written quite well and the description of him was wonderfully detailed, even on the blurb! His ideas on his freedom and all the surpluses were easy to follow and made people want to believe him.

Anna is quite a different story. She was brought up to follow orders so she didn't have much will power (though she did have enough to write a journal even when she wasn't meant to). If Peter didn't come along, she wouldn't of gone much further in rebelling and earning her freedom. She would of been a slave for her whole life if Peter didn't come along. Together these two characters are a powerful duo and you wouldn't want to mess with them once they believed it was right.

All in all, this book is mind-blowing. A moving novel set in our possible future. One thing is for sure though, I would never like to live forever in a body that is falling apart. This is Casog, opting out!

Reader reviewed by Ollie

Everybody is always saying how cool it would be to live forever, but we never think about what living forever in this flawed world would entail.
 Gemma Malley offers a fresh point of view about this in the Declaration, where everlasting life means no new lives.  People who agree to the process of living forever must sign a contract saying that they will not have anymore children. Its a life for a life.
 And all the kids that are sent away as surplus. They are brainwashed to believe they are a burden on the world. Anna is one of them. She tries her best to be dutiful in order to pay off her debt. But of course a boy shows up and turns her world upsidedown. Peter tries to get her to believe that all she's known.
 Overall the writng was incredible and its something that i would reccomend to anyone

Reader reviewed by Lenore

The Declaration is set in a world where a longevity drug has been developed that essentially lets people live forever. Sounds great at first - until you realize that if no one dies and people keep having children, population growth explodes and there just arent enough resources to go around. Thats why everyone who takes longevity drugs must sign a declaration saying that they will not have children.

15 year old Anna is an illegal and has lived in a surplus hall most of her life. Shes been told her parents broke the law by having her and indoctrinated by the cruel Mrs. Pincent to believe that her only chance to make things right is to be obedient and learn to become a valuable asset (otherwise known as a slave!). Her beliefs are shaken up when a boy her age who has lived on the outside all his life in hiding arrives and tells her shocking things about her parents and the declaration.

As in most dystopian fiction, the main conflict is man vs society but we also have a well rounded villainess in Mrs. Pincent. In fact, Mrs. Pincent is actually a vastly more interesting character than Anna who comes off as fairly bland (granted it is due to her very limited life experience). The beginning of the book is slow with big lumps of exposition and lots of scenes showing just how very inhumane it is to tell children they are worthless.

Things pick up when Anna decides its time to develop a personality and scenes with Mrs. Sharpe, a well drawn yet minor character are sharp and insightful. Even though the big twist is pretty obvious, its still satisfying.

I had really high expectations for this book so I was a bit let down that it didnt completely live up to them. Still, I would recommend it to my fellow dystopian fiction fans.