As a prequel, The First to Die at the End is concerned with the advent of Death-Cast, and so the theme of approaching death by living to the fullest sets out why Death-Cast becomes so popular within the series’ universe. To do so, Adam Silvera tells the story of a boy who always believed that he was going to die and who can take some comfort in knowing when it’s coming and another boy whose life is just beginning before it quickly becomes apparent that he will not live to see his future. Together, they come to understand what it means to “live” out of a fear of dying, though the book also makes an existential argument that extends beyond simply Death-Cast’s premise of giving someone a definitive “End Day.” Rather, as we learn from Valentino and Orion, the book imparts a lesson to not “wait for your End Day to live like we did together” (549).

As a company, Death-Cast looms large in the reader’s imagination as they progress through the text. Each section is introduced by an epigraph from Death-Cast’s website intended to impart its “mission.” For example, the epigraph to Part 1 reads, “I urge you to not concern yourselves with how we know about the deaths and instead focus on how you’ll live your life” (1).