A review by sofiahope
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

3.75 stars may have been an underrated rating but in all reality it isn't. The first thing I would like to address is the fact that the author (Adam Silvera) would introduce new characters and in the same way, starting with “Death cast didn't call *name* because *s/he* isn't dying today” which over time became really repetitive; also they would have their own dedicated chapter to themselves but later on the characters wouldn't be reintroduced; maybe there is a meaning behind it but as I was reading I didn't catch onto it. Another thing that frustrated me is how slow paced their adventure was; also some places they went to were really random in my opinion and were not necessary and because of that they were overextended.
Don't get me wrong the fact that they went from strangers to lovers was cute but it felt really quick, maybe that was the point, maybe Adam was trying to make the ending more sad by making them lovers but it was very surprising because he didn't tell us Mateo and Rufus found attraction in each other when they just met. But I also liked how he introduced other people that had strong connections to Mateo or Rufus because that made the ending sadder.
The last thing I would like to critique is that at the end I didn't realize Rufus died,
I know the fact that Adam said he crosses the street without looking should have been a dead giveaway and maybe I didn't process that quick enough which lead me to reread it but there wasnt enough context; this may seem a bit demented but I love how strong the relationship between Mateo and Rufus was, because that made Rufus walk into that street after processing that Mateo was really dead.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings