The Declaration (review)

In the year 2140, girls such as Anna, born to two parents on Longevity drugs, are considered surplus beings taking up necessary space and resources. Although Anna's parents tried to hide her, she was found as a toddler and brought to a Surplus Hall for indoctrination and training to become a servant. Since then, she has taken to her lessons well and now instructs others in self-loathing and obeying orders. Peter, whose arrival is shocking both because he is a teen (surplus children are usually ferreted out much younger) and because he refuses any attempts at brainwashing, horrifies Anna further by whispering secrets about her loving parents and the life that awaits her outside. Anna's limited dreams of no beatings and a quiet servitude are suddenly replaced with visions of having a family, escaping to the mysterious Underground, and experiencing her first romance with the dashing Peter. In this dystopic society, however, happiness seems impossible without a price, and before Anna can be free, her parents will have to sacrifice themselves to carve out space in the world for her to exist. Anna's clandestine journal entries, interspersed throughout the novel, are memorable and emotionally taut, mapping out her torturous journey from perfect drone to bewildered but idealistic rebel. Although the adults remain largely interchangeable, this treatment too is an effective tool employed by Malley, establishing a faceless world in which placid, bored, and vaguely regretful adults plod through their hard-earned endless days, in which they now find themselves with little to do. Against this backdrop, the risk of true happiness, even if fleeting, becomes a heroic quest, and science-fiction fans will find Anna and Peter to be quite worthy seekers.