They Both Die at the End

The two first person narratives did not have distinct enough voices; I kept forgetting which kid was talking to me. Very distracting.

2 1/2 stars. I wanted to like this more than I did. Premise was interesting, and I liked the small call outs from others' perspectives, but nothing really happens and I stopped listening to the audio and just skimmed the book because it was relatively boring and the YOLO message was so forced. The characters were not particularly compelling and felt more like paint-by-diversity personality notes than real people. The set-up had potential, the ending was well done, but a nothing of a middle made for a boring reading sandwich.

Ugh.

I am crying my whole heart out.

I liked the concept. I liked the characters.
What a great book to read and cry over.

What I perhaps liked most were the small chapters in between where random people had a chance to narrate and mentioned a certain scene we just saw with Mateo and/Rufus or are about to see.
I also liked the way each character had a direct influence on the other characters, since the gang with no name hit the car with the celebrity and that killed him.

I also have a gut feeling Victor is the one to hit Rufus, since he is speeding on his way to Delilah, but I guess we'll never know.

Idk, I really like the concept of the book, but I feel it could've given a bit more. Also, I found it cheesey how Rufus way of talking is depicted.... for example, no one uses the word "mad cool" or phrases like that anymore. Also, Mateo being such a chicken got old quick. RIP tho.

A good book overall, but there's too much death imho. Could have done without it. RTC.

What a book...

Who knew a book about knowing you will die would be the greatest inspiration to start living.

Cool that freaking hurt, ow, really sweet and great but ow. Apparently Silvera just specializes in books that'll cause you pain? I do love books with a ton of little interwoven moments, though, and this was a brilliant example.

when i first started the book i wasn't sure i was even going to like the main characters. but here i am baking cookies to comfort myself at their loss.

My first Adam silvera book and I loved it!

okay woah. 3 stars cos it got bland in the end and didn't make me emotional but the first half of the book hit wayy too close to home especially the whole hospital stuff.

so where do i start. this book was like an actual reality check. i'm not even kidding, it was like a jab to my face. i didn't realize my shitty approach to life until i read this, it really makes you value life a lot more. we're so used to chasing materialistic things and accumulating wealth and when it's our last hour, we realize we didn't get to have that one convo w that friend or hug them for the last time.

i'm acc going to be living my life like i just got my death cast call cos woah this book is an eye opener on what we should be acc valuing. time to undergo an ego death.

i hated the pov part and the line ‘he didn't get a call from death cast cos he isnt gonna die' omg that was just so annoying. peck was just irrelevant asf. we get one single pov from his gang member and um? it was unneccessary asf imo it seemed so forced.

i was loving the platonic friendship between the two until they kissed, i was like WHAT. YALL JUST MET. THIS IS TRAUMA BONDING PLEASE NOT LOVE. anywya that irked me cos platonic friendships are just as special as romantic, if not more. It seemed so out of place considering we only know roof is bisexual and there's like barely any lgbtq stuff throughout the book and it just gets shoved down my throat at the end.

i hated how delilah didn't get a little spotlight, i really enjoyed her character. i hated how lidia and matteo didn't revisit ‘old places' and traditions they have one last time like a boring movie marathon or one more scroll the park together. otherwise it was fine.

i almost cried. ALMOST. (at the first half) but yeah this book definitely did impact me.

“When someone puts their journey out there for you to watch, you pay attention- even if you know they'll die at the end”

I have not read an Adam Silvera book before. Now I can say I have. Everyone says his books are tearjerkers and never what you expect. The same can be said about this book. I was expecting a story about two teens on their last day alive, but this book was so much more than that.

Going into this book, the title itself is a spoiler, but not really. You do not know if Adam is actually going to kill off both Rufus and Mateo or if they both someone beat DeathCast and somehow survive. The concept of this book is farfetched and ridiculous since there is no way to predict everyone's death with enough accuracy to call them at midnight on their last day. But Adam takes this concept further by looking at the repercussions of knowing you are going to die and how you will spend your last day.

This book is filled with so many discussions on what it means to truly live and be in the moment. Our cast of characters come from a variety of situations and have their own views on what it means to live and how they have dealt with loss. While this book definitely has a strong focus on death and how cruel it can be when someone dies too soon (granted you could say every death is too soon), there were so many other points about living life to the fullest so you do not regret anything.

I really loved a lot of the stylist choices made throughout this book. First off the book takes place on September 5th, 2017 which is also publication day which was a nice touch. I also loved that we always knew what time it was. It was like watching 24 and knowing that there was only “x” hours left before End Day was over. Finally, I really enjoyed all the extra characters we got to follow and how their chapters always started by telling us whether or not they had gotten the call that morning that they were going to die. All the characters were deeply intertwined and I loved seeing how all the characters connected at some point in the story.

This was a story about life, love, friendships, death, and finding who you truly are amid the chaos of the world whether you know it is your last day or not.

Thanks to the publisher for an early copy of this

(3.5, rounded down)
did it feel kinda underwhelming? absolutely.

did i sob for 30 minutes after reading? absolutely.

First of all, thanks to the author for always writing books that make me cry so much near the end. Every freaking time.This was really fluffy and cute at times, and then proceeded to rip my heart out in the last two chapters. I connected with Mateo's way of thinking a lot because damn social anxiety.Even knowing the ending did not soften the blow delivered at the end because it came out of nowhere, when everything was fine just a PAGE AGO!!! I might've read the last chapter through a haze of tears, and then the last line of the book delivered the finishing blow. Yes, thank you! I love having my heart stomped on like that! I was bawling so bad that I had to get my copy of [b:Carry On 32768522 Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) Rainbow Rowell https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1481729252l/32768522.SX50.jpg 43346673] out and read bits and pieces of it to calm down! THIS WAS NOT OK! How dare this book!P.S. Forgot to mention but I visited NASA's website while reading the book and put on the sounds of the planets as BGM which was a cool, new discovery :D (This consisted of radio emissions from spacecrafts being converted to sound waves). Here's a link to that: Space Sounds

Really late to the game with this book but better late than never I guess. I enjoyed the story as much as possible knowing going into it that both of the main characters were going to die at the end. (Not a spoiler when it's the title of the book!)

My only complaint is that because I knew the outcome going into the book, I didn't let myself get as attached to the characters as I normally would. According to BookTok, I should have been in a massive puddle of tears at the end but because I knew what was coming, it was not as emotional of a read for me as it could have been. But overall, it was an intriguing read and kept me on the edge of my seat. Definitely recommend!

Slice of life, literally. I think the whole thing flowed really nicely. I'm already grieving today so I was in just the right mood for this book. Cathartic. Some of the other reviews said the pacing was too slow I I felt like it could have been even slower. I like to read about people just living.

I hope they stay dead ✌

DNF @ 30%

I just couldn't relate to the characters or the dialogue. The concept is interesting but wasn't explained early enough in the book that it was frustrating. Just not for me.

Une belle histoire d'amitié et d'amour entre deux jeunes hommes qui apprennent qu'ils vont mourir avant la fin de la journée.

Un nouveau livre très touchant où on s'accroche énormément aux personnages, même si j'avais tellement envie de les secouer au début. Captivant, arrivé à la moitié il devient impossible de lâcher le livre.

4.5 rounded up because man did this book hit me like a ton of bricks. The sort-of sci-fi premise is just the framework for a genuine, moving, human story with characters that I loved. I felt like it toed the line between sappy and sincere with enough authenticity that the “message” never felt preachy, and I also loved how LGBT representation was so casually included throughout the book multiple main AND side characters (is that a spoiler?) without feeling like it was just trying to tick boxes for diversity.

They Both Die at the End is just really good.

second time reading, just as good as the first

Merged review:

second time reading, just as good as the first

3.5/5

“No matter how we choose to live, we both die at the end.”

The concept is intriguing and Silvera has a pleasant writing style but this book left me feeling mostly nothing.

Leaving aside the lack of explanation regarding Death-Cast with all its plot-holes and whatnot, I just felt unexpectedly detached from Mateo and Rufus (I really like these names though) as a duo spending their last day together. I was not absolutely sold on them as individuals either, but I was surely more invested in their perspectives before they met.

The “falling in love in a day” for me is nothing but a gimmick, I didn't buy it in The Sun is Also a Star and it didn't buy it here. I don't see how something that meaningful can develop in such a short time span. When Mateo said "I love you" I couldn't do anything but roll out my eyes. I couldn't suspend my disbelief so I couldn't care much about their brief relationship and I didn't get much out of the story. If the book had focused more on them as individuals and maybe the start of a friendship it would've been a much better experience for me.

My favorite parts of the book are actually the little snippets about a few other people getting or not getting the call.

I CRIED.