The Declaration

 

It’s the year 2140 and Anna shouldn’t be alive. Nor should any of the children she lives with at Grange Hall. The facility is full of kids like her, kids whose parents chose to recklessly abuse Mother Nature and have children despite a law forbidding them from doing so as long as they took longevity drugs. To pay back her parents’ debt to Mother Nature, Anna will have to work for the rest of her life. But then Peter appears at the hall, and he tells a very different story about the world outside of the Grange. Peter begs Anna to escape Grange Hall, and to claim a life for herself outside its bleak walls. But even if they get out, they still have to make their way to London, to Anna’s parents, and to an underground movement that’s determined to bring back children and rid the world of longevity drugs.

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13 thoughts on “The Declaration

  1. I think that this book was amazing. One of the best ive ever read since it has one of my favourite topics. I have two favourite topics: fantasy and People being reunited. And this book was about children who were illegally born and taken away from their parents and were stuck in place doing chores and cleaning and cooking to become something ‘valuable’ and ‘useful’ so that mother nature would forgive the illegal children sins of being born. This may or may not sound confusing but without spoiling anything i can explain that there were legal and illegal children. You may wonder how children can be illegal? The reason is that the book was set in 2140 and longtivity drugs were introduced which meant that people could live forever and never ever die and therefore if everyone started having children there wouldn’t be any space for them to live. And when you read the book the unnecessary people were called surpluses which meant unneeded or unnecessary. Once you have read the book you can understand all of it. This is one of my favourite books and i would definitely recommend it for older children since it has words that someone in primary wouldn’t understand. Maybe somewhere of 13+. I personally enjoyed the book because of the twists and i honestly can’t wait to read the sequel and the next one!
    ****************SPOILER***************
    My favourite part of the book is when Mrs Pincent, the house matron, finds out about her son. Mrs Pincent wanted to prove to her father that being a man isn’t better than being women. She got to the top and her father owned a longevity company but all she wanted was to have a son to make her dad happy. Sadly she couldn’t have one since it was illegal but she could marry one of the 5 people in the country who had benefits of having one legal child. She got married and was pregnant, with a son. But her husband had an affair which resulted into an unwanted pregnancy and that child was born and had the legal title while her child was born to become a slave. Her husband feeling guilty said they would put the child to death instead of living its life in slavery. THE TWIST IS that the husband lied and couldn’t kill his own son and left him outside with a ring that said AF on it. The boy was called Peter and he was in the underground movement which cared for illegal children. Meanwhile Mrs Pincent wanted to torture Peter who escaped the hall with Anna. But when she found this out she went mental and killed her husband which then ment that her child Peter was legal and was happy but she went to prison. Meanwhile Peter lived with his Grandfather and Anna the main character became legal with her little brother when their parents killed themselves so Anna and Ben could live on. That bit made me sad and that is one thing i would change that the parents of Anna and Ben were alive to take care of them instead they are dead and She couldnt even see her parents for a full day or two. I hate when people die so thats why. Still it was a very good book and i hope that the sequels are even better

  2. I really loved the Declaration because I found it really eye opening. It was an alternative future book (my favourite) and I found the characters amazing and the plot interesting. It was an amazing book because it was detailed enough to be informative but not so detailed that it was boring, and I loved it.

  3. The Declaration is a perfect mixture of sci-fi and young adult with a definite message about being different. The characters are all diverse and jump out of the page, and the storyline is well paced and balanced. In my opinion, it is better than the Hunger Games.

  4. I really liked The Declaration since it changed something that seemed so mundane to us. Most people have to take exams at some point in their lives and The Declaration adds life or death consequences to it The Declaration is an impressive book as it makes a part of everyday life thrilling.

  5. When I was reading it, I couldn’t decide if I liked Peter or not. I definitely do! I’ve finished it now, and I just realised there’s a set. So after TSBA, you know what I’m going to be reading…

    I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes gripping mysteries…! I was excited by the first chapter, and I couldn’t put it down for ages! DEFINITELY READ IT!!!!!!!!

  6. SPOILER ALERT:
    WOW, i thought this book was great book from the start and that it wouldn’t possibly get better however once Anna had escaped it went to a whole new level to even the point where i was reading till 1 in the morning. The ending was very unexpected but i loved it so much. The whole way through the book was interesting and never a dull moment. I will be reading the other Declaration books too without a doubt. Definitely a must read!

  7. As soon as I read the blurb for this book, i knew this would be a fantastic book. From page 1 I was gripped and i couldn’t put it down for days. It is so exciting and exhilarating. It has a creative and original story line and it kept the pace going. What a great book!

  8. Just heard about TSBA and The Declaration is my first choice… I can’t wait to start reading it, as it has so much emotion! 🙂

  9. The Declaration is a futuristic novel where “Longevity” drugs have been invented. They prevent ageing and illness and enables a human to live forever. But consequently, by taking these drugs, you have to sign the ‘Declaration’, which states that you aren’t allowed to have a child, as the population would no longer be in balance. However, some people break the Declaration and there children are classed as “Surpluses”. They grow up away from society, in a “Surplus Hall”, similar to an orphanage. The children live there and are trained to become servants and in general, do the dirty jobs “Legals” do not want to do; this way they repent for their parents’ sins. They are even manipulated into believing they need to atone for their very existence.
    Our main character, Anna, is a surplus at Grange Hall and is soon to become a “Valuable Asset”. She has grown up in Grange Hall and knows nothing about the real world. She lives behind the thick grey walls and dark blinds hiding her from our planet; she’s concealed from all the knowledge out there, to powerful for someone like her. But one day she meets Peter and he’s different. He has experienced whats out there and claims he knows Anna’s parents. She doesn’t trust him. Not for a second. She has been brainwashed into thinking she is a Surplus and nothing else, as unimportant as the dust she cleans up daily. She believes hat Surplus’ need to learn their place and be grateful that they even exist. Her parents are wrong – they have to be? For 16 years thats all she’s known. But maybe Peter is right and Longevity drugs are bad, and the Authorities aren’t as righteous as they seem…
    Should a child ever be responsible for the actions of its parents? Already, an increasingly old population looks upon the young with increasing hostility and suspicion. What would happen if the old never ever died? These questions are what kept me on the edge of my seat, making this book such an engrossing read. I loved the suspense and tension, creative plot and vivid characters. The writing was flowing and action-packed. I strongly recommend reading this book and the others in the series. I think that children aged from 10-14 would enjoy this book most.

  10. Oh how I hate giving up on a book!
    But if you read a lot of Sci-Fi, as I do, you’ll have read The Declaration before.
    Reasonably well written , it’s a re-hash of a Sci-Fi dystopian genre that’s been around for a very long time.
    Of course if you’ve not read Atwood, Swift, Banks, Huxley, Orwell, et al, then you will enjoy this and it is a good –if pedestrian –intro to the sub-genre.

  11. George from Eltham College says
    The declaration is a great, exciting book which has so many heart-stopping moments. I think that it is the best book I have read in a long time, with it’s futuristic settings and the dilemmas the characters face. The author has thought deep into the story and how the things that could be miracles could just be disasters waiting to happen. The main example here is the Longevity drugs that make you live for ever with no diseases. The problems include overcrowding and not enough resources for everyone. The authorities try to stop this by creating the declaration but this book explains what happens to people who do not stick to it.

  12. This is a dystopian novel with a strange premise that families are restricted. Love it or loathe it opinions are divided….read it to see what you think.

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