Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

281 reviews

hexagonal_flowers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Transphobia

Minor: Car accident, Murder, Deadnaming, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

corsetedfeminist's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

My only complaint about this book is that there isn’t a series with 35 books coming after it. 
This book manages to be extremely gay and extremely Latinx, all at once, in an explosion of culture and magic that I couldn’t help but fall in love with. 
The story is unpredictable and heartfelt all at the same time- I literally squealed at one particular plot point. 
It also deals with very well with what it’s like to not be a straight, cisgendered person in a culture and religion that is strongly gendered, with the realistic amount of resultant angst and a heartwarming conclusion. 
The romance is literally perfect, featuring what I can only describe as the human embodiment of a pitbull (looks imposing, but is actually just a hyper squish) and sensitive but stubborn main character who I immediately loved. 
The girl best friend is probably one of my favorite sidekicks of all time- tiny pink haired girl with two massive pitbulls and a long suffering mom friend vibe only defeated by her love for mischief. 
In short, I have no idea why this book isn’t more popular than it is- it’s a perfect YA book, both for lots of Latinx representation and for the queer representation.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Violence, Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia

Minor: Deportation

jei_reads_sometimes's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Transphobia, Death of parent, Child death, Grief, Death, and Murder

toastedoats42's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

Great listen on audiobook! It's a super interesting world and concept and, while I predicted some of the things that happened, there were twists ai hadn't expected and kept the whole thing fresh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Transphobia, Dysphoria, and Grief

Moderate: Murder, Abandonment, Deadnaming, Kidnapping, and Violence

erikagibson126's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-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: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Death, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Alcohol, Animal death, Classism, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Dysphoria

Minor: Deadnaming, Drug use, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Confinement, Deportation, Physical abuse, Medical content, Cursing, Gore, Outing, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

melancholymegs's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Transphobia, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Homophobia, Dysphoria, and Gun violence

Minor: Car accident, Medical content, and Bullying

angel__'s review against another edition

emotional mysterious

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Ich habe die Geschichte geliebt und bin praktisch durchgeflogen.
Rep: Latinx, trans*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Deadnaming, Murder, Death of parent, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Car accident

jhug63's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Homophobia

funkylitchick's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Murder and Child abuse

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

I really wanted to like this book. And I had enjoyed it for the most part until the very end, which is why I think this feels so disappointing.

I thought the book had a pretty strong intro. It established the world effectively and did so in a way non-Latin readers could understand. I had a quick grasp on relationships and dynamics. I think the book ended up being a bit heavy handed in foreshadowing with this establishment of the world, but I still appreciated it and that there was foreshadowing.

I also really liked the complexity in the family dynamics. It didn’t feel like Yadriel’s family was villainised for not fully understanding him. It was upsetting, you understood Yadriel’s pain, and (at least with his father) you felt like he was TRYING. And when Yadriel revealed he had become a brujo how PROUD he was of Yadriel. It felt realistic and I appreciated that aspect. This also leant well to the story being told of Yadriel’s struggle as a trans teen, which was compelling and provided such great insight into what trans teens go through in trying to find comfort in their own body.

The biggest issue I had with the book was the romance. I had such a hard time buying into it, especially considering how short of a time the book takes place over. When it did fully turn to romance it felt sudden and like the story hadn’t properly built to it. I felt the book would have been better if it had been about forming a friendship instead of a romance. Especially considering how isolated Yadriel felt as the only noted “friends” outside his family were his cousin’s friends. This was only emphasised when in the ending there was a dramatic declaration that the Julian had feelings for Yadriel and all I could think of was the Sassy Gay Friend video for Romeo and Juliet. I had a couple other issues with the end, but they’re spoilers so I’ll refrain from sharing them.

Overall a book with a strong start that fumbled the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Transphobia, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Child death, Dysphoria, Racism, Classism, and Murder

Minor: Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Deportation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Gun violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Outing