I closed the book both heartbroken and hopeful. I loved spending time with Orion and Valentino who despite their baggage are still simply two boys navigating life and trying to embrace it. It was heartwarming to see how much they learned from each other and their crushes blossom even though with such a title it is inevitably bittersweet.

I liked looking behind the scenes of Death-Cast though I wish we learned more about how it worked. I hope we will get more information in the next book. Multiple interesting questions were raised, like the medical treatment of Deckers, as food for thought as we don’t get an answer to most of them but they got me thinking. We discover a lot about NYC and you can tell the author knows and loves this city.

As with the first book, I thought most of the extra POVs took away from the main plot. A few things were predictable and as much as I generally am not a fan of insta-love, it works in this world as they have so little time together and are teenagers. Overall, it was still an amazing read, and Adam Silvera’s writing style is lovely. I would recommend it if you enjoyed the first book or are curious about Death-Cast. Although it’s a prequel, I’d recommend reading it after TBDATE because there are a few things that are more impactful if you have this background.