When a Pincent Pharma lorry is ambushed by the Underground, its contents come as a huge surprise - not drugs, but corpses in a horrible state. It appears Longevity isn't working and the drugs promising eternal youth are failing to live up to their promises. A virus is sweeping the country, killing in its wake, and Longevity is powerless to fight it. When Richard Pincent of Pincent Pharma suggest that the Underground has released the virus, something has to be done to put the story straight and once and for all alert everyone to the truth.
Review:
After thoroughly enjoying The Declaration and liking The Resistance, I was excited to read The Legacy, the third and final book. I had doubts as to whether it would have a fitting ending to the trilogy nonetheless, I started reading it.
Immediately, I was happy to realise that it was an improvement on the second book as this one stayed close to the plot and didn't deviate from the path too much. In this book, the longevity drugs aren't working anymore (though not everyone knows this) and people are dying in hideous ways.
Richard Pincent blames it all on the Underground who he claims have tampered with a shipment of the drugs (though this doesn't explain why hundreds of people all around the world are dying). Everyone believes him and starts to attack the hidden Underground.
Anna and Peter are living idyllic lives in Scotland with Ben (Anna's baby brother) and Molly (their baby daughter). Anna is very happy to be away from all the conflict in London and wants to remain in Scotland whereas Peter is restless and wants to be a part of the Underground.
The other two main characters are Jude (Peter's half-brother) and Sheila who work as part of the Underground, helping the leader, Pip. I did like how active Jude was in helping others but I was annoyed by his constant need to compare himself to Peter and therefore putting himself down in the process. I kept thinking get over it.
Richard Pincent's main concern was tracking down the original formula for making longevity drugs. The logic is that the formula he has now isn't accurate and therefore the drugs have stopped working. This was Richard's only concern in the book and he would go to any lengths to track the formula down-even hurt his own family. It was unbelievable that the whole world would accept Richard's reason for why the drugs weren't working any more.
I thought his lies would be found out sooner because Pincent Pharma can't possibly be the only place with scientists. Every other country has their own scientists who would realise what's happening to people and who would question him. Furthermore, whole goverments would be in uproar as deaths are very rare in this global society. For the most part, Richard is left alone to get on with his own hunt for the formula.
The only person who ever questions him is a member of the authorities called Hilary. Like in the other books, Hilary is lied to and is gullible enough to believe it. The chapters alternate between many characters; Anna, Peter, Richard, Jude, Sheila, Derek, Margaret and numerous sufferers.
I enjoyed this because Malley was able to do this without repeating information again and again. Futhermore, it made the story seem to go by more rapidly. Also, this meant that I was able to see the wider effects of the breakdown of the society due to the failure of the longevity drugs.
The fate of Margaret Pincent was especially interesting to me as throughout the trilogy the reader gets to see her downfall from the esteemed position of Matron of Grange Hall. I liked seeing the relationship between her and her father and learning about her regrets. She felt like a very real character.
The ending held some surprises. Some things that I was certain about earlier didn't play out the way I expected. Though I enjoyed some of the plot twists, the main plot twist (which I won't reveal here) felt wild and unbelievable as it could all have been sorted out much more easily beforehand. Furthermore, the ending was rushed and it would have been better if it was slowed down. One or two major questions that I had were left unanswered and I couldn't understand some of the characters' logic.
Overall, I did enjoy The Legacy. It was a vast improvement on The Resistance, but couldn't quite match The Declaration. It was a fast and easy read with a plethora of interesting characters. I would recommend everyone who enjoys the dystopian genre to read this, after The Declaration and The Resistance, of course.
Rating: 4/5
Concept: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Author: Gemma Malley
This review is part of Dystopian February at Presenting Lenore.
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