THE RESISTANCE

In Anna and Peter’s world, medically created immortality has made most childbirth illegal, according to this unsubtle but worthwhile and tension-packed sequel. After their escape from the hellish Surplus Halls of illegal children in The Declaration (2007), they’d hoped for a comfortable life raising children and fighting the government—but it’s not that simple. The resistance wants Peter to spy on the company that makes longevity drugs, but the company’s owner, Peter’s overwhelmingly evil grandfather, hopes to convert Peter to his own side. The story makes abortive attempts to treat complex ethical questions with depth, asking if science used for evil ends could be good in different contexts, or whether a Resistance leader who has chosen immortality for himself can be trusted. But ultimately, the text finds these questions fairly easy to answer. Peter’s story takes a clear moral position—it is the responsibility of the old to die to make way for the young—and portrays any dissenters as either despicable or willfully naïve. Here’s hoping the nicely set-up sequel has a more delicate touch. (Science fiction. 11-13)