The First to Die at the End

The 23rd book I read this year was The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera. This is a prequel book to ‘They Both Die at the End’ and after the first book made me sob, I was pretty nervous starting this book about what this was going to do to my feelings.

A brief summary

This book follows the opening night of the death cast app. Death Cast is designed to predict the day you will die and on the day of your death they will call you at midnight to let you know that you will die within the next 24 hours. Our two main characters, Orion and Valentino, meet at the Death Cast launch in Times Square. Orion has a fatal heart condition and thinks that Death Cast will give him permission to live each day, knowing for sure he will survive, despite his heart. Valentino has come to New York for his fresh start, escaping his homophobic parents and chasing his dream of being a model. After their chance meeting in Times Square, one of them receives the first ever Death Cast call and must decide how they will live the first ever Last Day.

My thoughts

I enjoyed this book, once again, the love story is super cute and the book has the same uplifting ‘live life to fullest’ message as the first. I didn’t enjoy the secondary storyline following the founder of the app because there were lots of vague allusions to how the app works, as well as the relatively pointless POV of his wife, who is also the head physiatrist for the Death Cast call ‘Heralds’. I did enjoy the call backs to the first book, as we meet young Mateo and young Rufus, as well as both of their dad’s (who aren’t present by the time we reach them in the First to Die at the End). We also find out how the ‘Last friend’s’ app, which Rufus and Mateo meet on, is invented. It did not emotionally devestate me the way the first book did, you see the death coming a mile off and the moment isn’t as poignant or heartbreaking.

In conclusion, if you liked the first book, you’ll enjoy this but it doesn’t quite hit the way the original did.

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