Monday, January 16, 2012

Thought Provoking

Gemma Malley's trilogy, The Declaration, The Resistance, and The Legacy offers a thought provoking series dealing with population control, health, longevity, and human rights.

I came across the series when working with my students, in a literature circle unit (book club). The premise in The Declaration is there is a drug that offers immortality. All adults who take it, must agree to not have any children. Those opting out of the drug can have a child, but can only have one. Any other children born are taken from the parents, and are considered "surplus." They are raised in institutions like orphanages. One young student of mine, who picked this book, struggled with it, due to being raised in an Albanian orphanage. She was adopted at the age of 5, and her parents rightly felt the themes in the book might be a bit much, so she switched to Peak, a novel I have mentioned in another review.

I have been railing against so many trilogy's in the YA market, and it seems most are dystopian, but this trilogy is different because the questions raised are truly thought provoking. Not many authors could pull this off, and I discovered that this author studied philosophy, in London. My older son is currently doing so (as an external student...he lives here), and it is understandable how she is able to offer a variety of themes, that make the reader question their own moral stances.

The second book in the series, The Resistance, had some flaws, primarily in continuity, but also added philosophical queries to ponder. I just finished the third novel, and feel it is a worthwhile series to recommend. It too ends with questions, both in plot and dealing with moral issues that were raised, but it is nice to leave a series thinking.

No comments:

Post a Comment