Survival Show by Juno Dawson

Thank you, Juno Dawson, for ending this enthralling tale of a dystopian reality show WITHOUT a cliffhanger. Survival Show is blessedly complete unto itself but also has excellent plot hooks for future sequels that I can now look forward to reading without feeling like I’ve been cheated of an ending here. I’ve just been burned too many times by series novels that don’t end on a satisfying note (ha) to not appreciate when an author cares about writing a book strong enough to stand on its own.

It helps, ofc, that the premise slaps. In a dystopian near future, global warming has changed everyone’s lives. Seventeen year-old Taryn Beck is an English refugee in Scotland, whose family was forced to relocate to a supposedly temporary camp after their Exeter home went underwater. Her younger brother Jensen is sick and fading with each passing day, as affordable healthcare is scarce. Out of desperation, she decides to audition for Survival Show, the hit reality competition that has already launched dozens to stardom.

There is, ofc, a catch. Governments worldwide have adopted a plan called Project Population, where people voluntarily die in order to “ease the burden” on available resources. The older you are, the more money is given to your heirs. Taryn’s father is considering volunteering, in hopes that the money he “earns” will be enough to cover Jensen’s medicine, at least till Taryn can graduate from school and join her older sister Mol in the work force.

Taryn would much rather take her chances with Survival Show. Only ten contestants out of thousands worldwide even make it to the elimination rounds, and of those, only the five most popular — as decided by public voting — will be selected for a recording deal as a girl group. The other five, however, must forfeit their lives to Project Population.

Taryn is a fantastic singer, and winning the competition would mean enough fame and fortune that her family would never have to worry about Jensen’s medication again. It would be nice to be able to afford a home of their own again, too. The odds if she makes it to eliminations are still better than her dad’s zero percent survival rate plan, so off she goes, little realizing the actual hell she’s about to put herself through as she sings, dances and performs for her life in a competition that cares only about ratings and profit and the images that will guarantee both.

If you’ve ever been fascinated by the ways that popular bands are manufactured, then this is absolutely the book for you! Ms Dawson skillfully blends the nightmarish true life stories of reality television and idol training to present a behind-the-scenes experience that echoes with authenticity despite being entirely fictional. The dystopian setting only raises the stakes: while music industry rejects today might feel that they’re going to die if they don’t make it big, the competition losers in this book actually do lose their lives, while the survivors have to pretend that they’re not deeply traumatized by the experience of seeing their friends executed in front of them.

I truly appreciated how Ms Dawson didn’t take any easy outs with her story. A lesser writer would have taken far more obvious beats: instead, she constantly surprises us with her heartbreaking twists. The book is outspoken in its criticism of climate denial, police brutality, homophobia, transphobia and governments being more beholden to private interests — especially media conglomerates — than the public, all without feeling preachy. Like real women worldwide, the Survival Show contestants are all flawed and desperate but manage to find sisterhood despite being pitted against one another. It’s a fresh, fierce and highly accessible extrapolation of current events to a radical extreme, in hopes that what the author depicts is not a future that we readers will ever allow to come to pass. I loved it.

Survival Show by Juno Dawson will be published tomorrow August 4 2026 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and is available from all good booksellers, including