Book Review: They Both Die At The End; Adam Silvera.

I'm actually a little sad that this book wasn't as soul destroying as I expected it to be. I normally don't like to read books that I know are going to break my heart but by the end of this, I felt nothing more than just a little sad.

SOURCE: Edelweiss
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: They Both Die At The End
AUTHOR: Adam Silvera
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: HarperTeen
PAGES: 384
GENRE: Young Adult, LGBT, Science Fiction

RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
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.

What I Liked:

• I really liked the science fiction elements to this book, and the world-building in general. A lot of this novel actually read like contemporary YA, but with the inclusion of a company called Death-cast who call you when you are in your last twenty four hours as a regular part of life it definitely wasn't. And I loved the inclusion, it was really quite an inventive concept!
• The diversity in this book is also a big plus. The two MCs are not caucasian and this is an LGBT romance too which is what I enjoy reading. I really liked the two MCs, especially Rufus who was probably one of the best bisexual characters I've ever read.

What I Disliked:

• Well, like I said, this book didn't really break my heart like I was expecting. I knew what was coming of course, and that might have had something to do with my detachment. But while the ending was sad, I didn't feel that I'd been totally blown away.
• There is actually very little plot in this book. It's mostly filled with two teenagers in their last day travelling from place to place having 'deep and meaningful' conversation and essentially learning the same lesson. Parts of it felt a little cheesy to be honest.

Overall Conclusion:

The idea behind this novel is really cool, and I liked the characters, diversity and world-building. I also think that Adam Silvera writes very well and would definitely read more of his work. That being said, this was my first sampler of his work and I wish that I had enjoyed it more than I did. A lot of it lacked any real tension, the plot wasn't really there, and the reflective, philosophical dialogue got old a little too quickly.