They Both Die at the End (They Both Die at the End Series, 1) - Hardcover

About the Author

Adam Silvera is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of They Both Die at the End, The First to Die at the End, The Survivor Wants to Die at the End, More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me, and the Infinity Cycle (Infinity Son, Infinity Reaper, and Infinity Kings) and coauthor of What If It’s Us and Here’s to Us. He is tall for no reason. Visit him online at adamsilvera.com.

From the Back Cover

We here at Last Friend Inc. are collectively sorry for this loss of you. Our deepest sympathies extend to those who love you and those who will never meet you. We hope you find a new friend of value to spend your final hours with today.

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 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.

Uplifting and devastating, charming and haunting, They Both Die at the End is a tour de force from acclaimed author Adam Silvera, whose debut novel the New York Times called “profound.” It’s a story that reminds us there’s no life without death, no love without loss—and that it’s possible to change your whole world in a day.

Reviews

Gr 9 Up—Everyone who is going to die on a given day gets a call to let them know; not the when, or the how, or the why, but just notification that they will die on that day. Mateo and Rufus each get that call and are facing their last day without a loved one. But there's an app for that. Combining a well-realized alternative present with a lovely romance, Silvera's latest delivers what readers want in a book about dying teens. There's no avoiding the cliches that go along with the idea that an impending end makes life more meaningful, but recasting a Lurlene McDaniel-style doomed teen romance with Latinx queer boys and having the societal changes wink at those clichés softens them and makes a better storytelling device. The overarching structure of meaningful coincidences making a magical day in New York has its predecessors—Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Nicola Yoon's The Sun Is Also a Star being prime examples—but this title is a deft exploration of that trope. Silvera continues to masterfully integrate diversity, disability, and young queer voices into an appealing story with a lot of heart. VERDICT While most of the elements and themes of this work are not new, they are combined, realized, and diversified expertly in this title. A must-have for YA shelves.—L. Lee Butler, Hart Middle School, Washington, DC