By the tone of the first episode, this 14-part middle-grade-sounding audiobook as podcast gives the impression of a Young Adult story with a strong political message. The message itself? Somewhat of a mystery. As are other elements in later episodes. This is an expedited review.

A Middle Grade Narrator Reads a Teen Dystopia Novel

“The Point of the Survival” breaks down into roughly 20 minutes for each episode. The second episode drives around a sharp turn on the highway, leaving the passenger holding onto the car’s interior. It’s not quite whiplash but you’ll wonder why the first episode needed to be there in the way it did. By the end of the series it makes some sense, but not exactly the payoff moment one expects considering what came before.

The narrator brings a different kind of life to the story. It’s not bad, but it does feel out of place slightly. It often times feels like an audiobook narrator reading the Young Adult story with the cadence used for a middle grade or younger audience demographic. Middle grade for those that don’t know has nothing to do with books one might find in a middle school’s library. The age range for MG is 8-12 year olds, according to Writer’s Digest. Young adult is 13-18. A key distinction between the two are how the reader gets a book. Do they get it themselves (YA) or does an adult generally pick a book (middle grade) for them?

United States as North Korea?

The setting is both an analog version of our world, but also very different from it in an alternate timeline sort of way. One can deduce it takes place in the United States based on a character referencing skiing in Colorado and the fact that the United Nations is powerless because they aren’t aware what’s happening. That last part should give you pause. The story makes no attempt to explain how the U.S. became a military dictatorship. That’s fine (for some), but what isn’t is this fictional presidents plan to turn college kids into zombified recruits for his masterplan. A plan that oozes of generic villainy like wanting to blow up the world.

The closest country in today’s world with a similar political system would be North Korea. This YA tale has a suspension of disbelief that’s more appropriate for middle grade in terms of what the reader can actively wipe under the rug. Kids are more likely not to ask questions that kick older readers out of stories.

A Middle Grade B Plot with Young Adult Themes

It may seem like I’ve talked about the plot already. The YA tropes of a band of teenagers/college students against the man are what most people think about when they conjure up previously published YA stories in their head. The plot, truth be told, is hard to distill. At times it’s a survival story. Others give it a romance feel, but with the role of protagonist shifting to another character for a bit before going back to the starting one. Out of these two paths, the survival horror aspect is handled better than the romance for the exact reason stated above.

Aside from a somewhat meandering story, the hardest hurdle in “The Point of Survival” is paying attention without distractions. Thankfully I got a transcript from the author. This would be hard to review without it. The last 3-4 episodes hooked me until the end even without the transcript in front of me in some instances.

7.5/10- Stars