Reviews with content warning for Cursing - The First to Die at the End

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera

49 reviews

mauvesoul's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Content Warnings

jillkaarlela's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was good, however it felt too forced and a little too similar to the first book. I think the first book was great, as it was heartbreaking, inspiring, and a beautiful love story. This was all of those things too, but it felt just too similar to the first book. The timeline was a little confusing, there were some references to pup culture during the 2012-2014 tie period but it was supposed to be set in 2010. Also, something similar to the first book, there were SO MANY side characters with their own chapters from their pov and it became difficult to keep up. There should have been less side character pov chapters. We do get cameos and more info/backstory about Rafael and Mateo from the original book. We also get more info about the beginning of “Death cast”, but it’s still pretty unclear about how or why it works. I would like to read how death cast works or more about how Joaquin Rosa came up with it. I’d say this was good, but it wasn’t really necessary or as groundbreaking as the first book.

Age rating: 14+ (grief, very unnecessarily large amount of foul language, etc.)

Massive trigger warning for 9/11!!! There was so much mentioning of this in detail, so be warned about that!

Content Warnings

christine_fravel's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Content Warnings

anxieteaandbiscuits12's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

I did enjoy the first to die at the end and read it in one sitting, I enjoyed exploring the death cast a little bit more and loved how the relationship between Orion and Valentino developed and the writing style especially around grief and loss. So did like the little nods to tbdate

with Mateo and Rufus’ cameos

though they didn’t really add to the story it was a nice tie in to see how closely peoples lives interacted without you knowing.

My main criticism is that I was hoping for more explanation about death cast which you didn’t get so I found some of the POVs a bit pointless and therefore although all the POVs tied together in the end they could’ve been removed. I also could’ve seen the book following a found family theme with Orion’s family giving Valentino the acceptance he didn’t get from his own family and them supporting him with romance as a subplot rather than getting Orion to kind of put aside his family but I obviously enjoyed their relationship.

Content Warnings

an_everyday_penguin's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I have read every single book by Adam Silvera because I fell in love with They Both Die at the End and then I convinced myself that all his other books were also amazing, mostly because Adam Silvera is very good at writing sad endings. No matter how long it takes to get through the first 75%, I feel bad when I get to the end and it's tragic and that affects my rating. I still love They Both Die, and I read this one because I love the world and I think Death Cast is super interesting. There are a lot of stories to tell in this world, but at some point they'll all end up being the same so I hope he doesn't continue to write more in this world.

Anyway, about this book specifically. I got through the first like 20% really really fast, and then it kind of slowed down and I had to push myself to get through it. Honestly, I didn't really care about the side characters whatsoever and their arcs were kind of boring and dragged on. I get that the side characters were important and you needed them to fully understand the overall plot, but I feel like they could have been severely cut down because I just did not care at all. This happened in They Both Die, but I didn't mind it as much because (if I'm remembering this right) there were only a few chapters and they were really short. They didn't connect to the main plot in any way they were just short little side stories about other people who got a Death Cast call.

I didn't really have a problem with Valentino and Orion. It was kind of love at first sight, but they also had like a day and it's hard to condense an entire, epic relationship into a singular day. So I can forgive that part mostly. Also, was it just me or were the references to Scorpius Hawthorne kind of annoying? I get that it's like this world's version of Harry Potter, but it was brought up so often and I just didn't care. I can't even tell if it's because I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, but it felt kind of weird and almost all the mentions could have just not been there and nothing would have changed.

The other thing is that I do think Death Cast's problem was blown out of proportion? Like, the company wasn't perfect on Day 1, I feel like that's to be expected because it's a new company that's becoming a country wide thing immediately, of course there are going to be problems and kinks to work out. Like, I get that if Death Cast makes a mistake it literally affects whether or not someone lives or dies, but I still felt like

shutting down after Day 1 because of a few missed deaths was not a problem, especially when every single one of their predicted deaths were correct

.

I will give points for the plot twist at the end. Knowing Adam, I really thought that

Orion

was going to die, not

Frankie

. I mean, I think that was done well and, like most of Adam's books, the ending was one of the strongest sections of the book.

Content Warnings