They Both Die at the End
Adam Silvera, 2017
Romance Young adultContemporary fiction
On the day Death-Cast calls to say they'll die, two teenagers meet through an app for last friends and decide to make their final hours count. A tense, tender day-long story with a satirical edge, moving fast through dread and young love toward something hopeful.
Feels like dread, tenderness and hope. About morality, love and friendship.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy YA romance with a ticking clock, moral questions about fate, and two boys who talk openly about fear and love. The premise is built on dread and a known deadline, so the day-long countdown can feel heavy rather than light.
Why read it
It gives you a compressed, emotionally direct look at how two people choose to spend a last day, with questions about fate and kindness that stay with you.
A page from the book
The story two people choose to tell when the ending is fixed.
“We’re not dying because of love. We were going to die today, no matter what. You didn’t just keep me alive, you made me live.” He climbs into my lap, bringing us closer. He hugs me so hard his heart is beating against my chest. I bet he feels mine. “Two dudes met. They fell in love. They lived. That’s our story.” “That’s a better story. Ending still needs some work.” “Forget about the ending,” Mateo says in my ear. He pushes his chest away from mine so he can look me in the eye. “I doubt the world is in the mood for a miracle, so we know not to expect a happily-ever-after. I only care about the endings we lived through today. Like how I stopped being someone afraid of the world and the people in it.” Adam Silvera.In Silvera's world, Death-Cast is a company that calls people on the day they'll die; those called are 'Deckers,' and a Last Friend app pairs them so no one dies alone.
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Questions readers ask
- Is They Both Die at the End for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy YA romance with a ticking clock, moral questions about fate, and two boys who talk openly about fear and love. The premise is built on dread and a known deadline, so the day-long countdown can feel heavy rather than light.
- What is They Both Die at the End like?
- A tense, tender day-long story with a satirical edge, moving fast through dread and young love toward something hopeful. Feels like dread, tenderness and hope. About morality, love and friendship.
- What should I read after They Both Die at the End?
- If you liked They Both Die at the End, try Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros), Beartown (Fredrik Backman) and The Pact (Jodi Picoult).
A taste of the feed
The bargain at the heart of every dragon bond, in two sentences.
A dragon without its rider is a tragedy. A rider without their dragon is dead.
Fourth Wing · Rebecca Yarros
The problem with wanting everything to stay exactly as it is.
He began to trace a pattern on the table with the nail of his thumb. "She kept saying she wanted to keep things exactly the way they were, and that she wished she could stop everything from changing. She got really nervous, like, talking about the future. She once told me that she could see herself now, and she could also see the kind of life she wanted to have - kids, husband, suburbs, you know - but she couldn’t figure out how to get from point A to point B.
The Pact · Jodi Picoult
The exhaustion of a man who feels everyone else's pain as his own.
I’m rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. I’m tired of bein on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. Not never havin no buddy to go on with or tell me where we’s comin from or goin to or why. I’m tired of people bein ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I’m tired of all the times I’ve wanted to help and couldn’t. I’m tired of bein in the dark. Mostly it’s the pain. There’s too much. If I could end it, I would. But I can’t.
The Green Mile · Stephen King
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