Survival Show builds on its killer pitch to deliver a story that grips you tight and refuses to release you from its clutches.
This has such a strong concept; I mean, who doesn’t want to read about a pop star search turned deadly in a dystopian world? These girls are literally singing for their lives and your heart is in your mouth through every chapter.
Juno Dawson knows how to deliver razor-sharp social commentary and this is no exception with a wonderful peek behind the scenes of reality TV shows, the music industry and parasocial relationships. We can all recognise these types of shows, removing the literal death aspect, and how they thrived on humiliating potential contestants. These shows remove the humanity from the people they depict, forcing them into certain narratives and using them as pawns for production. Dawson is just taking this a step further in a dystopian nightmare that feels frighteningly plausible. This deadly battle for stardom lures these contestants in for very different reasons, all of them heartbreaking in different ways.
Speaking of characters, Taryn is a great protagonist. She is driven, talented and her character arc of coming into her voice is brilliant. Her confidence slowly grows in the competition, even as the system tries to grind her down. The audition process is gruelling and then the actual competition is life or death, literally. Through it, the love for her family propels her and that empathy spills out to the girls she comes to call sisters. That bond forms reluctantly between the girls as they work together and start to gel, but are keenly aware that not all of them will make it through.
Surrounding Taryn are a brilliant cast of characters, namely the girls fighting it out for the spaces in the band. You end up falling in love with all of them in different ways as Dawson gives them all moments to shine and create that human connection with the reader beyond the perfect pop sensations. You’re reminded just how young and vulnerable they are and it is sickening to think just how many people are complicit and benefit from this system that continues to crush young people beneath its boot. I also liked how blatantly the propaganda and product placement is used as part of the show with forced advertisements as an example. The world-building around this is fascinating and feels like you could explore more stories in your head, though I am hoping for more work set within this world from Dawson.
Dawson explores this intersection with underrepresented groups and how they play with problematic stereotypes or provide tokenistic representation that doesn’t offer substance or protection for those people against the hatred and bigotry of the world. We also delve into the exploitation of trauma for storylines and narratives, with everything being driven by wanting to claim a viral moment that captures the attention of the world for just a second. There is this rampant consumerism that literally is using up and discarding these lives, treating them as disposable products rather than people. It is at sharp odds with the extreme situations the wider world is facing in this dystopian landscape. You can see the elite party while the world burns and this fuels the palpable anger that permeates the pages and will cross over into your heart. The dystopian elements aren’t too dissimilar from our own world and you can recognise plenty of aspects Dawson is parodying here. It is a call to action and a reminder that our voices matter.
Survival Show is the incisive YA dystopian thriller you need in your life that will get stuck in your head just like the next huge pop earworm.
Survival Show is available in the UK from April 23rd and can be ordered here and the US from August 4th 2026, which can be preordered here.
Will you be picking up Survival Show? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis
Tune in for Starmaker, the most watched reality TV show in the world. The rules are simple; young women from all over the globe compete to join an all-singing, all-dancing pop group. If you win, a life of luxury awaits . . . But there’s a catch. Eliminated contestants are literally eliminated.
Taryn Beck and the contestants soon realise that reality TV is far from real. They are pitted against each other in cruel challenges and Taryn is determined to expose the brutal regime and destroy Starmaker from the inside.
Get ready for the performance of Taryn’s life.
The explosive new YA novel from the internationally acclaimed and bestselling* author of Clean and Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, Juno Dawson.
