Will I love The First to Die at the End?

As a gay person who is Latino, I’m thrilled to see both elements of my identity represented in a book. That’s part of why I fell in love with The First to Die at the End and They Both Die at the End (which was published first but comes later in the narrative timeline of that world). But identity alone doesn’t make a book.

In his leads, one who is fated for death and the other who knows this, Silvera provides a romance to root for (even if we know the clock is ticking for them.)

The book sprinkles in… show more.

I’ve been singing the praises of Silvera’s They Both at the End for so long, I was a little nervous about the prequel that came out this year. What if it couldn’t hold up?

Silly me: Silvera knows exactly what he’s doing, setting a doomed romance against the dawn of a new technology, and keeping the reader invested despite knowing the young lovers are on the clock. It’s a romance that reads like a thriller. I’m a sucker for both!