The First to Die at the End

“It’s almost like the product that Death-Cast is pushing is time itself.”

Death-Cast’s mission is to encourage people to live their lives on their End Day and provide them with an opportunity to die without regrets. The way the novel is paced embodies this, breaking up its chapters into specific chunks of time over one day to show Orion and Valentino taking full advantage of Valentino’s End Day.

“I just got to be present. I might not make it to the future, but I can live in the now.”

The novel moves through moments where Orion is unsure whether he will live or die. Orion has spent his whole life thinking that his life will end soon, and first Death-Cast and then Valentino’s heart provide him with a way to have a long life. His focus on the now also helps him to be with Valentino on his End Day, as he constantly pushes Valentino to be optimistic and do everything he would like to do on that day.

“Death-Cast will make sure I’m never denied a goodbye ever again.”

Orion lost his parents on September 11, 2001, because they were in the Twin Towers when one of the planes hit. He was not able to say goodbye, which has haunted him, and he frequently imagines what it would have been like if his parents had not died. Because of his heart condition, he has always worried that he would die without being able to say goodbye to the Young family, especially Dalma.