Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

162 reviews

gilnean's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Deadnaming, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Police brutality, Car accident, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

recycled_personalities's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Genuinely such a good read. It was really comforting queer representation and that definitely made me happy. It’s a LITTLE slow at the very beginning but please don’t make the mistake of giving up on it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

robin_iguess's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Transphobia

dusksolace's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Transphobia, Violence, Death of parent, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse and Xenophobia

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

sydthereader's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Deadnaming, Self harm, Medical content, and Dysphoria

criticalgayze's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I tried this one on audio several times last year and couldn't get past the first few chapters, so I was apprehensive when my grad school literature group picked this as one of our class reading selections. I am very thankful that I was forced into reading the whole thing in print because I wound up really enjoying the book, and it was the first book to make me cry this year.

I most appreciated the way that Aiden Thomas gets to live in so much of their truth and culture with their writing. There is such a clear awareness here of what it is like to inhabit a transgender body and to navigate a Latinx community, and I found there to be an incredible care and attention to detail here that you cannot get when people are not allowed to be the ones to tell their own stories. Thomas also does a lot to incorporate so many perspectives through pan-Latinx inclusion and a wonderful feminist lens. Yadriel and Julian were very cute together, their families (found and otherwise) were wonderfully crafted and loved in the writing, and the whirlwind amateur sleuth storyline was really enjoyable.

I do think the sleuthing does not get quite enough time, and the reader is kinda rushed along at the end to wrap things up. The emotional climax suffered as a result, and I don't think the reader got to live in that final tension as effectively as it could have been handled. I also don't know if approaching this through a lens of literary evaluation for class study made me notice the twist about halfway through the book or if it wasn't supposed to be difficult to spot.

Quotes:
They wouldn't even let him try. It was easier to hide behind their traditions than to challenge their own beliefs and understanding of how things in the world of the brujx worked. (Page 24)
Yadriel knew better than to decline an offer of food from a Latinx mom more than once. Carefully, he took a bite, shifting it to his cheek to avoid the cut. (Page 117)
Yadriel didn't think that was possible. He didn't see how anyone could get a clean break from Julien once they entered his orbit. (Page 157)
"Growth isn't a deviation from what we've done before, but a natural progression to honor all those who make this community strong." (Page 339)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Deadnaming, Racism, Xenophobia, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia

jfield351's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I enjoyed this book especially because it was partly written in spanish, a language i understand! if i had not been able to understand it i don’t think i would have  enjoyed it as much. It did make it a tiny bit hard to read, switching between languages. Maybe if i didn’t know spanish i could have skipped over those parts with no problem. Obviously, the LGBTQ+ representation was brilliant and unlike anything i’ve ever read (especially the trans representation) as well as the representation of the Latinx culture. I learnt more about the day of the dead festival and was charmed by the decorations, the mouth watering descriptions of food and the attitudes towards the day. Blending in fantasy, my favourite genre also made it a very fun read for me. The characters were well written, especially at the start. I read this within 24 hours from 1-2 March 2022. I did guess that

the jaguar knives would have a role in the twist, because they were a seemingly insignificant detail that was mentioned in depth twice. however i had no idea it would be tío catriz (he seemed sooo nice!!) or that the sacrifices would be miguel and julian.

. I was left wondering at some plot holes, such as, if only the one family was gifted with the power to see the dead, why could the whole family see it and not just the ones who weren’t married in? I did read this fast so maybe I missed something. I was hooked though, and I felt pain when Yadriel did, particularly when he faced transphobic comments and also in chapters 22/23. The ending was good, but to me i found it strange how the epilogue was literally just an hour after the ending -

both boys were up and running without pain an hour after they had been dead. the ending felt a bit rushed

. On the whole it was a great book and I want to read more like it!! And I want to read more from Aiden Thomas!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

princess424's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

I LOVE this book!!! It has an amazing representation and is different from other LGBTQA books I have read. The relationships in this book were though out and realistic and grew to become more understanding and loving. I absolutely loved the characters personalities and the setting. Aiden brought these characters and places alive through his words and descriptions and the ending was heartbreaking but also fulfilling. I can’t wait to read more of Aiden’s work and see what he does with this world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

crzicricket's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Oh my gosh, all the feels. This book was so good. Happy and sad, funny but serious. As a trans individual myself it was so great to see myself represented by the main character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Minor: Deadnaming and Transphobia