Adam Silvera is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of They Both Die at the End, More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me, the Infinity Cycle, and—with Becky Albertalli—What If It's Us and Here's to Us. He worked in the publishing industry as a children's bookseller, community manager at a content development company, and book review of children's and young adult novels. He was born and raised in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. He is tall for no reason. Visit him online at www.adamsilvera.com.
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. In the tradition of Before I Fall and If I Stay, They Both Die at the End is a tour de force from acclaimed Adam Silvera, whose debut, More Happy Than Not, the New York Times called "profound."
I'm obsessed with the usage of time in novels, so I was immediately glad to see that Silvera literally timed the action of his novel down to the minute. For a book that is about two boys who spend their last living day together, this countdown clock was appropriate and also necessary, as it provides tensions and apprehension as the day goes by. This also reinforced, at least for me, how much you can truly get done in 24 hours. Even though Mateo and Rufus (and readers) only get one short day together, there was a whole lot to learn and love.
I also enjoyed the brief moments we got in other characters' points of view. There are other Last Friend pairs we visit, the best friends of Mateo and Rufus, and even people that don't seem to converge with Mateo's and Rufus's storylines—until they do. This neat little addition worked well to break up some of the slower parts of the novel, to keep intrigue high. It also had the side effect of making readers think they could guess the ending. With a title like They Both Die at the End, readers aren't wondering what the end will be; they're going to try and figure out how it happens. This brief glimpses into other people's lives gave folks an opportunity to guess, and it kept me guessing until the very end, for sure.
The only reason this fell short of 5 stars? I was constantly curious about Death-Cast: how did they know that Rufus and Mateo were going to die? I felt like I was constantly in a chicken-and-the-egg situation, wondering if Rufus and Mateo were always going to die before they met one another, or because they met one another they were going to die—basically, this part of my brain wouldn't turn off while reading, and it made for quite a distracting few questions that could have simply been answered early on with some more world building. I also didn't buy into the romance, because I felt like Rufus and Mateo were too concerned with dying and living their last day to the fullest to truly develop a romantic attachment, but that could have just been me. And also, what happened to Delilah?
There is no doubt in my mind that They Both Die at the End deserves all of the hype, as it truly does a good job making readers face some deep questions about mortality without being too dark of a read. If you fell in love with Rufus's and Mateo's stories you're in luck. Silvera's prequel, The First to Die at the End, released October 4th, 2022.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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