They Both Die at the End: A Story About Mortality, Friendship, and Making the Most of Life (They Both Die at the End Series, 1)

Headline says it all. I wanted a good cry and by the time I finished this story - I got what I wanted. This one definitely makes you think and drives home so many life lessons. Excellent read. Multiple POV and some switching between first person and third person narration. It is done well, however, and is not confusing. New favorite that I’ll read again.

"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.

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 stars On 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

Such a good read, heartbreaking, read it in a day, just couldn't put it down.

Really really good book!

Great read 💯

Love this such a page turner

En general bien, esperaba muchísimo de este libro por las recomendaciones, esta entretenido y tiene buena lección

I loved this book. I even cryed at the end. I recomend it for young adults. I'm not enough good at english to write about this masterpiece with usual words. Just read it and you'll understand me.