“The First to Die at the End” has become very popular in the past year ever since it was announced. This book shows charming, bittersweet and heartbreaking characteristics all at once throughout the novel.

The book takes place in the year 2010 in New York City where the Death-Cast is about to launch all over the country. The Death-Cast is a phone service where they call you to tell you that you’re going to die that day. While many are skeptical about the service and believe it’s all a hoax to make money, the main characters think otherwise.

First, we meet Orion Pagan, an 18-year-old boy with a heart condition who feels he might drop dead at any moment. Pagan has hardly lived his life because his heart condition has always held him back.

Then we are introduced to Valentino Prince who has just moved to New York from Arizona to start his career as a model. Prince feels his life is just starting.

The story unfolds into this beautiful and scary sequence of events. Just like the first book, “They Both Die at the End,” it takes the course over an entire day, as that’s all that the characters have left to live.

From running for their lives to visiting gorgeous scenery and sharing their life stories with each other, Pagan and Prince’s feelings begin to grow stronger. The fact that their time together will be cut short doesn’t stop them from falling in love and going on incredible adventures.

This book and the one before are the epiphanies of ‘right person, not enough time.’ Just like before, when reaching the last page, there is hope that it’s not really the end and that there’s more to the story. Except this ending feels like someone has ripped the heart of the reader into pieces. We were given a stronger connection between the main characters and it hurt even more to read their ending.

It may seem like this book is completely devastating and only touches on the subject of death but there is so much more to it. This book will teach people that we only have one life and only we can decide how we live it. ‘The First to Die at the End’ shows the beauty of love and life and the short time we have. Adam Silvera has also taught many people that it’s important to say goodbye while we can but to also decide who we want to say goodbye to.

Overall, the theme and tone of this book will reach many people who may be grieving or feel they don’t have a place in this world. But just like Orion and Valentino, everyone is capable of meeting a new friend or even a soulmate.