“Death-Cast is calling with the warning of a lifetime—I’m going to die today. Forget that, “warning” is too strong a word since warnings suggest something can be avoided, like a car honking at someone who’s crossing the street when it isn’t their light, giving them the chance to step back; this is more of a heads-up.” twenty-four hours left to live. The book They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvia had a very intriguing storyline and I knew I had to read it. Like most teenagers, I love both romantic and adventurous stories. That's exactly what Adam Silvia wrote, or so I thought. Although the book had what most would say, amazing reviews, and a good summary on the back, I was really disappointed with how it turned out. I’ll be covering the overview of the book, how long it is, its expectations, and reviews.

“They Both Die at the End” revolves around two main characters, Rufus and Mateo. They are two strangers who both got a call on the same day that they only have twenty-four hours left to live. When they find this out, both Mateo and Rufus go through rough times, go out and adventure, and meet each other. The book is cut into four sections. Every section is about the same length except for the second one, which is a little bit longer. There were added characters, which some I think were important, while others were just the author filling in blank pages with unnecessary details. I’m not sure how this book was so well-liked for how long the book was. Searching for a good book in young adult fiction is hard for lots of teens. Many young adult fiction books are written by authors who don’t fully comprehend the teenage point of view. A lot of coming-of-age books struggle with keeping teenagers' attention, and this book definitely struggles. Many of the people who gave this book so much popularity, were adults; not so many teenagers or “young” adults. Granted, young adults/teens are what really make up TikTok, which is why I really thought this book was going to be good.

When I was on social media, especially during the global pandemic; “They Both Die at the End” was a very popular book. Everyone was doing book reviews, saying it was an amazing book. Knowing how popular it was, and how everyone was reading it, I had high expectations. The first fifty to one hundred pages were really interesting and I was really hooked on the storyline. It had Rufus and Mateo’s backstory, along with them finding out and then later telling friends. After reading to about page one hundred twenty though, I soon realized that the book was starting to get really dull. Silvia would add so much extra commentary from the teens, almost forcing “teenage” language to the point where it was hard to read. For example, Rufus would say “yo” or “sup” in almost every line. I really started to notice that the chapters were getting super long and extensive with the extra characters, and detail of conversations. Along with the lengthy chapters, there was also side character perspectives that were not necessarily interesting. I will say the book needed them and it made the readers understand what was happening, but I don’t think the readers needed that much information on what each side character was thinking and doing.

The book was so long, that I would skim over some pages and not even read. It took me about two months to finish this book that was supposed to be the best book ever. I was really disappointed with how uninteresting and predictable it was. With the title, “They Both Die at the End” readers already know what's going to happen but it's the excitement and thrill of how the book going to end. Adam Silvia did not attack this type of writing the way he should have, to the point that the book was way too long with too much-unwanted nonsense. The chapters were based on time and point of view, and with the time only moving 5-15 minutes a chapter, this book became hard to read. With the way the chapters were formatted, and the fact that there was 4 different sections, everything felt slow yet chaotic. The book never changed when the sections would come. For example, one is “the Beginning”, yet nothing changed about the book. It was just an added page saying “The Beginning” with absolutely no reason for this in the book. I do remember friends warning me before reading this book, saying that they assure me that I would lose interest, though I kept my hope thinking it was going to be an amazing book.

Contrary to social media reviews, friends and readers (age 14-17), that have read this book also agree that this book can be long and very monotonous. It has major potential but the number of uneventful details and portions of the book made it not worth it to read. The readers that I talked to, have very different tastes in the type of books that they read versus me. I like more romantic novels while they like action, which this book both had. The book still disappointed both me and the other readers. ”They Both Die at the End” could have been better if it was somehow attacked in a different way. I would not recommend this book to readers who can’t keep their focus for long.

“They Both Die at the End” was not the best book. It went on way to long, and a lot of what was going on didn’t make sense. Although the book was long, I will say it was fun to read in some parts. The book isn’t the worst, but it’s also not the best, as how it was advertised to be.

From the hooked beginning to the long middle, to the long but thrilling ending, I wouldn’t recommend it to any one that I know personally, but that’s not to say all who read it won’t enjoy it. From hearing Mateo's reaction to hearing the Death-Cast ringtone to Rufus’s reaction; “I'm still on top of this dude pinning his shoulders down with my knees and the only reason I'm not clocking him in the eye again is because of the ringing from my pocket, that loud death cast ringtone everyone knows too damn well either from personal experience, the news, or very sh*tty shows using the alert for that dun-dun-dun effect.” I feel as if readers can really tell whether this is a book they’d enjoy or not.