The First To Die At The End by Adam Silvera

In this prequel to #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon They Both Die at the End, two new strangers spend a life-changing day together after Death-Cast first makes their fateful calls.

It’s the night before Death-Cast goes live, and there’s one question on everyone’s mind: Can Death-Cast actually predict when someone will die, or is it just an elaborate hoax?

Orion Pagan has waited years for someone to tell him that he’s going to die. He has a serious heart condition, and he signed up for Death-Cast so he could know what’s coming.

Valentino Prince is restarting his life in New York. He has a long and promising future ahead and he only registered for Death-Cast after his twin sister nearly died in a car accident.

Orion and Valentino cross paths in Times Square and immediately feel a deep connection. But when the first round of End Day calls goes out, their lives are changed forever—one of them receives a call, and the other doesn’t. Though neither boy is certain how the day will end, they know they want to spend it together…even if that means their goodbye will be heartbreaking.

Told with acclaimed author Adam Silvera’s signature bittersweet touch, this story celebrates the lasting impact that people have on each other and proves that life is always worth living to the fullest.

Published by Quill Tree Books
on October 4, 2022

Review:

There are a few minor spoilers in this review.

As was mentioned in the synopsis, this book is a prequel. We travel back to the first day that Death Cast is launched and we meet two new characters. Orion Pagan’s parents are both dead and he lives with his mother’s best friend and her family. Orion is gay and he has lived most of his life wondering if today will be his last. He suffers from a severe heart condition that prevents him from pushing himself too hard because at any moment his heart could fail. He signs up for Death Cast because he feels like this will let him know if today is going to be the day or not. He and his best friend/surrogate sister Dalma head for Times Square for the official launch of Death Cast. Orion signs up for the service and wonders if he’ll get the call at midnight.

While there Orion catches a glimpse of a tall, smoking hot guy sitting by himself, He can’t help but stare. At Dalma’s encouragement the two end up chatting and they learn that his name is Valentino and he moved to New York just that day to pursue a modeling career. His parents basically disowned him when they found out he was gay, so he and his twin sister Scarlet decided to move to New York to pursue careers. (His twin sister is a photographer and will be flying to New York the following day to live with him.)

At first Valentino wasn’t signed up for death cast, but after speaking with Dalma and Orion, he figures why not? It can’t hurt anything. Besides, he’s a strapping young man with his whole life ahead of him – there’s no way they’re going to call him. So when the clock strikes midnight and the owner of Death Cast makes the first call on national television and one of the two boy’s phones rings, they all feel certain that it is Orion that is getting the call… but it’s not. It looks like Orion will at the very least live another day, but Valentino -with his whole life ahead of him, is looking at his last.

So now Valentino is alone in a brand new city that just hours ago seemed to hold a world of promise, but is now where he will die. His twin sister is still in Arizona and he doesn’t know anyone. So, naturally, Orion decides that if he is lucky enough to get to live another day – and he didn’t receive a death call so he knows he won’t die (provided the system – which is brand new by the way – isn’t glitchy) he will help give Valentino the best, last day of his life that he possibly can and Valentino realizes that with his death, he may be able to give Orion . A beautiful friendship is born, sparks fly, fun is had, tears are shed and by the end of the book one of our beloved gay boys dies. There are twists, there are surprises and like the first book, we get glimpses at a few other characters and how the launch of Death Cast affects their lives. I especially liked seeing the creator of Death Casts point of view as he realizes that his algorithm may not be 100% fool proof. In the first book, Death Cast has been around for a while, and it was interesting to see how it was when it first started out and some of the glitches they experienced.

This story is very bittersweet, and there were a few plot points that seemed a little far-fetched to me, but when you’re dealing with the idea that a tech company can accurately predict your death date, I figured I could let them go. The issues were small and didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book and the message it conveys.