In the conclusion to the Denton Little duology, Denton is still on the run from the Death Investigation Agency, and he may have unlocked the secret to ending Death Dates for everyone. I think I enjoyed this one more than the first one. It explores Denton's family history a little more as well as beliefs about life and the unknown. It was a solid ending to the story and I thought the world-building was thorough. A good YA read for kids who like "road trip" plots and quirky characters.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

I absolutely love this set of books. Hand to readers who enjoy light dystopian with young adult humor. This sequel is almost as good as the first!

Great sequel! Denton is just such a great character - I would follow him anywhere!

“Denton Little’s Still Not Dead” is a hilarious follow-up to last year’s “Denton Little’s Deathdate.” It features all of the fun of the original with a heaping dose of existentialism. This series is definitely for a certain set of readers. The science of the world is explained a little, but a suspension of disbelief is a requirement. It won’t make you smarter, but it will definitely make you laugh. Highly recommended for the weird readers among us (which includes yours truly).

FINALLY! More Denton! It seems like I have been waiting forever for this sequel and IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT! Denton has found his birth mom (yeah, the one he thought was dead) and they are running from the DIA. There was a lot going on with the plot and I loved it. There was so much action and so much of Denton running for his life. I also appreciated the awkwardness between Denton and his birth mom and how he still thought of his stepmom as "Mom." I thought that was so realistic. There was also more of Paolo. Seriously, could there friendship be any more awesome? They are your typical teenage boys and there was still so much snark and sarcasm and witty banter and I loved all of it.

This book also still discussed the big questions about death, like whether people should be forced to know their death dates or whether people should even know at all. I think that if it were possible to know my death date ahead of time, I wouldn't want to know. And this book also deals with Denton trying to save Paolo from his death date. It's a race against the clock and I was rooting for him to figure out a way to outsmart it.

It was AWESOME that romance was not a huge subplot of the book. Yeah, there were a few romance scenes, but it never took over the book and there was none of that stupid insta-love. I was rooting for Denton and Veronica, but I thought their relationship was realistic and well-done, especially considering the fact that they are both teenagers, for crying out loud.

This book was funny and touching and full of wacky adventures and if you loved the first one, you will love this one as well!

My review will be up on my blog in a few days. All in all i enjoyed this book.

What an awesome following up and fun and exciting ending of a series. I really loved both Denton and Paolo in both books but especially in this one. I really thought the book was funny but also a serious one, due to the fact that the government wanted all these individuals to die on their death-date. I really loved how much Denton cared and loved his best friend. And that he wanted to make sure he would live past his death-date, no matter what happened to him.
I really loved how the book ended, I was very satisfied. Thanks NetGalley, the author and publisher for saying yes to me when I requested to review this book for my blog, goodreads, etc.
My Review will be on my blog, Lori's Little House of Reviews on this Sunday, February 26th. Which is a little different than the review on here. The link is, http://lorimurray.booklikes.com

Loved Denton Littles date with Death and this is just as much fun.

I read a lot this weekend so I honestly don't remember much from this book, but here is the random jumble of reactions from the notes on my phone:

Fam. This book. I have no idea what I just read, but it was AMAZING. Literally everyone needs to read it. The voice felt real and the plot was just holy shit.

And now, my interpretation of whatever I just wrote:

Denton Little is honestly one of the most real feeling characters I've ever met. Like his voice felt super authentic and I genuinely miss him. The plot was well paces and the twists, while not expected, didn't come out of nowhere.

Denton , a teenager didn't die on his death date due to a virus given to him. When he doesn't die, he has to go on the run as the Death Investigation Agency wants to know why he is still alive. Everyone bor in Denton's world learns their death date so they won't be surprised. Due to knowing this, people have the person who will die the next day will have a celebration day before the death day. How do they celebrate? Denton is kidnapped to find out that he will be staying with his biological mother in an apartment in New York City. He can't believe his mom is alive and is so busy with her "cause" she ignores Denton most of the time. He gets mad and decides to break the rule his mom has given him -- no leaving the apartment or getting in touch with his friends. Does he stay free? What does he do when he leaves the apartment? Does he get kidnapped again? I won't tell anymore of the story as i don't want to be a "spoiler."

The author writes a great novel that is engaging and suspenseful. Suspenseful as you don't know what Denton will do next. He makes death funny which I didn't think possible. It brings up thoughts on government control. How much does our own government control? I also thought of how far or behind are we in the world of science. It's a great book to read just for fun too as Denton's experiences will make you laugh! It certainly did that for me.

Wonderful book! Loved every second of it. Couldn't put it down

Denton Little is supposed to be dead. Mandatory testing that accurately predicts date of death set his deathdate as the same day as his senior prom, only instead of dying, Denton broke out in a bizarre purple and red rash and, um, didn’t actually die. Turns out, Denton might be the key to ending the stranglehold the DIA (Death Intelligence Agency) has on everyone. A rebel group led by someone Denton thought he’d never see again seems to have answers he desperately wants, but they also have a poorly concealed agenda that Denton doesn’t trust. What he really wants is to find out why he lived and use that information to save his best friend Paolo, whose deathdate is less than a month away.

I heard of this series in Charleston at YALLFest last November when I went to an author panel and heard Lance Rubin speak. He’s pretty much hilarious, and I felt like, okay, if his book is half as funny as he is, I definitely want to read it. Truth? It’s more than half as funny. Denton’s voice is fantastic—feels like spending an afternoon with a goofy, awkward kid in all the most amazing ways. Also, I loved Paolo. I think you’d have to be actually dead not to like him. He’s kind of the unfettered heart of the story and the loyal best friend. I loved him.

I wished there wasn’t so much profanity and other content in the story because that’s a thing for me and because I know it’s a thing for some of the people who I think would otherwise totally love this book. I also kept forgetting that Denton was a high school senior and thinking he was younger—which I think is just me.
The friendship and humor made this book a super fun read. The suspense elements blended pretty well with the humor (does that seem weird? I guess it does, but I thought it worked.) and gave it a cross-genre feel that I liked. I definitely recommend this to readers looking for a laugh-out-loud book or a less serious dystopian tale. If you liked Away We Go by Emil Ostrovski but want something lighter, this is probably the right speed for you.

Review will post 2/18/17

The Denton Little books are categorized as Young Adult, however, I am hardly young, and my adult status is often questionable, but still I love Denton. The story is unique, funny, fast-paced, and a great introduction into the world of science fiction, particularly for younger readers. It raises the question, if you could, would you want to know the date you will die? Would it be helpful to do and say the things you want to before you go, or would you stop truly living your life and instead obsess about your coming demise? The heroes of the story, Denton and Paolo, are not the brightest or the strongest, but in spite of this, or maybe because of this, I found myself rooting for their success. If I learned anything from Denton Little it's this - enjoy your life.

I am pretty sure if you liked Deathdate, you'll like the second book of the series.

When I first starting reading this book, I was like huh? I did not like it, I wanted to put it down. After a couple of chapters though, I started getting into it. Then after a few more, I was totally into it and glad that I did not put it down.

I did not read the first book in the series and I think that's why it took me a little while to get into it. After I did get into it, I was cracking up. Denton's friend, Paolo and his language was crazy. He was always using the wrong words and his nicknames were hilarious.

Because Denton has this virus inside of him that can take away anyone's deathdate, he has no idea who he can trust. Everyone is out to get him to either kill him or use him. His adventures are also pretty crazy.

I found this book to be highly entertaining and enjoyable. While I did receive this book very close to the deadline, the day before, I was very glad that I got the chance to read it. If there is another in the series, I look forward to reading the further adventures of Denton Little.

Thanks to Random House/Knopf Books for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I think, when an author has written a book that's pretty much perfect, it must be very hard to live up to expectations in the next book. And , unfortunately, this may be the case here.

I'm a huge fan of Denton Little's Deathdate. It was just about the most charming and delightful odd little coming of age story ever. And I was so looking forward to book 2.

Unfortunately, for much of this book, it feels like a very different Denton and a very different world. Reduced to jokes about smelling his own ejaculate, car chases, and shadowy government figures, Denton Little's Still Not Dead takes a very long time to regain the charm and delight of book one.

It eventually does, but much of that is related to Paolo's arc. It's not a main arc, but it's the thing that kept me reading until the end.

The last third of this book is wonderful - it reminds me why I loved book 1 so much. The rest of the book is a struggle.

I still love Denton and his world - just maybe not quite so much anymore.

happy birthday, denton little’s still not dead. glad you made it here.

First of all, you’ll probably want to know what I thought of book one, Denton Little’s Deathdate. And if you don’t feel like reading the whole review, I can sum it up with the first sentence: “I. FREAKIN. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.” Lance Rubin made me laugh about death and the awkwardness of being a teenager knowing they are going to die, but seriously, it just worked.

SPOILER ALERT: Denton didn’t die, i.e. the title of this book.

BIGGER SPOILER ALERT: In order to talk about this book, I’ve got to talk about that elephant in the room… aka the non-death thing. So, tread carefully, my friends.

So, when Random House reached out to me about Denton Little’s Still Not Dead, I freaked out. Mostly, because I really have been wanting to know just what happens to Denton. How he managed to live and why he ended up where he did, because *SHOCKER* we were left dangling on a very precarious cliff.

In the first book, Lance Rubin had readers face the question of their own mortality… What do you do when death is literally staring you in the face – and you’re watching the clock tick down. How do you react? In this book, however, Rubin takes it one step further in exploring what it means to not know when death will come and learning to live with that great unknown. The dichotomy of the two stories is something that really stretches your brain, while still managing to make you guffaw and laugh a whole lot.

While book two was a different animal from the first, I feel like the humor and the quirky spark that made me love book one was still there. This world that seemingly started out almost contemporary definitely went the way of a slightly altered parallel universe, but the science fiction didn’t take away from the reality of it all. Denton is very real, remains a fully-realized character with a lot to offer readers in the way of exploring their own mortality and life.

A lot of the things I said in my first review apply here: the relationship between Denton and Paolo was one of my favorite parts of Deathdate, so I’m glad their antics lived to tell the tale again. Some parts of the book were over the top, and Denton had a lot more to swallow in this one, but it all just worked.

OH, and the cover design changes – totally rad. Sometimes a design change can be bad news for a book series, but I think this one really gets the flavor of these books and brings a more whimsical, kitschy design. I know based on the cover alone, I’d be more willing to pick it up. I mean, a kid playing chess with a skeleton… sign me up.

This is definitely the kind of sci-fi series I’d recommend to friends who don’t think they like sci-fi. And it’s definitely the kind of book you’d want to read after a serious book hangover or book depression. Because, while the topics were heavy, Rubin just struck gold by telling it in a way that was still light-hearted and relatable.

ALSO, he did his own audiobook narration, so I’m definitely excited to check that out. I always love when authors have the ability to narrate their own books. If they’ve got the acting chops, it comes out SO authentic, because who knows the characters better than the author?

All in all, this is a resounding YES from me!

The second book is a little more serious, as Denton tries to figure out his life, now that he is on the run from the government. All of his friends from the first book show up and at times it makes the story feel like an ordinary teen comedy with some romance. But the questions of his role as a deathday survivor gets kind of murky. I kept expecting for there to be more of a sinister plot between the government and the pharmaceutical company that developed the deathdate kits, but it never is fully explained. I'm also not sure that the ending fully worked for me. Perhaps there will be a third book with more intrigue behind the deathdates and the government.

Even with the flaws of the plot, I still recommend these books as they are a fun read with lots of action and a little romance.

Denton Little's Still Not Dead while filled with some laugh out loud moments and points where I was left to ponder life and death. A nice sequel to his first book.

I knew there was quite a bit of "buzz" including positive reviews and the International Literacy Association's award for Young Adult Fiction around Lance Rubin's previous novel, Denton Little's Death Date. Therefore, I was curious to read the sequel, DENTON LITTLE'S STILL NOT DEAD, and found it to be an easy, humorous read. Enough backstory is provided that someone could read this as a stand-alone, but would likely want to read the two books in order.

As the sequel opens, high school senior Denton has lived beyond his death date and meets his biological Mom who is working with scientists in an anti-deathdate movement – trying to spread the virus to which Denton had unknowingly been exposed. Their relationship is a bit rocky and so some drama and several trust issues arise. After a series of escapades and a chase scene, he also reunites with some high school friends and a romantic interest. In all honesty, I did not really care for Denton's best friend, Paolo, and found him to be very immature. However, I understand that often satirical relationship is part of the appeal of the Denton Little books and that Paolo's attitude and frequent puns add to the funny, entertaining value, at least for certain readers.