Name: They Both Die at the End
Rating: 3.830198175526895 (3179 reviews)
ISBN: 9780062457790

Adam Silvera

In a near-future New York City where a service alerts people on the day they will die, teenagers Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio meet using the Last Friend app and are faced with the challenge of living a lifetime on their End Day.

They Both Die at the End

Ritik Sahni

ikkychan

The contemplation of mortality and death has been a fascinating and enduring theme for artists and writers throughout history, simply because of its universality — at some point in their lives, everyone would come face-to-face with it. The discussion surrounding the inevitability of dying evokes strong emotions, such as fear, sadness, and introspection, inspiring artists and writers to tap into these intense feelings and galvanize them into action to create works. These artworks undoubtedly resonate strongly with their audiences on a deeply personal and relatable level, given the theme's ubiquitous nature. Moreover, they can trigger powerful emotional responses that often lead us to question the meaning and purpose of life. Ask yourself this: If you knew you would die today, what would you do? This is the question that Adam Silvera tries to tackle in his book, ‘They Both Die at the End’. Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio are not even 20 yet when the Death-Cast, a company that can predict your death within 24 hours with 100% accuracy, calls them a little after midnight to announce their impending doom. Mateo is a shy and reserved boy who immediately thinks of his father, now lying in a comatose state on a hospital bed, and wonders how he would have no one by his side if he were to come to his senses one day, as Mateo's mother passed away giving birth to him. Contrastingly, Rufus is in the middle of a one-sided fight when he got the call — he was on top of Patrick ‘Peck’ Gavin, Rufus’s ex-girlfriend’s Aimee Dubois’ boyfriend, beating him senselessly. As soon as he picks up the call, his two best friends Malcolm Anthony and Tagoe Hayes realize that he is a ‘Decker’. While on the run from the police Peck has set on him, Rufus refuses to spend his last day alone and downloads a social media app called ‘Last Friend’ that connects Deckers with others who are also facing their final moments. This is where the two protagonists’ paths collide and start a budding friendship between two widely different individuals who are desperately trying to make the most of their remaining time. While it’s true that the premise carries a heavy and dark undertone of discussing teenager’s mortality, the way Adam Silvera writes is rather strange as the narrative possesses a distinctive tone that lies between darkness and optimism, neither fully gloomy nor entirely hopeful. It’s as if representing the contrasting emotional state that the two protagonists face as they are rocked back and forth between embracing the blessing of a blossoming friendship and remembering that their time does not exactly permit it to last another day. There’s so much to do and so little time! One of my favorite things about the book is how the relationship between Mateo and Rufus eventually brings out the best of each other. Rufus’s fiery personality is able to encourage him to come out of his shell and push him to try things he would have never done otherwise; skydiving, dancing, singing in public, and finding the person he loves for the first time. It may seem as though he sometimes pushes Mateo in reckless abandon, but it is necessary as it inspires him to be more open to change and spontaneity. On the other hand, Mateo’s sensitivity and empathy lead Rufus to be more honest with himself and come to terms with his past traumas, letting his long pent-up emotions and grief come to the surface and let himself heal through the cathartic episodes. Their starkly contrasting perspectives and characters may constantly clash at first, but as they bonded together overnight, they guide each other to confront their fears, regrets, and desires, leading to the profound moments of reflection and self-discovery. Apart from Mateo and Rufus, there are numerous other characters who are thrown into the narrative but unfortunately without any clear purpose, like Officer Andrade or Dalma Young. It feels more like a waste of space than actually enriching the narrative. The only character who offers a parallel point of view from an interesting direction is Delilah Grey, who keeps crossing paths with Mateo and Rufus in an unexpected way. The Gang with No Name of Kendrick O’Connel, Damien Rivas and Patrick ‘Peck’ Gavin fails to match the build up that Silvera picturized when he introduces them. They first seem menacing and intimidating with Kendrick being the ‘Knockout King’, Damien with his sinister plan, or Peck with his gun; but the outcome of their plan seems to fall rather short out of the reader’s expectation and the whole gang turned out to be not much of a threat at all. It’s pretty daring for Silvera to put the spoiler as the book’s title where everyone would already know what will happen at the end without having to read the entire thing, but therein lies its power as it captivates us and draw us in further to wonder who will die and willingly accompany them on their quest, like Mateo said in the early chapters: “When someone puts their journey out there for you to watch, you pay attention—even if you know they’ll die at the end”. Despite the short time it took, I formed a strong bond with Mateo and Rufus as I followed them from chapter to chapter. I empathize with their struggles, got to know them intimately, and consequently mourned their fate.

baku

“They Both Die at the End” left me with mixed feelings. I really liked the premise and the world-building, but I think Silvera really missed an opportunity by not exploring it further. From the get-go, the already cliche “carpe diem” message was hammered in, and it got kinda preachy. The book promised so much but delivered another lukewarm version of the seize-the-day spiel. Some dialogues felt unnatural and didactic, and it felt like the book was so focused on delivering a moral that it forgot to make the relationship between Mateo and Rufus feel more genuine. I really enjoyed the novel's beginning and ending – intense and emotional. But the middle part? It kinda got slow and tedious really quickly. It had its moments, but the middle just dragged, and the emotional punch I was expecting didn’t really hit the mark, a solid 3 out of 5.

Al final mueren los dos

kitkat

2025 5✨️ he lagrimeado en casi cada capitulo mateo y rufus lo son todo se merecen todo el amor del universo 😭🫶💞 He disfrutado mucho de este libro, me ha hecho sonreír y soltar unas lágrimas, me ha gustado como todos los personajes presentados están enlazados entre ellos y en algún momento se conectan 💞 ame a mateo y rufus y como se van conociendo y entablando una relación de un día pero que se siente como una de todo una vida. El final... me dejo con un vacío momentáneo... sabia que iba a ser mateo quien se iría primero pero me dolió igual 🤧 es que es un ser de luz todo inocente ✨ y como después mateo pasa sus últimas dos horas sin mateo 💔 espero que se hayan encontrado en el mas allá y que mateo tenga sus gafas para poder ver bien en el cine del más allá y que rufus encuentre a su familia 🤍

New York Times bestselling author Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable day. 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 author Adam Silvera, whose debut, More Happy Than Not, the New York Times called “profound.”

cass

i mean silvera didn't lie, they did die at the end.

𓆩 𓆪

Their friendship begun after the Death called. They spent their last day together, doing crazy things, breaking out from their safe places.

You know how the title of the book is so clear yet you still hope for a plot twist? And when you reach few chapters before the ending, you wish they both survived at the end. Then it is the emptiness after you read the ending of this book that will haunt you, it lingers for a moment.

IT IS A SAD BOOK, AN ADMIRABLE SAD BOOK. Not gonna make you cry "cry", but it surely leaves you feel sad.

Liked, sometimes even a lot but didn’t love 

Charlotte 

Ava Booth

it feels forced the way rufus randomly inserts “mad” or “yo” or “legit” but maybe that’s normal 

Mati

I'm not going to add a review but I got about 2-3.5 hours into the audiobook and I just had to return it. It felt like the characters just kept repeating the same things. I heard good things about this book so maybe i needed to get further but after reading that long and the characters just repeating "oh no I'm going to die today" without doing anything to live just was a bit boring.

I think the concept of the book was interesting but it was a bit too slow for my liking.

Ashley Denktas

I'm not going to add a review but I got about 2-3.5 hours into the audiobook and I just had to return it. It felt like the characters just kept repeating the same things. I heard good things about this book so maybe i needed to get further but after reading that long and the characters just repeating "oh no I'm going to die today" without doing anything to live just was a bit boring.

I think the concept of the book was interesting but it was a bit too slow for my liking.

They Both Die at the End

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