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Revision as of 13:38, 17 August 2010
, 13:38, 17 August 2010no edit summary
This is the final volume in Gemma Malley's wonderful trilogy, set in a speculative future Britain in which death and children have both been banished. [[The Declaration by Gemma Malley|The Declaration]] told of the dreadful conditions in which children born illegally are forced to live in this brave new world of immortality. Reviled and ill-treated, Surpluses are brainwashed into believing they are worthless wastes of resources. In [[The Resistance by Gemma Malley|The Resistance]], Anna and her rescuer Peter infiltrate Pinsent Pharma and discover the horrific lengths to which Richard Pinsent will go to preserve his wonder drug. And in ''The Legacy'', we arrive at the end game.
Can people live forever? ''Should'' people live forever? This is the series' central question, but Malley throws up all sorts of extra ethical questionsdilemmas. What sort of government should we have? Are we always just one step away from mob rule? Can it be right to sacrifice the many for the few? And if it doesn't look like Longevity, how ''will'' a future world of increasing population but dwindling resources look? Malley doesn't give any easy answers, but she does give a great deal of pause for thought.
And yet it's never heavy-going. It's immediate, vivid and tense, and peopled with fallible central characters that you can root for. It's complex and literary, but accessible and direct, and never pretentious. I have loved this series, and ''The Legacy'' was a tremendously satisfying close. Highly recommended.
