Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

33 reviews

serena_hien's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Classism, Deadnaming, and Religious bigotry

nicamooch's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring 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

4.0

I love loved the concept and world building  of this book. 

I also really loved the banter and relationships Yadriel has with Julian and Martiza. The love story was so adorable I really wouldn’t have been able to handle a bittersweet ending between those two 😭 

The climax had me simultaneously bawling and cursing @ Thomas for the pain! The way my gut dropped when I turned onto Chapter 24…it was narratively such a good choice but I was also pissed because it did its job of wrecking me, you know?

I found the twist/reveal upsetting, it’s like, even though I figured it out beforehand because this character was the only viable option—it’s just devastating because you don’t /want/ it to be them. But I also feel like that’s why it works 😭 yet another great narrative choice for maximum pain 😭😭!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Deadnaming, Death, Murder, and Transphobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Dysphoria, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Child death, Domestic abuse, Outing, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Medical content

emmasbelovedbooks's review against another edition

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

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

5.0

This book takes ride or die to a new level! I’m going to miss these boys!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Outing, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Classism, Child death, Car accident, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Ableism

bendersreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious relaxing medium-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

5.0

The ending was a little cheesy for me, but it's overall a wonderful book. I had a great time reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, and Violence

Minor: Deadnaming

ashleykarime's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia

bentenuala's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, and Deadnaming

cherie_mishu's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

“You don't need anyone's permission to be you, Yads.”

Rating

Overall: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Plot and Themes: 3/5


Content and trigger warnings:
↷Blood magic (referenced), Character abuse, Deadnaming of a trans character, Death, Gender dysphoria, Homophobia, Misgendering of a trans character, Transphobia

review

I really enjoyed the relationships between all the characters, especially Yads and Jules' relationship and how it formed. However I do believe the overall plot was kind of... obvious, as in it would obviously end up being someone close to them that end up hurting them. But the whole storyline throughout the chapters is what kept me going, wanting to learn more abut the characters, how relationships formed and what exactly would happen! I found the book to be a average paced read at least and didn't rush myself to get through. I definitely would love to talk about the characters, I believe the culture and characters are really what made this book stand out.

Conclusion

Pros: really enjoyed seeing the difference in culture and how they view lgbt folks
Cons: overall ending didn't give much of a surprise or suspense
Overall 4/5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Child abuse, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Child death, Racism, and Hate crime

beforeviolets's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? N/A

5.0

Yes. Period.

I don't know what I was expecting but I was not expecting this to quickly become a new favorite book and I was NOT expecting to be breaking out the waterworks at midnight after staying up to finish it in a day because I could not physically bring myself to put this book down.

This book has my whole heart and soul and I am so grateful to have spent my Saturday visiting this world and this story. Aiden Thomas flawlessly developed an environment and community in this book that is so incredibly approachable and engaging to the reader at every turn. My emotional and mental attention was constantly and fully plugged in to each and every moment. And the pacing was impeccable. I never felt dragged along or like a moment was inappropriately lingering but I also never found myself feeling rushed through the experiences or through the beats of the story, which is incredibly impressive - especially since a lot of the YA books I've read tend to sacrifice the tension and the dramatic rhythm for the sake of a quicker pace.

Though this book is YA, it handles such a large amount of deep and difficult topics such as transphobia, racism, death, grief, and more with such an immense amount of ease and grace. Any book that can make me both cry and laugh within a matter of sentences is going to be a fast favorite, and this is no exception. I can't wait to read more of Thomas's work.

If you've been thinking about picking this one up, this is your sign to do so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Self harm and Animal cruelty

queenfury's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

"Growth isn't a deviation from what we've done before, but a natural progression to honor all those who make this community strong."

I cried, like, six times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Xenophobia, Police brutality, Child abuse, and Confinement

bencaroline's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, and Transphobia

Minor: Kidnapping, Medical content, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Xenophobia, and Deadnaming

"Terminal illness" is a good approximation for the magical condition of this world where one can temporarily continue 'living' as a ghost-type spirit. Treated extremely compassionately in the text. I am editing this after looking at the other content warnings; I would contend that the transphobia in this book is moderate at most. To me (a trans person), this is first and foremost a book about trans joy--no that that would negate extreme transphobia, but to me the depictions of trans acceptance and euphoria are WAY more present in the book than the negative bits, and I want to say that. There are no graphic depictions of transphobic violence, and iirc only brief descriptions of familial rejection or bigotry; Yadriel's family/community has a lot of latent transphobia, BUT, they seem to be working towards embracing his identity.