The First To Die At The End by Adam Silvera
Review by Anar M., Youth Reviewer
Adam Silvera’s “The First To Die At The End” (which I’ll call “TFTDATE” from now on) is a fun and interesting book. It’s the prequel to “They Both Die At The End” (which I’ll call “TBDATE”) and like “TBDATE”, it’s set in the world of Death-Cast — a technology that can predict which people will die on any given day. “TFTDATE” takes place on the day that Death-Cast is first launched, which is a decade or so before “TBDATE”; it’s interesting to compare the different attitudes to Death-Cast between the two books, although “TFTDATE” can technically stand alone.
In “TFTDATE”, Death-Cast is regarded with a mixture of incredulity and terror. Some fear that Death-Cast will herald the apocalypse; many, including the parents of one of “TFTDATE”’s main characters (Valentino Prince), simply don’t believe that Death-Cast can predict anything of the sort. But Death-Cast is real, and Valentino is the first person to receive a call from Death-Cast.
Minutes before receiving the call, Valentino runs into Orion, the second main character of “TFTDATE”. Orion has a heart condition which is probably going to kill him sooner rather than later unless he gets a transplant, so Valentino, knowing he’s going to die, offers his own heart. There are a few interesting moral questions that arise here — for example, is it fair to ask Valentino to spend his last day in the hospital to minimise risks for the surgery, as Orion’s step-sister wants to? Orion’s answer — and Silvera’s, and likely most of the audience’s — is no.
The other characteristic of “TFTDATE” that I liked was the interconnected web of characters. While Valentino and Orion narrate the majority of the chapters, side characters narrate other chapters, although usually in third person where Valentino and Orion are in first person. The chapters from Valentino’s landlord, Frankie, and from the founder of Death-Cast, Joaquin Rosa, do contribute to the plot, but much of the joy from the side characters is tracing the connections between them. For example, there’s a scene in which a young Mateo, who will in ten years be the protagonist of “TBDATE”, sees Frankie’s son Pazito playing in a park and a young Rufus, the other protagonist of “TBDATE”, riding his bike. Rufus’s mother is the surgeon who will perform the operation on Valentino and Orion; Rufus’s father sells Valentino and Orion a used camera with which they photograph Valentino’s End Day. I really enjoyed figuring out all the connections between characters, and I’m sure there are more connections I didn’t spot.
All in all, “TFTDATE” is a fun and interesting book — maybe not as good as “TBDATE” — but I liked reading them both.
Find “The First To Die At The End” at the Kitchener Public Library!