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A review by comfyreads
They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
if you were interested in the plot of this book but like me, were not too impressed then try ‘the midnight library’ by Matt Haig. i’m sure there are much better written substitutes but that book at least kept me very interested , cared about its characters & talked about death/“really living” in a much more introspective & engaging way.
i feel like i have a lot to say about why this book let me down. i was expecting to fall in love with the characters & then be heartbroken by their deaths because of the true love they had gained for each other but i just didnt. this book relied heavily on the fact that it was an interesting plot idea & didnt put nearly enough attention into fleshing out the characters. i felt like i only knew them on a very surface level by the end of it which meant i simply didn’t care that much about them. obviously the end was sad but their “love” was so forced & not at all believable. there was so little depth explored to their feelings for each other which only appeared in the last 30ish pages of the book alongside them having little to no chemistry ??? there were random plots about other people which could’ve been interesting if they became relevant in a creative way but they just,,,, didnt ? there was too much “trying to speak like a teenager” language which i couldn’t take seriously. i get that they’re 18, but they also seemingly had really interesting lives and you would not be able to tell that by the way they think. i usually love first person thoughts because they give a deeper insight but everything about this book was so surface level. i can maybe see why people liked it if they read it all at once or didn’t need much convincing to care about these characters but this just didn’t do it for me, sorry!
i feel like i have a lot to say about why this book let me down. i was expecting to fall in love with the characters & then be heartbroken by their deaths because of the true love they had gained for each other but i just didnt. this book relied heavily on the fact that it was an interesting plot idea & didnt put nearly enough attention into fleshing out the characters. i felt like i only knew them on a very surface level by the end of it which meant i simply didn’t care that much about them. obviously the end was sad but their “love” was so forced & not at all believable. there was so little depth explored to their feelings for each other which only appeared in the last 30ish pages of the book alongside them having little to no chemistry ??? there were random plots about other people which could’ve been interesting if they became relevant in a creative way but they just,,,, didnt ? there was too much “trying to speak like a teenager” language which i couldn’t take seriously. i get that they’re 18, but they also seemingly had really interesting lives and you would not be able to tell that by the way they think. i usually love first person thoughts because they give a deeper insight but everything about this book was so surface level. i can maybe see why people liked it if they read it all at once or didn’t need much convincing to care about these characters but this just didn’t do it for me, sorry!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Abandonment