The Declaration

Synopsis:

In the year 2140, it is illegal to be young.

Children are all but extinct.

The world is a better place.

Longevity drugs are a fountain of youth. Sign the Declaration, agree not to have children and you too can live forever. Refuse, and you will live as an outcast. For the children born outside the law, it only gets worse – Surplus status.

Not everyone thinks Longevity is a good thing, but you better be clear what side you're on. . . . Surplus Anna is about to find out what happens when you can't decide if you should cheat the law or cheat death.

Review:
This is an outstanding book by all measures. Through this tale we are projected into a future, one of which is still our world, but so very different it is hardly imaginable. Once where there is low energy, no children allowed, and everyone lives forever. Imagine...walking down the street seeing the same people you have seen everyday...knowing they will live forever, knowing you might live forever if you choose to have Longevity injections. Hardly seems like it ould happen right? But it is through Gemma Malley's debut novel that we see how it could be if people discovered how to defeat death...only to became greedy with life.

Anna, the main character who's life we are following, not only through the text, but through her journals as well, seems to be branwashed from the very beginning. But, see, she doesn't see this. She thinks her life was always a mistake, just because her parents broke the law and gave her life. She thinks she is worthless and is told this everyday by multiple Legals (those who are allowed to live and who take Longevity injections). Anna lives in Grange Hall, where Surpluses are housed from the Outside and trained to become maid, butlers and other labor workers for the Legals until they die, as they are not allowed to live forever since they were considered mistakes...scum. We then meet Dewey, who was brought in from the outside and into the hall as an older boy but we find out he is trying to help Anna. You could tell right from the beginning he had a purpose for being in the hall, he was after someone, something. And then, just when you thought his fate, and the fate of Anna, was sealed and there was no hope, the book takes a turn I don't think anyone would be able to predict.

I loved this book. Hands down it has become one of my favorites. The story is so captivating and as unreal as it seems, when you are reading it, you just feel like it could happen. All the 'What if's' that go through your head become possibilities with this book. Gemma Malley has done a brilliant job creating this one of a kind story and I hope you all pick it up and add if to your YA collections.