I mentioned in my January round up that my daughter is following my Goodreads now, and I am starting to borrow her books! They Both Die at the End might be having a viral moment, and I was also curious enough to steal it from her shelves because there are many glowing reviews from people I follow.
It sounds ridiculously obvious, but this book was so sad! I thought it would be tempered a bit since we know how it ends, and perhaps be unexpectedly uplifting. No. It was really depressing.
I think the idea of knowing when you die is a trope that gets explored often, and it definitely makes for excellent discussion. I admired Silvera’s world building creativity with the commodification of what that might look like in the future or in an alternate universe: central to the story is an app created to meet ‘last day friends’ - yet there are many other thought provoking economical, political and spiritual ideas to ponder.
I felt like it sagged us a little bit in the middle, but the themes and story were so well done, excellent YA fare.
“Maybe it’s better to have gotten it right and been happy for one day instead of living a lifetime of wrongs.”