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The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera

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abireads07's review against another edition

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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

3.5

kellyreadingbooks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

☠️Oof. I wanted to love this one.☠️

This book is a prequel to They Both Die at the End. Each novel exists in a world where there is "Death Cast" a service that has the ability to predict who will die that day and you get a phone call from them if you are unlucky. In the first book we follow Mateo and Rufus who both get the call they will die that day and meet through an app called "Last Friend" for finding company on death days. I found this book overall so-so even though I think the concept is so interesting.

Unfortunately I felt the same on this prequel. We follow Orion and Valentino on the eve of Death Cast's first day of service on NYE 🪩🎉 2010. Orion (our tortured poet ✍️ ) has a heart condition and is used to living in fear of death. Valentino, however, just moved to NYC from AZ hours ago and is ready to live life to the fullest as a model. Both sign up for Death Cast, one receives a call and one does not. 📞

I enjoyed getting the POV's of the creator of death cast, a customer rep who makes Last Day calls, as well as a few New Yorkers 🏙️ who receive the call. It felt very reminiscent of The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. This premise is so thought provoking. I also enjoy some of the prose written by Silvera, but the disconnect always comes to me with a lack of character building and some cringe dialogue. I know this was supposed to be a "throwback" to 2010 but the overuse of "dope" really got to be too much at times 😂(were we using dope that much in 2010???) . I just didn't feel invested enough in these characters and like the first book I had wanted to be in tears at the end and I just didn't feel too much of anything 😅. Definitely some insta-love but given the nature of the short time frame of this book I suppose that's to be expected.

Not mad I read this, but I don't think Silvera is an author for me as I have also DNF'd another book of his (History Is All You Left Me).

2.75/5 ⭐️
📖 560 pgs
🌶️ spice level: low
❄️ seasonal readers: January NYC; but honestly not strongly descriptive on it being a NY winter, think you could read this at any point