[Book Review] They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today.

Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

 4.5 STARS 

I am a huge fan of Adam Silvera's books. I've enjoyed all three so far but this one may be my favorite. Silvera is so talented at writing amazing characters and such unique stories that are easy to get hooked into. 

I started this book 24 hours ago almost exactly and now I am writing the review. I could not put the book down for the life of me and when I did put the book down I was already scheduling around the stuff I had to do for when I could read again. Funnily enough though, when we got to the fourth (and final) section of the story, I found myself on social media. Desperately avoiding the book sitting inches from me. With a book with the title They Both Die At The End and with two amazing main characters you have fallen in love with, it's hard to continue. 

Mateo and Rufus were so great. I loved Mateo so much, he's a cautious eighteen year old that likes to play video games and keep it safe. I related a lot to Mateo in those parts of his personality. Rufus is more adventurous. He's not worried about keeping safe or being cautious. He's got no problems with confrontation and he has a group of friends he knows will always have his back, where Mateo is used to being alone. Especially with his father in the hospital. I liked that Rufus was interested in photography and I liked the way his Instagram played a part in their adventures. 

The premise is such a cool idea and it's what made me really excited to read it. Well, that and it's written by Silvera. I think the concept was executed extremely well. I would have liked to know more about how they know someone will die. But there is a part of me that didn't mind it was vague. It definitely makes you think. What would you do with your day if you knew it was your last day alive? 

Without giving up any spoilers, there's one part I was incredibly surprised by. You wouldn't think it, with the title of the book, but the story definitely had moments that caught me off guard. I was really impressed and I appreciate that I thought I knew how the story was going to go down and I was proven wrong. I was ready for one my issues with the book was that it would be that the plot was predictable. And I haven't been so happy to be proven wrong! 

I did have a couple issues with the story, and that was the romantic aspect. I had a feeling it was going to happen, since both of our characters are either gay or bisexual and Silvera writes amazing gay relationships. But because they had just met each other less than a day ago, it felt like it was escalating quickly. I don't think it was full blown "insta-love" because the romance is barely there and when you're in high stakes moments like "last day on Earth" I definitely give the boys a pass. However, there were moments where I couldn't help but think it was over the top. There were moments it felt forced. The only other thing that bothered me is the idea that the way Mateo lived his life wasn't "living". Maybe it's because I relate to Mateo in the sense that I'm not very adventurous but I think it comes down to individuality. I was happy to see both of the boys learning from each other, and I thought it worked well. But a part of me would get a bit irked at Mateo (or someone else) insinuating he wasn't living. 

With that being said, I absolutely loved this book. I bawled like a baby at the last section and I'm pretty sure, like always with Silvera's books, my heart is going to need some time to heal. I do recommend this book to everyone because I think the themes are really important ones.  But have your issues at the ready. If you've already read it, I'd love to know what you thought!

 

Thanks for reading!