The First to Die at the End
In this prequel to the bestselling phenomenon They Both Die at the End, two new strangers spend a life-changing day together after Death-Cast first makes their fateful calls. #1 New York Times bestseller!
It’s the night before Death-Cast goes live, and there’s one question on everyone’s mind: Can Death-Cast actually predict when someone will die, or is it just an elaborate hoax?
Orion Pagan has waited years for someone to tell him that he’s going to die. He has a serious heart condition, and he signed up for Death-Cast so he could know what’s coming.
Valentino Prince is restarting his life in New York. He has a long and promising future ahead and he only registered for Death-Cast after his twin sister nearly died in a car accident.
Orion and Valentino cross paths in Times Square and immediately feel a deep connection. But when the first round of End Day calls goes out, their lives are changed forever—one of them receives a call, and the other doesn’t. Though neither boy is certain how the day will end, they know they want to spend it together…even if that means their goodbye will be heartbreaking.
Told with acclaimed author Adam Silvera’s signature bittersweet touch, this story celebrates the lasting impact that people have on each other and proves that life is always worth living to the fullest.
The series
Some stories begin with possibility. This series begins with certainty. From the first page, the reader steps into a near-future world where a phone call can redraw the meaning of an entire lifetime, turning ordinary hours into something painfully precious. What makes They Both Die at the End endure is not its premise alone, but how quietly and intimately it explores what people do once the future is no longer a mystery.
Read full series description
The world is familiar enough to feel unsettling. Death Cast exists alongside everyday routines, apps, friendships, and family obligations, creating a society that functions almost normally despite knowing the exact moment some lives will end. This grounded approach to speculative fiction gives the series its emotional power. The rules are simple, the consequences are not. Each story moves through streets, apartments, and fleeting encounters where fear, hope, and desire collide in real time.
At the heart of the series are character driven journeys shaped by urgency. Connections form quickly, yet never feel rushed. Love appears without guarantees, friendships are forged under impossible pressure, and even brief conversations can carry the weight of a lifetime. The characters are not trying to escape death, they are trying to understand how to live honestly when time becomes visible. That tension gives the narrative its signature atmosphere, tender, heavy, and quietly devastating.
As the universe expands beyond a single story, the focus widens to show how different lives intersect with the same system. New perspectives add depth to the moral questions beneath the surface, asking who benefits from certainty, who is left behind, and how society packages something as intimate as mortality into a service. The series has continued to resonate with readers long after its release, shaped by word of mouth, rereads, and shared grief across generations of fans drawn to emotionally intense young adult fiction.
Created by Adam Silvera, They Both Die at the End is not a series about endings alone. It is about choice, connection, and the fragile beauty of moments that matter precisely because they do not last.
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