Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The First to Die at the End

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The First to Die at the End, by Adam Silvera

33 reviews

_nem_'s review

dark emotional inspiring 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

4.0

This book was a good mix of perspectives that allowed you to understand all of the characters. There were unlikeable characters but mostly the characters were very lovable. It's a lot about exploring dreams and what you want to do with your life. I very much enjoyed this book but it was very sad.

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mmm_reads's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

I don’t know how to express my love for this book. I already loved the first book. The writing style is amazing and while the two main characters fell in love I also fell for them. "They both die at the end" made me cry so damn much, it was in comparison a rather mild cry at the end of this book but it still ripped my heart out (👀)
mild character spoiler:

Spoiler

I love it so much that child Rufus and child Matheo were included in the story😩

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sierranorgan's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Listened to this on audio and I enjoyed it! I do think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I had read it instead of listened to it though. Sometimes they talked to fast and I lost track on what was happening haha

But overall I did enjoy this one a lot! I got so invested in all the interconnections between characters and seeing how everything played out in the end!

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rebeccabryson21's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was heartbreaking good, I can’t even out into words how much I loved this.

Ten out of ten

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bookswithlauren's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.25

I was hesitant to pick up this book as I was disappointed with 'They Both Die at the End' but I am glad I picked it up because I really enjoyed it!

The story goes through many twists and turns but also remains clever and surprising despite the title of the book stating what is going to happen. There are many things I really enjoyed in this book like getting more information about Death Cast and how the company launched, the multiple character perspectives which give us a more in depth story, the easter eggs linking both books together and the friendships and relationship that grew throughout. I loved spending time with ValentinOrion, watching their friendship and relationship grow, their happiness and confidence shine through, it was beautiful.

I do think there were too perspectives at times that didn't always contribute to the story which made it a little confusing but it didn't impact my overall enjoyment of the story. I also wish we got more background knowledge on Death Cast, how it was created, why it was created and the mechanics of it. Even though the book was long, I felt the ending was rushed and could have been paced a bit better.

Because this book was longer and more detailed, I found myself thinking about how I would feel in Valentino or Orion's situation. What if Death Cast existed in my world? Would I sign up? Could I cope with that knowledge? It is definitely a book that gets you thinking but with the main message of live your life to the fullest, do everything you want to do and to love whole heartedly, even when people around us are dying or have died, even when we might die ourselves.

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emburke's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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erebus53's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

Adam Silvera's work is always an easy read for me. His niche is typically youth fiction telling the story of gay kids trying to find their way. He has a real fan following with his creativity and modern real-talk for teens. It's not going to be everyone's flavour, but it never feels forced. This is the second of his Die at the End books, and serves as a prequel for the first book. The story holds tension by being delivered in the first person in a chronological order, from different people's points of view. This is the second book I have read this week that introduces random characters with us not knowing at first that we are being woven into a tangled web of inter-related characters.

The tension in this book is interesting because, unlike the characters, we know that the DeathCast system (that warns people on their last day, that they are about to die), is real and works. Nobody can predict that there will be a hiccup on its first day of use and that some of the people who are going to die that day have not been told, and even that is only revealed to the populace half way through the day.

For those who have read the other book first, there are revelations that are very obvious (we know what the creative app programming endeavours of one character are likely to culminate in), and some things that are much less obvious, such as a character making a phonecall from a pay phone, which are going to be phased out and trashed shortly.

My absolute favourite thing about Silvera's imagined world is that he has replaced a leading popular fantasy franchise with something I can really totally get behind. The major popular magical fiction series in his world is called Scorpius Hawthorn; and it's a magical story with prophecies and wizards and things. There are major movie spinoffs and the child actors are treated wonderfully, getting to play and have fun around film-shooting in Brazil, while their special dietary needs and health are supported by caring handlers. The author of the original book series is Poppy Iglesias and she's a lovely caring person who is also a Queer Latina Trans-woman. I would love to live in this fantasy where the most popular magic franchise is also ethical.

This book is a serious tear jerker. It has homophobia in it. It has sex in it; there are condoms, explicit consent, and not a lot of other detail. It's there as a celebration of love rather than to be titillating. There is also domestic violence, and gun violence, grief about losing parents in the 9/11 destruction, and apocalypse cults, and scary dudes in skull masks. The intended audience is probably 14+ but mature readers younger or older than that will probably enjoy it. Some of the coincidences seem ridiculously contrived and unlikely, but that's just the style of story, and is similar to the other book as well. I was caught in frisson several times when reminded of things like 9/11 or when I realised that throw away details experienced by one character were more relevant to the story of another character.

Fans of the original book will likely enjoy this one as much.

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