They Both Die at the End

Name: They Both Die at the End

Author: Adam Silvera

Published: 2017

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.

This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read.

I don’t know where to start! From the concept to the whole plot and the characters, it was just AMAZING. The story follows two total strangers on their death days as they try and live their entire lives in 24 hours. But, the story is also told from the POV of some of the people the boys met throughout the day, which I loved. It was definitely a more character based plot which sometimes doesn’t work but it really did here – I worried that there couldn’t be much plot if the entire story is happening in one day, but there really was.

I think the whole ‘Death Cast’ idea (where you get a phone call on the day you are going to die) was very original… although it does bring up A LOT of questions for me. I would have liked it if the book went into a little more detail on that one because, like, how does it work? Part of the secrecy of the ‘Death Cast’ company was that not even the employees knew, (handy, right?) but I’m really interested. The boys live in what seems to be a pretty normal North America; despite these fantasy-esque phone calls on the day you are going to die. So I guess not totally normal.

My only other pointer would be that I kind of wanted a bit more action from Mateo and Rufus, although I get that wasn’t totally possible as they only had 24 hours. Again, I have to say that it did start slowly but by the end I was just in love. This book is so clever and funny and makes you cry and then think and then cry some more. But it wasn’t 100% depressing (well as not depressing as something with the titles ‘They Both Die At the End’ can get). It was more of a celebration of life, not death. I normally try and add a song to the blogs to try and define the mood of the book (and to try and impose my selective music taste on more people) but I honestly couldn’t find any. There just weren’t any songs that were the right mixture of American Authors and Elliot Smith.

Actually, no I have another complaint. LOOK. Look how ugly this cover is. How is it fair that there is this gorgeous blue one in existence when I get stuck with the most ugly orange cover in existence. I am not happy, Amazon. I’m not happy.

Adam Silvera? Definitely an author I want to get to know better. After doing some light stalking on Goodreads, I noticed that he really doesn’t seem to do happy books… although I seriously want to try out ‘History is All You Left Me’, as sad as it sounds. Let me know if you’ve read any – are they really as depressing as they seem? Last year I tried What if it’s Us by Silvera and Becky Albertelli (Author of Simon Vs the Homo Sapien Agenda) – which was honestly so great. The amount of musicals references in it was PHENOMINAL. Would highly recommend.

Would also highly recommend ‘They Both Die at the End’! Despite praying throughout the book that the ending wasn’t true, I really, really enjoyed it. I feel like its my duty to try and spread the word – I honestly can’t suggest it enough. Yes, I still have a few questions but whilst I wouldn’t exactly call it a pick-me-up, it’s not at all a let-you-down.

Have you read this book? Got any recommendations? (song recommendations also excitedly accepted) Please like and let me know in the comments section