One boy is scheduled to die in the next twenty-four hours, and the other is determined to make the final day count. But Death-Cast has other ideas and as the first End Day calls go out, they realise their time together is limited. Orion and Valentino meet by chance and form an immediately connection.

He certainly isn’t entertaining the idea that his life will end any time soon. He only registered for Death-Cast after his twin sister nearly died in a car accident. Valentino Prince has just moved to New York with big dreams and a promising future. He’s not a stranger to death but that doesn’t mean he wants to die. New Yorker Orion Pagan has always feared his heart condition would end his life. As people across America await the launch with a mix of excitement, trepidation, caution and scepticism, two boys have joined the crowds in Times Square to watch what will become a significant moment in history. Taking place years before Rufus and Mateo’s story in TBDATE, the book begins the night before Death-Cast goes live. Yet perhaps what the two books share the most is their belief in the healing power of love, their unending sense of hope, and the sheer vibrancy of life that jumps off the pages – an irony that’s not lost, given these stories centre so heavily on death.

Both stories follow two gay teenage boys thrown together at a critical turning point. Both stories feature the fictional app Death-Cast, which can predict the day a person is going to die. Returning to the world first introduced in his 2017 YA novel They Both Die At The End, Adam Silvera’s The First To Die At The End is a prequel that shares a lot with the book that came before.

1st to die book review