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shellyyy_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
in realtà mi è più piaciuto il primo: ‘l’ultima notte della nostra vita’, però anche questa mi ha fatto piangere, diciamo più alla fine perchè all’inizio e durante era un po’ slow ma è riuscito a tenermi incollata tra le pagine, quindi ottimo. tutto sommato mi sono piaciuti i personaggi, un po’ meno frankie (e chi dice il contrario, deve farsi fare una visita). lo consiglio a tutti, un po’ meno a chi si emoziona facilmente lol ;)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence
lenasabindawson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
ryanbada's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Blood, and Medical content
Minor: Infidelity
mpbookreviews's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
james1star's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.75
Bittersweet. So heartwarming and heartbreaking and just ughhh!! ❤️💔❤️💔 I feel like I need to take a break from reading queer romances that I know will inevitably end but even though I know what’s coming, my heart still breaks when it comes to reading it. Why do bad things have to happen to lovely people?!? Why?!? Excuse me while I go and have a little cry 😭😭
This is the prequel to a book I did really enjoy and took a lot of takeaways from: They Both Die at the End and I feel like it was a slightly better instalment. Because I enjoyed They Both I decided to preorder this (my first ever time getting a book on publication day - I was so excited!!) and thankfully I did because it was so good. I don’t want to explain the plot that much because you need to experience it first hand to have the intended impact but we follow two main characters (in first person interchanging chapters): Orion who has a heart illness, lost his parents in 9/11 and lives with his best friend Dalma and her family AND Valentino (that name… oof) who has just moved to NYC ‘with’ his twin sister Scarlett (she’s still in Arizona but planning on coming) to peruse their dreams and distance themselves from their homophobic catholic parents. They meet in Times Sq on Death-Cast Eve at a celebration and one gets the call that they will die that day. So instead of accepting death, both young men decide to live. Like They Both there are also third person chapters from peripheral.
The writing was very good, it’s addictively readable where you just want to read on and on, the plot flows well and things all fit together well. Like They Both I did find some of the side character’s stories were a bit unnecessary and not fully realised but was done better in The First. These chapters did take me out of the central storyline in some parts but everything does come together… a bit too well with some things leading me to think ‘ummm okay, kinda put that in to complete the jigsaw’ where maybe some more messiness would have been appreciated but overall I did enjoy it. We also meet little Mateo and Rufus which was nice. A main storyline in these side characters deals with a domestic abuse issue which was handled quite well and I was very much invested in it - less can be said for the side narratives in They Both.
Writing = good. Characters = perfection. I loved them so much. And from the start aswell, they were such lovable, kind, sweet, relatable and real people. ValentinOrion you have my whole heart (this relates to the book btw) and just their relationship was so beautiful. The events in their lives were so hard and really affected them both so much so they didn’t need what happened but like also they wouldn’t have had what they did have so Yhh… bittersweet. There’s no other word for it and even that don’t cut it. Also many of the other characters were really nice all except Frankie I’d say. I just wanted good things to come their way.
Like They Both, there is definitely a lot of focus on death and grief but once again Silvera threads this beautifully told notion of life throughout the book. How we only have one life and it’s there to be lived. There were lots of takeaways from this book (less so quotes but I feel like most YA books I’ve read aren’t the best at meaningful and amazingly penned quotes) which gripped me and I think were protracted very well.
Overall, I did really enjoy this book and totally recommend it. There sore some triggers but I think they were handed rather well and there’s important ideas and notions to take away. And come on, the love story is just everything. So damn cute but sad but lovely but shattering but ughh just everything. No more from me now, I’m such a rambler.
I did film a reading vlog if anyone wanted to see: https://youtu.be/Qnsnwt5yPmk
I did film a reading vlog if anyone wanted to see: https://youtu.be/Qnsnwt5yPmk
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Murder
darryn_gray's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
Yet again, Mr. Adam Silvera knocks it out of the park with this book! While reading TBDATE I never found myself majorly questioning how the death cast works, it just was something everyone accepted and there wasn't much to question; however with this, it would give so much and so little details about the death cast I wanted to read something that was just all of the technical workings on it. There were some amazing cameos in this book and really just helped bring something bigger to a universe that I didn't even know could be expanded much more than just "you get a call, you die". I'm excited to see what he does with the third Death-Cast book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Medical content
Moderate: Gun violence and Toxic relationship
Minor: Homophobia
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