In the year 2140, it is illegal to be young. Children are all but extinct. The world is a better place. Longevity drugs are a fountain of youth. Sign the Declaration, agree not to have children and you too can live forever. Refuse, and you will live as an outcast. For the children born outside the law, it only gets worse – Surplus status. Not everyone thinks Longevity is a good thing, but you better be clear what side you’re on. . . . Surplus Anna is about to find out what happens when you can’t decide if you should cheat the law or cheat death.
MY THOUGHTS
This was a very difficult book to read mainly because this takes place in a world that is incredibly disturbing with immoral people thinking it is okay to kill children. As I read this book I could not help but question: if immortality was manufactured, would something like this happen? I hope it never does.
In this world, most of the population takes longevity drugs which guarantee them living a very very long life. But if everyone lives forever, then there would be overpopulation, so everyone who takes the longevity drugs must sign a declaration saying that they will not have any children. If you don't sign the declaration, you can't take the drugs and you can have kids with the idea that they will eventually replace you. Those who have kids anyway get sent to prison and any kids are either killed or sent to Surplus houses with the purpose of training them to be servants. Anna is a Surplus, one of the best in her house, loyal. When another older Surplus is placed in the house Anna is worried. He is a rebel, always making a fuss, and Anna does not think he will last long. But, he keeps saying her last name, telling her that he knows her parents. Surpluses don't have last names and her parents are selfish horrible people. He must be lying. But what if the way she is taught to behave, the way the world is, is all a lie?
It has been drilled into Anna how horrible and selfish her parents are, how she does not deserve to live, that children are not natural, that nature wants the older people to live forever, and that she herself should not be alive and is simply wasting resources for those who deserve to live on the planet. It infuriated me so much. Of course, we know that it is unnatural to live forever, but this world has brainwashed an entire society into believing this because of the selfish want to live forever. I have thought for a while that living forever is a terrible idea, that it would have a negative impact on an individual's soul. (This is one of the reason's why I have issues with immortal love interests in some paranormal books). Because of how angry this book was making me, I had to keep putting it down and take a breather.
I felt for Anna in parts of this book because she is in such a terrible situation, but her situation is the best situation for a child in this world. It was difficult at times because she is so loyal to these terrible people, that she has been so brainwashed into believing the lies of this society. It was uncomfortable at times because she was so loyal to people who did not deserve her loyalty and who would not bat an eye if she were dead and would likely prefer children to be dead. This is a society full of older people and if you think the complaints older generations always have about "kids these days" is bad now, here you have an entire society of older people who have forgotten what younger people do for society and think of them only as monsters here to take their "rightful place". Again, it made me furious, but that was the point. When Anna does start to question things, I had so much fear for her because I really didn't know how this entire world could change to help her.
This book certainly made me think and took the concept of immortality and overpopulation somewhere I had not read before, but the book is still a dystopian book which meant that I was familiar with some of the dystopian concepts already. While I used to love dystopian books, it's not a genre I am usually wowed by anymore. There wasn't enough there in the characterization and the plot to make me love this book. This book mainly stressed me out.
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I found this be an interesting dystopian, certainly a different way to approach the topic, but I'm not sure how I felt about this book overall. It was a lot of stress for a book. I have the sequel on my to-read list but I'm not sure if I am continuing the series or not.
I hereby give this book
3 Stars
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