Title: They Both Die at the End
Author: Adam Silvera
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 378
Rating: 3.5/5
I’ve known about this book for a good few years now because it’s a BookTube darling and one that people used to talk about all of the time. I always thought that it had a pretty cool premise, but I’d never actively sought it out. In fact, I only picked it up now because my girlfriend was getting rid of some books and this was one of the ones in her pile.
I was pretty happy with it, although the writing was pretty workmanlike and so it’s not as though it was a piece of great literature. Instead, this is much more about the plot than about the writing, and while the characters are okay and feel real enough, they’re nothing to write home about.
The concept here is that people are given a heads up before they die and so then it’s up to them to decide what to do with their final hours. And as you can probably tell from the title here, we follow two characters who are given that heads up, and as you can also tell, they both die at the end.
It’s kind of rare to have a book like this where it deliberately spoils itself, and the only thing that I can think of that’s similar is The Book Thief, where Death as a character basically tells you what’s coming. I didn’t like it in The Book Thief, but it worked well here.
I think it’s a decent enough read, although it’s definitely over-hyped, as BookTube darlings usually are. So let that be a warning to you and don’t go into this expecting great things because you might be disappointed. Instead, be a more cautious consumer and make sure that you have more realistic expectations. If you do, you’re going to like it.
Even with all of this said, I’m not in any great rush to read any more Adam Silvera. It’s one of those where I’m pleased that I’ve finally read one of his books so that I can say I’ve checked him out, and it was professional quality but just okay.
