The First to Die at the End

Earlier this year Jonny and I read They Both Die at the End and we both really enjoyed it. We were both really excited to read this prequel book. We had high hopes going into it and in the end we were both a bit disappointed. Jonny more so than me because he ended up DNFing it and I finished it. You can read Jonny's review here.

Warning spoilers ahead!! Ok so this book mainly follows Orion and Valentino but we do get other POVs throughout which while they all end up connecting in some way in the end just like with the first book I would have preferred that we only follow Orion and Valentino because the romance was the only thing that kept me reading this book.

Because this story takes place over a 24 hour period it is obviously instalove but for this premise that makes total sense to me and it works. I loved Orion and Valentino's romance. It was cute and heartbreaking. Here's where things get spoilery so last warning spoilers ahead. I did not like how Orion's family treated Valentino after he made the decision to donate his heart to Orion. Also how they acted like being close to him would get them all killed. They bugged me so much.

After finishing the first book I was left with some questions. Mainly how does Death-Cast know you are going to die? I was expecting to get the answer to that question in this book but that didn't happen. All it said about how they know who's going to die is that no one is ready for that truth yet. So essentially to me because of that this book became pointless. It followed the same premise as the first book except this was when it first began and all of the mayhem that ensues because of the unknown.

I liked that we learned how the last friend app came to be and I liked how characters from the first book made appearances in this book just when they were kids. So overall this to me was unnecessary but I enjoyed the romance. I think there is supposed to be a 3rd book and if there is I will read it because hopefully that one will give me the answers I want.