Book Review – Death Date By B.Y. Simpson

It’s a world where our main character, Nova James, resides where the world has gotten so bad environmentally and people-wise that a new world order has risen up to mark people for an ending death day they get when they’re 18 and bad behavior takes time away. A Hunger Games meets In Time.

Well, except you never really see anything that is described about the world. I’m usually a person who complains about too much world-building and not enough plot. Here, I don’t see anything of the world other than the Death Dealer Squads who seem to be immune to a death countdown. What does the world look like to get to the point where the entire world population allowed for this Death Day program to be implemented? No clue. How is bad behavior cataloged and accounted for and how does this affect people’s interactions out in public or even in private? There doesn’t seem to be any change at all. Certain people are in open rebellion and hiding from hit squads, parents can be awful to their children, there isn’t a blight of false kindness or people breaking under the pressure of knowing exactly when they’ll die. There seems to be some enforcement at the schools but without being 18 yet there aren’t really any repercussions for acting out. In this world, people kind of just act the exact same as now. That is, until you get outside the main city, then it’s a wasteland of destruction for some unknown reason.

Our main character receives survival training from her grandfather who is part of the elite but doesn’t really show off any of these skills until the very end of the story. She’s rescued by the mysterious boy character who she’s crushing on after being betrayed by other boy character who seems to be up to something. After falling into a rebellion meeting on accident, Nova is very loosely in control of what her goal is. After several hospital visits, which also seems weird in a world where death for a large portion of the world should be welcomed, she needs to leave the city and find the rebellion. From there, stumbling upon revelations by happenstance seems to be the plot unfold method. Our handsome rogue, Alex, seems to be angry with a dark backstory and tough except but he seems to mostly be the hero of the story. There is some slight romance with awkward looks and too close talking in a will-they-won’t-they arc. Our characters never really have an arc either. The people who they started off as is really who they finish as and the revelation and how they get there just kind of happens. Alex and the grandfather are the biggest key players in the story minus one boss battle and being a key to cure the effects of the death day and disease. It’s not really clear exactly who either.

The world has no grounding in what it claims to be. The characters just exist. The YA typical love story with almost a love triangle is bland. The plot does move forward, however. The action is mostly chase scenes with a few short fights. Other people who have read it seem to like it. I will not be continuing the series.