Hello, bookworms!
How's it going? I am having a slower day at work today, since I am waiting for some files to upload on the Cloud, and it's taking a long time. Which is why I decided it was time to finally write the introduction and last few paragraphs to this review, which I have been having sitting on my desktop for like two weeks, because I don't wanna think about this book.
I am talking about The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera, the prequel to one of my favourite books of all times, They Both Die at the End, which I buddy read with my friend Cloud. I wish I could say we had a great time reading this, but that would be a lie.
Without any further ado, let's get this review started!
About the book
Title: The First to Die at the End
Series: Death-Cast #0.5
Author: Adam Silvera
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication date: October 4, 2022
Pages: 560
Plot, as stated on Goodreads
In this prequel to #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon They Both Die at the End, two new strangers spend a life-changing day together after Death-Cast first makes their fateful calls. It's the night before Death-Cast goes live, and there's one question on everyone's mind: Can Death-Cast actually predict when someone will die, or is it just an elaborate hoax? Orion Pagan has waited years for someone to tell him that he's going to die. He has a serious heart condition, and he signed up for Death-Cast so he could know what's coming. Valentino Prince is restarting his life in New York. He has a long and promising future ahead and he only registered for Death-Cast after his twin sister nearly died in a car accident. Orion and Valentino cross paths in Times Square and immediately feel a deep connection. But when the first round of End Day calls goes out, their lives are changed forever—one of them receives a call, and the other doesn't. Though neither boy is certain how the day will end, they know they want to spend it together…even if that means their goodbye will be heartbreaking. Told with acclaimed author Adam Silvera's signature bittersweet touch, this story celebrates the lasting impact that people have on each other and proves that life is always worth living to the fullest.
My rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Review
For the longest time, after having read and hated Infinity Son, I have been debating whether rereading any of Adam Silvera's previous books would ruin them for me. After having finished The First to Die at the End, I have come to the conclusion that there's a really high chance of that happening, and I am glad I did not reread book one before picking this prequel up, because I want to keep the good memories I have of that reading experience.
All this to say, I hated this book with a burning passion. It was such a disappointment, because I still hoped this would be the one to save Silvera's new releases in my eyes.
First of all, no contemporary with a speculative twist book has any business being this long. More than 500 pages of what? Utter and complete nothingness. I am so mad, the more I think about it, the more I hate this damn prequel and I wish I never read it, oh god.
When I read the first book, what made me fall in love with it were the characters and how attached I felt to them. With Orion and Valentino, it was the opposite: I couldn't care less about what happened to them, and I honestly wished death would come faster.
Also, I want to say that I had the perfect ending for this book mapped out in my mind, and if the author had gone down that route, I would have given this book a higher rating. Mild spoilers ahead, I guess, but I want to share my plot, so skip the next paragraph if you haven't read The First to Die at the End yet. Or don't, but don't say I didn't warn you.
Okay, so. If the thing had to be that on the first Last Day only one of the two main characters had to die, I wanted Valentino to die at night and give Orion's his heart, but I then wanted the last scene to be the following day with Orion's phone telling him he was going to die that day, only that he was already dead because the surgery hadn't worked. Macabre? Maybe. But most definitely way more emotional than the ending actually was.
End of spoilers! Back to the things I hated about this book, yay. Aside from the extremly cheesy writing style, one thing that really made me angry was the way the world building was dealt with in here. Like, when you write something like They Both Die at the End, having an extremely vague world building and not explaining how things work can be excused and expected even. If you give the creator of the system upon which your world is based a POV in a prequel book, you have to explain things. Or you don't give me that POV at all.
Which also brings me to the uselessness of the way too many POVs in this book. One chapter here and there I can understand, but this many? Nope, I don't care how linked they are to your main plot, it's just not interesting enough for me, I don't care about the main characters, imagine how much I could care about your secondary ones. Nopety nope.
I am going to go ahead and end this review here, because I have ranted enough for today. In case it wasn't clear, I do not recommend picking this book up. Do yourself a favor and consider They Both Die at the End as a standalone and forget all about this prequel.
That is going to be all for today, I will talk to you very soon with a brand new mystery review!
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