The Declaration by Gemma Malley

The Declaration
by Gemma Malley
reviewed by Megsly

One hundred or so years earlier, “Longevity,” a new drug granting immortality, took the world by storm, only to lead to an untenable swell in population. Anyone who wants to live forever in this brave new world must agree by law not to have children (thus the eponymous declaration) … or else. Anna is a “Surplus,” a fallout of this decree who ekes out a stark existence (in a neo -Dickensian outpost known as Grange Hall) with the hope of becoming a Valuable Asset to the adults immortal. However, with the arrival of a new Surplus, Peter, who’s lived on the Outside his whole life, she discovers a path to the life she might have lived.

There’s honestly no book more enjoyable to me right now, than a good dystopian novel. Perhaps it’s because of my obsession with politics and where our world is going, but something about these dark, dystopian thrillers has always done it for me. I’ve listed my favorite classic dystopians before you before, and I’m always on the search for more novels to add to the list.

The Declaration is quite a different approach to YA dystopian fiction, but boy is it fun! Anna doesn’t know her last name. Anna doesn’t know much about herself, other than that her parents broke the declaration and had a child without permission of the government. Therefore, due to their selfishness, she is a Surplus and will spend the remainder of her life paying for their crimes. She lives in a home for surplus children, a home that is dedicated to training them in the ways of servitude to serve those who are legal. Those that are as nature intended. Those who will live forever.

These are Anna’s beliefs, and she holds them dear. She knows her only way to escape the home and to find any semblance of comfort in life is if is elevated from the status of Surplus Anna, to the status of Valuable Asset Anna. Then she’ll likely go to a good home that will keep her in work until her last day. And then, another Surplus comes in. An older Surplus. A Surplus that is Anna’s age, which is something unheard of. Usually, Surpluses are found when they’re young, almost never is a pre-teen aged Surplus found, and even more rare is a teenaged, nearly adult surplus. So when Surplus Peter walks into her life, she’s immediately put on edge. He disrupts every thing about the Surplus group home, and he is disrupting every part of Anna’s life. But why is he there, and how does he know things about Anna that she herself has never known? And why does he tell her that everything she has ever known in her life, is a lie?

The premise of The Declaration is that humanity has discovered the fountain of youth, and that through regular medications that regenerate cells, they keep sickness and aging at bay. But through this sudden availability of everlasting life, the government has realized they’re using all of their resources because the planet is over populated, hence the Declaration was written forbidding anyone who signs up for immortality from having children. Only, sometimes those who don’t sign the Declaration and never choose anything but a natural life are also forbidden from reproducing.

I have to admit, I was iffy on The Declaration at first. I wasn’t sure how the author would pull off the immortality aspect of her novel, but she did! It’s a very plausibile and believable route for our scientific community to take. Who doesn’t want to live forever? And with scientist splicing genetics and turning chicken embryos into feathered alligators (or some such insanity like that – believe me, it was in my news headlines this morning about the chicken embryos with alligator snouts) it’s reasonable to think that somewhere out there, someone is playing with DNA strands and cell regeneration… Stem cell research anyone? Taken into consideration some of the major breakthroughs in current scientific journals and guess what, cell regeneration and some miracle pill that grants longer lives sounds like it could happen in the next couple of centuries. And what will happen then? The Declaration! And how the public would react to a continously growing population? Surpluses don’t seem like an unfeasible route. So as I read through, it struck me as being a very scary prospect for the future and in a way, it was hard to take as a fictional work.

The characters were complex, and deep and very geared towards their peresonal believes. I found them to be strong and inspiring, as any main character in any dystopian novel should be. Anna’s transition from the mindset of a well trained Surplus to a rebellious, independent thinker is gradual and confusing and everything it should be. She rebelled against her negative thoughts, and her sudden desires to escape the life of a Surplus as if being enslaved to the “legals” for the rest of her life was more desired than a true life of freedom. It’s not until nearly the end of the book before we really see the seeds of doubt Peter plants in her mind blossom into more. It’s a dark read, but yet at the same time appropriate for young adults and adults alike. I didn’t read this thinking, “Wow, this is a great YA novel.” I read it more as, “Wow, this is a great novel! And I could recommend it to my friend’s kids! They’d really enjoy it too!”

I suggest give it a go, and I’ll be reading the sequel shortly!

Below is my rating of The Declaration by Gemme Malley. These are reflective strictly of my opinion of the novels I’ve read and reviewed, and not necessarily reflective of the other staff members of MVF.

Plot – 8.5
Character Development – 9
Grammar and Punctuation – 7
Prose – 7.5
Paranormal Element – Not Applicable

Total Score: 8/10

(Total score is derived from the average of the 5 individual scores)