Reviews with content warning for Violence - The First to Die at the End

let's not talk about how long it took me to finish this ok
now i will start this off by saying out of the two currently published books in the death-cast series, this one is the best. ill be real tho and say its not by much.
ill say that i find silvera's writing style a bit... repetitive? not saying its shit because it very much is not shit!! its just not something i prefer
like every so often an inspirational phrase like "im going to live my life, even if i die" or some shit is said and i want to put the book down from annoyance.
help this sounds so mean I DONT MEAN IT TO 😭
i will say orion & valentino are cute, and the added suspense surrounding the validity of death-cast is a nice added feature! i found with the other book in this series, i did not find myself experiencing any tension because you knew the main characters were going to die. i liked the added concern regarding if death-cast is legit or not! i mean it kind of was in vain and i knew that deep down but its fine i was delulu.
what else? most characters felt shallow to me, but i will say i did love love love gloria's story. valentino & orion i was a bit meh on.... but i liked seeing joaquin as well.
i don't know i think im not the target audience for this book. and that's ok! not every book is made for every reader! i held out hope that me not liking [book:They Both Die at the End|33385229] was isolated to that story and my feelings didn't extend to silvera's other stories, but sadly it did :(
i could see myself reading the third instalment of this series, but other than that sadly i don't think i'd enjoy his other works. to me, they read quite surface level, are repetitive & i find the tone and pacing quite uncomfortable. for me.
i hate writing negative reviews

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sorcha's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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purplee_rain89's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Just like the first book, this story was so heartbreaking, yer incredibly beautiful. I really loved the way it was written; I felt like I was in the situations the characters were in myself and was really able to feel with them. Orion and Valentino's love story might be tragic but in contrast to the first book, it was so beautiful to see one of them live on with the help of the other. I also love how Adam Silvera portrayed the concept of "change the things you can and accept the things you can't change" perfectly, e.g. with Scarlett not being able to see Valentino for one last time and his parents never truly accepting him and loving him as they should. But he still got all the closure he could from their last phone call and the fact that both Scarlett and Valentino found a family with Team Young had something really hopeful about it and I'd like to think that they ho on to heal from his death together.
Another great thing was all the connections you had to the first book! Like Valentino and Orion meeting the younger versions of Rufus and Mateo and even Rufus family, especially his mom who obviously played a big role. Plus, Dalma being the creator of the Last Friends app was beautiful as well.
Just like with the the first book, I found this story to be really inspiring and somewhat motivating to think of life differently and not take it for as granted as we're used to. It really is a whole different perspective to see life through the eyes of someone who knows their death is basically around the corner and it gets you to think about your own views and how maybe you shouldn't wait to do the things you want to do. You need to actually LIVE and to be alive for as long as you can. I could go on and on about how beautiful I think these books are but I'd never finish, so just a huge thank you to Adam Silvera for writing these amazing stories (and also for all the queer and Latino representation in it) <3

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iamaprettyflower's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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hello_ned's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Yet again with a heart breaker. This story doesn't focus on the characters growing, but rather just telling the story of two star crossed lovers. These stories deserve to be told, even if we know how it ends.

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simonstays5's review against another edition

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dark funny sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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cams_shelf's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

5.0

"Life shouldn't he about to end befor someone begins living." (pg. 419)

ADAM SILVERA!!! He's done it again. Never have I cried so much over a book series—makes sense because no other book series I've read has centered around death but I digress. I will admit, I was much more attached to Rufus and Mateo (Roof will always be my favorite character w/n this duology)

but that doesn't mean I didn't cry over Valentino’s death.

I think I cried less because it's a more beautiful and hopeful ending than TBDATE.

While Valentino dies, Orion gets to live on with Valentino’s heart.

As much as I hate Mr. Silvera for making me cry, all in all, I enjoyed this book.

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heckingchonk's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is my Roman empire. I've yet to emotionally recovered from reading it.

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