The Declaration - Gemma Malley

by Unknown 12:30 AM 1 comments 3 star

The Declaration - 

Gemma Malley
Released: November, 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury

Synopsis: Anna Covey is a ‘Surplus’. She should not have been born. In a society in which ageing is no longer feared, and death is no longer an inevitability, children are an abomination.

Like all Surpluses, Anna is living in a Surplus Hall and learning how to make amends for the selfish act her parents committed in having her. She is quietly accepting of her fate until, one day, a new inmate arrives. Anna’s life is thrown into chaos. But is she brave enough to believe this mysterious boy?

A tense and utterly compelling story about a society behind a wall, and the way in which two young people seize the chance to break free.

What it's about: Anna lives in a dystopian world where people take a drug called Longevity, which stops aging, and having children is no longer allowed. Anna is a surplus - her parents broke the Declaration to have her and now she's being trained to learn how to make up for her sins for being alive.

What I thought: The concept for The Declaration had me so excited to read this, yet I believed it fell flat. I dislike Anna as a character - sure, she was supposed to be a 'good' surplus, but it really just aggravated me most of the time. Peter was a great character, though I felt like we didn't get to know him properly, not really. Mrs Princent was out of her mind, along with all the other legals. Even the twists at the end weren't enough to shake it up for me.

I would love to see where the rest of this series goes, but I think it'll be something I leave for a while.
If you love dystopians then this is the book for you.

The Good: I believe the concept for this novel was fantastic.

The Bad: Anna annoyed me way too much to focus on everything else.

Rating:

   3 Bookstacks