They Both Die at the End (They Both Die at the End Series, 1) Paperback – December 18, 2018

"They Both Die at the End" has quickly become one of my new favorite books. From the moment I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. The premise is unique and thought-provoking—two strangers find out they’re going to die within 24 hours and decide to spend their last day together. The concept immediately hooked me, and the way the story unfolds is both heart-wrenching and beautiful. Adam Silvera’s writing is raw and emotional, and I was completely invested in the characters from the start.Rufus and Mateo are such well-developed and relatable characters. Watching them form a bond as they navigate their final hours made the story both uplifting and devastating. Their personal journeys really make you reflect on life, death, and the importance of human connection. Despite the title giving away the ending, I found myself hoping for a different outcome, which is a testament to how deeply the story pulls you in. Their relationship feels genuine and reminds you how precious every moment is.What I love most about this book is its ability to evoke such a wide range of emotions. It’s not just a story about death—it’s about living fully, even when time is limited. It’s a powerful reminder to take chances, make meaningful connections, and appreciate the time we have. They Both Die at the End is the kind of book that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading, and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s emotional, thought-provoking, and absolutely unforgettable.

Yet another emotional rollercoaster by Adam Silvera. Every one of his books is full of emotional turmoil but written in the most beautiful of ways. I know his books are going to hurt, hell the title gives it all away here, but I am still eager to read the story. It is a nod to his writing talent that he makes me okay with being an emotional wreck as I read.This book focused on the idea of what would you do if you knew you were going to die. In this world there is a program called Death Cast that calls up people between midnight and 3 and lets them know that they are going to die that day. Rufus and Mateo both receive the call and need someone to spend their last day with. Neither of them is without people in their lives but because of outside forces they can't spend their Last Day with those people. They use the Last Friend app and find one another. Throughout their last hours they find a connection in each other and find a way to release their true selves.I adored both Mateo and Rufus. They were these two teens who were dealt a bad hand. Fate had it out for them. Both are trying to find a way to find a reason to live. Mateo lost his mother when she gave birth to him and his dad is in a coma. Rufus survived the accident that killed his family. Both of them are reeling from horrible events and both have lost themselves inside their own fear and tragedy.In one day they find each other and realize that they are not doomed people. Yes, they are going to die but their spirits and souls don't have to die. Mateo learns how to live without fear and Rufus finds the side of himself that he thought he lost when he lost his family. Both boys find a deeper connection then just friendships in each other.I loved the way life was examined in this novel. The way the idea of living for yourself and finding a way to make life count was talked about. It was a beautiful way of showing that life is never over if you can find the right ways to live it. Rufus and Mateo had only one day but they made it mean something and found love in the process.I also loved the way small other stories were told throughout the novel. These were people that had some contact with Mateo or Rufus. Some was good interactions and some weren't but in the end it showed how connected everyone is. You don't realize the impact you have on people you barely interact with on a daily basis. A simple smile or tap on the shoulder could change things. Or it may not change anything but what matters is that no one lives in a vacuum. All lives are connected for better or for worse.I desperately wanted this to end in a way that made me more happy than sad, in the end it gave me hope. Hope that life is always worth living no matter what. Hope shown through these two boys who found a way to make a day matter like a lifetime. Adam Silvera really does know how to write a poignant and meaningful tale.

I chose this book as part of a 30 Days of Pride Book Review project. This is that review.“Hello, I’m calling from Death Cast. I regret to inform you that sometime in the next twenty-four hours you’ll be meeting an untimely death. On behalf of everyone here at Death-Cast, we are so sorry to lose you. Live this day to the fullest, okay?”Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio are strangers… strangers with one big thing in common. They are both going to die today. They don’t know how or exactly when, just that their numbers are up and an invisible clock somewhere is counting down. Not wanting to spend these final hours alone, they find each other on the Last Friend app, and set out to live as much life as they can squeeze into their final hours.This is, in my opinion, not Silvera’s best work.There were a lot of things I liked about it. I liked both the main characters. I liked both their voices and the way the trajectory of their day took them from being kids who were wasting their time, waiting around to live life fully later, to being people dead-set on scraping the most out of the end of their lives. And rather than a bleak nihilistic end-day landscape, the protagonists experience themes of the redemptive power of friendship and of death being the force that makes people really live. I wanted to root for Mateo to be adventurous and get life experiences before it was too late, and I wanted to root for Rufus to forgive himself for his mistakes and to let his last hours have meaning. It was a bittersweet story of two people being just the right instrument to turn the other’s life in a better direction...but only at the last possible moment.This was not a bad book, by any means….But I feel like Silvera has written better.In this book, Silvera uses a shifting point of view, sometimes telling the story from Mateo’s POV sometimes from Rufus’ and then again sometimes from a handful of seemingly random people, whose stories all ultimately end up being connected. I know that the idea here is to weave a big picture of the interconnectedness of fates… but I would rather have had the whole story from one or two perspectives. I didn’t feel like these random asides ultimately added anything to the experience and instead just pulled me out of the story at hand. Even switching back and forth between Mateo and Rufus as often as it did was jarring for me, especially since the boys spent the whole day together, so we are just changing narrators but not necessarily inhabiting a different place or time.Also, I just struggled a bit with the pacing. What can you ask for in a book that takes place in less than twenty-four hours and promises to end in the main characters’ demises… I didn’t expect to feel so many places where the story kind of dragged.Silvera has a way with vulnerable characters and weaving heartache. He also has a way of building worlds that are perfect vehicles for that particular pain to shine through. But something in the chemical composition of these particular characters and this particular world didn’t quite gel as well as the other books of his I read….Making this a perfectly enjoyable Young Adult novel, that didn’t quite meet my expectations of his previous work.So do I recommend it? Yes, actually. Despite my above complaints, this is still an enjoyable read, and still a touching story of friendship, mortality and love. It still promises heartbreak and then delivers. It’s definitely worth the read for all you introspective Young Adult Fiction fans.Okay, let us end this review with my Pride Book Project scales.It does pretty okay on the Queer Counterculture Visibility scale. This scale measures how much a book shows less visible members of the community. Silvera’s intercity world has a diverse cast of characters. A point of view character, Rufus, is bisexual and everyone is perfectly comfortable with that. People are more complicated than their race and class and immediate behavior might suggest.4 out of 5 starsOn the genre expectation scale it also does pretty okay. This scale measures each book against others from its genre. And, like I said, it is a perfectly enjoyable Young Adult Novel. His other works impressed me more, but this work didn’t fall below the expectations of the genre in general.3 out of 5 stars