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jellytooth 's review for:
The First to Die at the End
by Adam Silvera
Honestly, I was so disappointed by this book. I enjoyed 'They Both Die in the End' and had high hopes for this one, but it was a little shit.
Characters:
So so bland. Firstly, I've noticed that Silvera relies on the same character trope as TBDATE; gay guy with girl best friend meets gay guy with girl best friend. One or both will die but they slowly fall in love (one girl best friend warns against this) and have to work through the grief or mourning somebody who isn't dead yet.
I've previously praised Silvera for creating convincing characters with organic relationships, but I felt like that was completely lost in this book.
I felt like the characters didn't really have personalities, just things that had happened to them that would sometimes be referenced. Orion and Valentino felt like the same person but Orion swears and has a heart condition and Valentino doesn't swear and is a model. Besides that, their characters meld into one blob of beige and yet they still manage to be awkward with one another throughout the entire book. Two thirds of the way in, I was still having to put the book down regularly to try and work my way through the cringe, and then they kissed? And the inner monologue we get from Orion afterwards suggests the dynamic between them has been very natural and comfortable throughout the book. I did not get that at all. Up until then, I thought the awkwardness was deliberate because they had only met just over 12 hours ago, but evidently Silvera thought he had written them hitting it off given the inner monologues of V and O afterwards.
I think one of the things that made the dynamic so uncomfortable was Orion's ability to steamroller every opportunity Valentino had to grieve the life he had planned to live. There were a few times where Valentino was really distraught and suddenly Orion is talking about his own devastating life and then an awkward silence. I understand that Orion has a fatal heart condition that has hugely limited his life and could potentially kill him, I'm not criticizing him for talking about how that has effected him. What I'm criticizing him for is talking like it's his death day too, despite not having received a call from Death Cast, yet acting like his situation is just as bad a Valentino's. Meanwhile Valentino has been told he actually will die in the next 24-hours and yet there are more times when Valentino is comforting Orion than the other way around. I don't have a problem with Orion talking about his heart and parents, and the ways they have and will affect his life, I have a problem with him venting it constantly to a man who definitely is dying in the next 24 hours and is now spending that time comforting another person who definitely isn't.
The reason I mention this is because Silvera used this dynamic to build up Orion and Valentino's romantic interest in each other. It's the weird steamrolling of Orion that Valentino likes, which felt strange and made it so I couldn't invest in either characeter.
When Valentino offers to donate his heart, Orion emphasises that there is no pressure on his side for him to and that it's completely Valentino's decision. However, Orion then spends the rest of the book pining for the life he could have with a new heart in Valentino's face. So, no pressure :)
Finally, I thought the fact Orion's parents died in 9/11 was a desperate grasp. It made his character way too crowded. It was a good storyline with a lot of potential, just for another character. It felt like Silvera realised this book is way too similar to TBDATE so had to throw something else in to make it a little different.
Writing style:
The writing style was mind numbingly simple. I can enjoy simple writing styles; it's nice to read a book you don't have to think about much sometimes. But I feel like the simplicity of Silvera's writing actually limited my ability to connect with the characters and imagine the scenes they were in. It was basically just a tour of New York where, if you're lucky, you might find out what colour the walls are between clunky conversations full of awkward pauses. It was seriously like reading a GCSE English paper.
Storyline:
As I said in the beginning, Silvera has a tendency to lean on the same ideas. This book really felt like TBDATE, but only one of the two main characters are going to die, which didn't really seem to effect the story any differently because Orion still spent the book acting as if he was also dying in the next 24 hours. The concept was interesting to me the first time, but made me roll my eyes the second.
Also, why do we need any of the other character storylines? They don't effect the main storyline even remotely. Again, it felt like Silvera realised that TFTDATE is just TBDATE 2.0 but more boring, and panicked, so added some more storylines to try and distract from it.
The only thing that really helped the book were the little references to TBDATE. It was cool to see the early days of Death Cast and spot the references to the first book.
To conclude, this book actually improved my grades because I was doing everything I could do to avoid taking breaks where I promised I would read it. The only reason I finished it was so I could give talking shit about it on the internet my 100%.
Characters:
So so bland. Firstly, I've noticed that Silvera relies on the same character trope as TBDATE; gay guy with girl best friend meets gay guy with girl best friend. One or both will die but they slowly fall in love (one girl best friend warns against this) and have to work through the grief or mourning somebody who isn't dead yet.
I've previously praised Silvera for creating convincing characters with organic relationships, but I felt like that was completely lost in this book.
I felt like the characters didn't really have personalities, just things that had happened to them that would sometimes be referenced. Orion and Valentino felt like the same person but Orion swears and has a heart condition and Valentino doesn't swear and is a model. Besides that, their characters meld into one blob of beige and yet they still manage to be awkward with one another throughout the entire book. Two thirds of the way in, I was still having to put the book down regularly to try and work my way through the cringe, and then they kissed? And the inner monologue we get from Orion afterwards suggests the dynamic between them has been very natural and comfortable throughout the book. I did not get that at all. Up until then, I thought the awkwardness was deliberate because they had only met just over 12 hours ago, but evidently Silvera thought he had written them hitting it off given the inner monologues of V and O afterwards.
I think one of the things that made the dynamic so uncomfortable was Orion's ability to steamroller every opportunity Valentino had to grieve the life he had planned to live. There were a few times where Valentino was really distraught and suddenly Orion is talking about his own devastating life and then an awkward silence. I understand that Orion has a fatal heart condition that has hugely limited his life and could potentially kill him, I'm not criticizing him for talking about how that has effected him. What I'm criticizing him for is talking like it's his death day too, despite not having received a call from Death Cast, yet acting like his situation is just as bad a Valentino's. Meanwhile Valentino has been told he actually will die in the next 24-hours and yet there are more times when Valentino is comforting Orion than the other way around. I don't have a problem with Orion talking about his heart and parents, and the ways they have and will affect his life, I have a problem with him venting it constantly to a man who definitely is dying in the next 24 hours and is now spending that time comforting another person who definitely isn't.
The reason I mention this is because Silvera used this dynamic to build up Orion and Valentino's romantic interest in each other. It's the weird steamrolling of Orion that Valentino likes, which felt strange and made it so I couldn't invest in either characeter.
When Valentino offers to donate his heart, Orion emphasises that there is no pressure on his side for him to and that it's completely Valentino's decision. However, Orion then spends the rest of the book pining for the life he could have with a new heart in Valentino's face. So, no pressure :)
Finally, I thought the fact Orion's parents died in 9/11 was a desperate grasp. It made his character way too crowded. It was a good storyline with a lot of potential, just for another character. It felt like Silvera realised this book is way too similar to TBDATE so had to throw something else in to make it a little different.
Writing style:
The writing style was mind numbingly simple. I can enjoy simple writing styles; it's nice to read a book you don't have to think about much sometimes. But I feel like the simplicity of Silvera's writing actually limited my ability to connect with the characters and imagine the scenes they were in. It was basically just a tour of New York where, if you're lucky, you might find out what colour the walls are between clunky conversations full of awkward pauses. It was seriously like reading a GCSE English paper.
Storyline:
As I said in the beginning, Silvera has a tendency to lean on the same ideas. This book really felt like TBDATE, but only one of the two main characters are going to die, which didn't really seem to effect the story any differently because Orion still spent the book acting as if he was also dying in the next 24 hours. The concept was interesting to me the first time, but made me roll my eyes the second.
Also, why do we need any of the other character storylines? They don't effect the main storyline even remotely. Again, it felt like Silvera realised that TFTDATE is just TBDATE 2.0 but more boring, and panicked, so added some more storylines to try and distract from it.
The only thing that really helped the book were the little references to TBDATE. It was cool to see the early days of Death Cast and spot the references to the first book.
To conclude, this book actually improved my grades because I was doing everything I could do to avoid taking breaks where I promised I would read it. The only reason I finished it was so I could give talking shit about it on the internet my 100%.