Cemetery Boys
Ratings188
Average rating4.2
I've heard all good things about this book and all good things were spot on. There is romance, there is queer rep, there is intensity and importance and everything you could hope for in a book. Falling in love with a ghost is added in as well, which I didn't know I needed until now. Really just a gushingly wonderful book. I am gushing. The book is gushing. Loved every bit.
I breezed through Aiden Thomas’ debut novel, Cemetery Boys in a day. Is eminently readable and a fast paced tale of trans identity and Latinx culture cultures I know little about so can not speak to the stories authenticity but the author is trans and Latinx at least he isn't appropriating another's culture or speaking for someone else voice.
From Kayti Burt at Den of geeks " The novel follows Yadriel, a trans boy determined to prove his gender to his traditional Latinx family, who all happen to be brujx, with the ability to see spirits. When Yadriel’s cousin is murdered, Yadriel decides to solve the mystery of what happened as a way to convince his family to accept his identity as a brujo. But when, instead of summoning the ghost of his cousin, Yadriel accidentally summons the ghost of (very cute) school “bad boy” Julian, who refuses to leave, Yadriel’s mission becomes much more complicated… especially once he realizes he might not want Julian to go".
I was delighted to discover the story continues in Espíritu which I have added to my to_be_read_ mastaba.
4.5 stars
I started this book back in October and it took me until now to finish it. Not because it was a bad book because it wasn't my reading has just been off these last 6 months of the year. I also buddy read this one with Jonny who has been waiting on me to finish it so we can discuss it and post a buddy reads and rants post which will hopefully be coming soon. I didn't realize this was Aiden Thomas' debut novel but man what a debut it was. I loved learning about the Latinx culture. It's something I wasn't really familiar with before picking this up. I really just loved so much about this book it's hard to talk about everything without spoiling it. I only had 2 issues with this book while reading it and they didn't really detract all that much from my enjoyment. I loved Julian from the jump however there were times where his behavior was a bit annoying and a little over the top in my opinion but by the end I loved him so much. The romance!! I didn't know how this would play out and I was fully expecting to get my heartbroken and I did just not in the way I was expecting. I loved the romance with every part of my being, but I felt like it kind of took over the plot. There's a bit of a mystery throughout the book and they are trying to figure out what has happened to the kids who have gone missing but that takes a backseat to the romance plot. I feel like they weren't balanced. That being said I truly loved this book so much and I can't wait to read more by this author.
3 stars cause this was enjoyable enough, but YA, a genre I have officially overdosed on +1 cause I'm so happy this book exists
3.5 omg it took me two months to read this teehee. Anyway this feels like a Disney movie, it's kinda simple but in a good way! Also this would be an amazing Disney movie as long as they literally didn't change it at all
the lore and characters were good. i'll forgive the writing for being lame in the YA kind of way at times
It started getting some good action around the last 100 pages. I enjoyed this book but I didn't find it ‘groundbreaking' like it says on the cover.
Liked it less then I thought I would, but that is most likely because I am not a big romance fan and the main thing about this book is....well the ‘romance', to how they grow toghether
Loved the world this book is placed in and the characters, so I will definitely read the second book!
3.5 stars • I like this one. A sweet story about acceptance featuring a love story between a ghost and a human.
PROS
First, I read a lot of fantasy and I like the fantasy of this story. The magic system is a gendered. This is not a new concept in the genre. We have witches and wizards already. But in this world, we have the Brujx. A community who possess the power to see spirits and heal the living. And the community is built on gender. Men are brujos, protectors who help spirits cross over into the afterlife, while women are healers.
I really like how Yadriel's trans identity intertwines with the plot. The magic accepts him for who he is, but his community does not. It's very much a story of acceptance for trans people. I was rooting for Yadriel, so much. My favourite scene was where he uses the men's bathroom for the first time. As a cis guy, I've never had to experience this, but Aidan Thomas writes it in a way that gave me so much triumph. I basically yelled “Go Yadriel!!!” like it was sporting event. And felt so proud of this fictional character.
The romance is sweet. He meets a ghost called Julian. A sweet gay romance with a ghost and a magic boy. Then hijinks and romance ensure. Both characters felt developed and well-matched. I often feel in romance genres that characters blend together and are written the same, but I think Aidan has done a good job of making them strong characters on their own.
CONS
By far the weakest part for me, was the plot. It felt muddled. Some scenes dragged forever, and the writing has this way of including too much exposition. The premise of this book started so well. A ghost and a magical boy team up to solve a possible murder and find a missing person. That's awesome...except it wasn't and dragged. The romance took priority for some time, and the mystery felt boring. It was also a predictable mystery. I worked it out early on and our villain even gets a stereotypical monologue at the end.
OVERALL
I liked this one. A strong own-voices story of a trans Latinx teenager and a story of acceptance in a world where the magic is gendered. Feels like a YA book, and not in a positive way, the writing has this YA feeling that I can't describe well. But despite this, a lot of fun.
[4.5 stars]
Loved this so so much!! The characters were great and I really enjoyed Yadriel and Julian's friendship and then romance. While the tone did feel a bit off at times, as Julian seemed waaay too chill about being literally dead, it was mostly fine. Yadriel's struggles with his family and them not really understanding his trans identity, but still loving him so much and him still loving them despite the difficulty hit pretty close to home and it was great to see a depiction of this sort of complicated family relationship with the trans main character.
(Also ahhh the pain when Julian misgenders Yadriel without realising it was so relatable ouch!)
My main problem with the book is near the ending, when it's revealed that Yadriel's uncle is evil and is the one who murdered Miguel and Julian. I feel like the story didn't benefit from this in any way, it just felt like a way to explain the mystery, and the fact that he became evil because of the way he was ostracised just left a sour taste in my mouth. However, that part of the story was quite brief so didn't bother me too much.
This book was honestly just a delight. Reading about Yadriel and Julian's shenanigans as they tried to solve the mysteries and see Julian's friends again (who were also all stellar characters) was just so fun! I really really enjoyed reading this book and it's definitely one of my favourites now.
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a bit predictable (nahulaan ko na agad ang mangyayari in the middle of reading) but i wasn't that bummed about it. i think the best thing about this book is the characters because i wouldn't be that happy being able to guess the plot if i didn't like the characters.
it's also a bit cheesy which i don't dislike. i like that the romance is pretty much secondary and wasn't pushed to be the main focus of the story.
also, we're getting a julian pov!!!! excited na agad ako!!!
3.5/5 stars
When it came to the plot and the characters and the representation, I adored this book. It was so, so good. But the writing and me never really connected.
Wow the way that I loved this book. While the overall mystery was a tiny bit predictable, the setting, characters and especially the romance between the two leads shimmer with a bright intensity. Yadriel especially shines with an authenticity so intense that I felt like I knew him outside of the limits of the page. I found myself desperately hoping that the story of these two boys wouldn't end so I could continue to be swept up in the deftness with which Aiden Thomas describes their feelings. I look forward to reading more from this author!
i loved this book. relating to yadriel is a rly painful yet also comforting thing and i hope i can have what he has one day with his family. i love books about transgender people because it makes me feel so much better about who i am. both julian and yadriel are gender envy lol xx
Wow. Okay. This was so not the book for me.
There were things I liked. I like the characters. I like Yadriel and Julian together.
And...that was about all I liked. I liked the rep in the book - it seemed like it was good and I am happy for such a diverse book getting as much love as it is, but, really, it was the wrong book for me.
I find the writing somewhat clunky and plodding. I have no complaints about the dialogue, but the rest of the writing (descriptions and action (that's a laugh) scenes) don't flow smoothly to me. It is a debut, after all, so I'm more than willing to give some leniency to that, but my problems don't stop there. (Honestly, I found the opening two chapters super weak and didn't encourage me to keep reading at all.)
The plot is...predictable. I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I knew both who and why. I mean, it's a good thing (I guess) that the plot is only tangentially important, (with the wacky ghost boyfriend hijinks taking over handily) because to me what was happening was so obvious as to who was doing the things as well as why that person was doing the things.
Finally, there are two things that piss me off in stories. This book did one of the two. Major climax spoilers!!!
This book literally resurrects people from the dead. Not recently deceased dead, either. We are talking days later. Brought back to life. Like that's a good thing without repercussions.
Hardcore not pleased.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was SO FANTASTIC!!!!!! The trans rep was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! The writing was AMAZING!!!!!! And the BANTER!!!!! I so SO dearly loved this!!!!! And that PLOT TWIST!!!!! AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH THAT HURT MY HEART!!!!!!! Highly HIGHLY recommend if you are looking for a Well written diverse fantasy with Wonderful trans rep!!!!!! This is DEFINITELY an Absolute FAV!!!!!!!
Didn't even make it to the end of the first chapter; I'd heard so many rave reviews but blood magic and ghosts are not my jam. Especially currently.
The twist revelation was obvious from the middle of the book but that wasn't what made the heart of this story. And I loved the characters so much that I can't rate this less than 4 stars.