The Legacy (Declaration) [Paperback]

This series blew me away when I first read it. The entire concept was awesome. The world seems ideal - no one dies as drugs have been developed meaning that no one gets old, or ill and can live forever. As a price for eternal life people are no longer allowed to have children unless they opt out of the drugs. The first two books look in more depth at this world and what happens to those children who are born illegally. The are awesome - if you haven't had a chance to read them do so.

This book starts off with the revelation that the drugs that have been produced to grant eternal life are no longer working and deals with the fallout as more and more people die. The whole incident is blamed on the underground contaimnating drugs when in fact the drugs themselves have stopped working as they have been copied time and time again from an original sample.

I don't want to go into much detail as it will spoil the first two books in the series as well as this one but I wanted to put a brief review on to say that this book ties up the entire series excellently. I loved the political background of the story and love the underground and how they fight back in a society where they are villianised. I didn't see the twists coming at all and was very very satisfied with the ending. The best thing about this series is that it is quite realistic and you could almost imagine it happening, especially the ideas that the world is overcrowded and all the natural resources such as food and petrol have run out.

A fab series which doesn't receive the recognition it should - if you haven't read it do so (especially if you like your dsytopian fiction). A real gem!

I am probably going to reread the entire series and then edit this review once I've read them all back to back as it has been a while since I've read book 1 and 2.

This is going to be more of a review of the complete trilogy than of this instalment.

I've bought and read the whole trilogy, and I certainly admire Malley's world-building and the initial concept of this trilogy - the idea of people attaining eternal life through Longevity drugs, the illegal-isation of children, and the problems that causes to the 'surplus' population. The novels appear to be very well researched in the science and philosophy departments, but unfortunately Malley's writing just doesn't equate to the power of the idea she had.

The first book was formulaic and predictable, relying upon overdone plot devices, coincidences, and clichés - the only thing that kept me reading was the original idea. A genius idea that I'd never really thought of before that was interesting and played on the mind. However, the actual story around the Longevity concept just doesn't seem to get off the ground. It felt rushed and rather forced. Though the novels are fast-paced with action and drama, they never seem to escape that snare of predictability and cliché. It had so much potential and could have been a really intriguing start of something, but all that resulted was a poor YA novel series full of the complete obvious. It's a real shame.

All the way through the series I kept hoping Malley would do something original and unexpected with this idea, but it didn't really happen. There were moments when I thought something might be cooking, but those feelings usually faded when the predictable element pushed it aside. Almost every step of the character's journeys are obvious and seriously unsurprising, through all three books. The writing is shallow and brief, making this a quick read that doesn't stray far from the straightforward, and the dialogue is at times rather annoyingly coy. I think as this trilogy is intended for teens rather than children, as such, the style is rather too basic, which is unfortunate.

[Beware possible spoilers]
The characters are also rather shallow - their morals and personalities usually uncomplex and formulaic, despite the very complex world they live in. Stereotypes abound, but somehow they seem to stay out of the 'sue' categories. Pip and Margaret were two of the most interesting characters as they both revealed very little and appeared to have bigger things at play, but both of their 'unmaskings/reveals' also very Scooby-Doo `Oh it's you!' and disappointing.

The ending to this books was like a typical exposition of Malley's banal plot twisting, reminding me of the closing scenes of old Scooby Doo episodes where the characters all gather together to tell everyone how everything was done, strings and all, unravelling everything for all to see so we go `ohhhhh' and wonder how we didn't see it. Except I did, and I doubt I was the only one, and this just felt like an insult. It felt very false and like she was pointing at her awesomeness, expecting me to congratulate her. And if it couldn't get worse, the final chapter goes all mysterious and 'dun-dun-duhhh' with the Jumangi drums in the sand. Like, no, just no. >.<

I didn't start this review intending to be so negative. I enjoyed the series as a light and very quick read, but I can't escape the disappointment of such an intriguing, and unfortunately wasted idea such as Malley's. For pre-teens/early teens looking for something a bit darker and realistic than Jacqueline Wilson, this is a good introduction to YA novels, and will probably be enjoyed by that kind of age group. It's certainly a trilogy that gets you thinking about morals, independence, authority, and how people treat each other, which is always a good thing in my opinion.

It was such a good book that was an incredible ending to the trilogy. It was thought provoking and I never managed to put it down! An excellent read and I'd happily recommend all the books to anyone! (: