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.’ – Goodreads

This book was quite unexpected for me and I am really not sure how I feel about it.

I loved Rufus to bits. He is a complex character, like most boys his age – emotional but afraid to show emotions, good at heart but trying to carry the image of a bad boy – he was everything.

Mateo on the other hand was a little too weak and whiny for my liking. But I kept turning the pages nonetheless. I loved how Rufus helps Mateo face his fears and their connection was quite sweet too. Adam Silvera did a brilliant job when it comes to character development.

What I did not like about the book is –

1. Friendship of Rufus and Mateo seemed to be quite lopsided to me. At times I felt so angry at Mateo for being so selfish and such a weakling that I wanted to shake him by his shoulders.

2. The love-story angle between Mateo and Rufus seemed a bit forced to me. Honestly, the story could have done without it. Nobody falls in love with a stranger in 24 hours that too when they are the last 24 hours of their life.

3. The side characters POV was quite irrelevant too.

While the story in entirety is quite good, the message and the concept is amazing, the characters are well written and well developed, I still could not connect with the story emotionally and I am the person who cries A LOT while reading books and watching movies.

It was still a good read and loved the message it was trying to relay. I will definitely be reading more by Silvera.

Have you read “They both die at the end” or any other book by Adam Silvera? What did you think of them? Do let me know in comments below.

Adam Silvera, born and raised in the Bronx., is the New York Times bestselling author of More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me, and They Both Die at the End. His next book What If It’s Us is co-written by Becky Albertalli (Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda) and releases on October 9th, 2018.