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rieviolet'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? No
3.5
I listened to the audiobook version so this is going to colour my review/rating a bit, because I'm still trying to get used to this medium of reading, and my mind doesn't always cooperate and tends to wander a lot.
I felt like the beginning and the end of the story were stronger and more memorable, whereas the middle part was a bit slow and, to be honest, I remember very little of what happened, it all kind of blurred together.
I really liked the representation of the trans experience thorugh the character of Yadriel. We got to see the big and more evident aspects of it, but also the little and everyday details.
I appreciated the cultural elements, as well as their more fantastical re-imagination; though I think maybe at times the author verged into overexplanation. I also liked the interspersed sentences and expressions in Spanish.
I wasn't quite sold at the beginning on the romance but, as the story progressed, it got better and I'm not ashamed to say thatwhen Julian said "mi querido" I screamed.
I felt like the beginning and the end of the story were stronger and more memorable, whereas the middle part was a bit slow and, to be honest, I remember very little of what happened, it all kind of blurred together.
I really liked the representation of the trans experience thorugh the character of Yadriel. We got to see the big and more evident aspects of it, but also the little and everyday details.
I appreciated the cultural elements, as well as their more fantastical re-imagination; though I think maybe at times the author verged into overexplanation. I also liked the interspersed sentences and expressions in Spanish.
I wasn't quite sold at the beginning on the romance but, as the story progressed, it got better and I'm not ashamed to say that
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Racism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Kidnapping, Gore, Child death, Religious bigotry, Murder, Dysphoria, Child abuse, Deadnaming, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Bullying, Classism, Deportation, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Torture
thebakersbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
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
5.0
5/5 stars — a poignant, heart-stopping story culminating in tragedy and joy
When I say I want more representation of marginalized groups in science fiction and fantasy, Cemetery Boys is case in point. Main character Yadriel is a gay, trans, Latinx boy, and the cast includes mostly other people of color, several of whom are also queer. The characters’ ethnicities, religions, genders, and sexualities play into the story, but they’re not all the story’s about. It’s hard to discuss this without seeming dismissive of the need for a range of good representation across genres, but there’s a place for both books that center the real-world struggles and triumphs of marginalization and books where those struggles and triumphs happen alongside ghost stories and magic. But what I appreciated most about Cemetery Boys was that while the difficulties of existing at the crux of several marginalized identities cropped up in the story, the main sources of pain/drama/angst came from fantasy sources that weren’t identity-centered.
Cemetery Boys also drives home a point that critics of fanfiction—and of fanfic writers, both past and current—repeatedly fail to understand. The point is this: it doesn’t matter if you know how the story’s going to turn out; even if you’ve seen it play out similarly a hundred times before and you see where it’s going, the author can deliver that conclusion in an emotionally satisfying way. I don’t know if Aiden Thomas has written fanfic (my money says yes), but even though I guessed the antagonist and some elements of the climax around halfway through the book, the ending contained plenty of surprises in its execution. It’s why we say “trope” isn’t a bad word—tropes exist for a reason, and they don’t always have to be used in surprising ways to bring a story to a brilliant end.
Frankly, the fact that the antagonist and end twist were guessable pretty early in the book might be my only critique of Cemetery Boys. This is one of my favorite books ever, nearly perfect from the standpoints of craft and pure enjoyment value. Like his protagonist, Thomas is trans, gay, and Latinx, so his understanding of the nuance of the ways those identities intersect shines through in Yadriel. Only part of that identity applies to me, but the realness of Yadriel’s moments of joy, pain, and awkwardness were validating—particularly to a younger and more confused version of me. Despite everything this book puts its characters through, it left me feeling hopeful.
So, the story: What starts out as Yadriel’s quest to prove to his family and community that he’s a brujo with all the abilities that implies becomes the perilous search for a killer who’s disappearing young Latinx people—among them, a boy named Julian. When Yadriel’s friend Maritza and Julian’s friend Luca volunteer to help in the search for Julian, things get even more complicated. Friendships form an enduring theme in Cemetery Boys—it’s clear when an author thinks romance is more important than friendship, and that definitely wasn’t the case here. Maritza and Luca are very different kinds of friends (one snarky, one soft) but both are ride or die when the safety of their loved ones is at stake. Similarly, family is both a source of strength and conflict in the story, but it’s never pushed aside by the writing or framed as second to *relationship drama* or anything else.
In fact, the romance in Cemetery Boys is, for all its angst and potential for tragedy, not a huge part of the book. In parts where it was the focus, I never found it overpowering compared to other plot events. Also, I thought the romantic relationship did a great job of avoiding insta-love territory. Yadriel initially finds Julian inconvenient and annoying and only slowly decides that he’s attractive. It takes even longer before any kind of rapport develops between them and that turns into romance. (Although, as romantic gestures go, scribbling out your crush’s deadname in his yearbook and writing his real name over it is up there.)
Thomas’ knack for creating real-feeling characters and gradually picking them apart leads to some absolutely gutting moments. Even though you can see the heartbreak coming, that doesn’t make it hurt any less when it actually happens! And I mean that as a compliment. Characterization may be one of the author’s strong suits, but certainly not the only one. The book is full of stunningly descriptive imagery, especially describing angry teenagers, churches, and Día de Muertos details like sugar skulls and marigolds. Although—or maybe because —it makes time to show detail and build elaborate character relationships, the pacing never lags in the second act, nor does anything feel rushed in the third. The emotional beats fall where they should, embellished by brutally raw dialogue and more of that gorgeous descriptive prose.
Let’s talk about gender-affirming worldbuilding for a second. The magic system in Cemetery Boys is described as being built around a gender binary: brujas heal living people who suffer; brujos guide spirits who are lost. The magic itself correctly identifies Yadriel as male, so when he tries to perform a female-only ability, it backfires, whereas the male-only one works. (Also, the binary-ness turns out to be partially a product of Yadriel as a narrator with a narrow scope of history: as Julian later points out, there must have been nonbinary brujx and others who didn’t conform to the narrow binary system in the past.) On this subject, the brujx’ knives or rosaries are used to indicate things about their characters—the style, whether they’re adorned with extra charms, etc., which is the kind of fun yet functional worldbuilding I love to see. Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention how the world and its magic are based on various Latinx cultures. I’m not Latinx, so I’m sure I missed some of the references/details, but I enjoyed the way traditions from various places mixed during Día de Muertos and among the brujx in general. And I liked how if there was a long or complex passage in Spanish, it's translated into English, but individual words—even those that weren’t obvious cognates, like sobrino—weren’t translated. People can Google that stuff if they don't know it and can't infer the meaning!
Random good parts that may not all make sense out of context but that I would be remiss not to point out
- an immediate, first-chapter indication that Yadriel is trans (I think he mentions his binder or something) without spelling it out super obviously
- the MC is a SHORT trans boy! Yadriel bemoans that he’s only “a little over five feet”
- “His dead name slipped from her mouth,” instead of actually using the old name is an excellent way of dealing with trans names.
- Julian’s intro is really cool! Definitely one of the most unique ways to introduce a love interest I’ve ever read.
- so nice that Julian, despite being introduced as an archetypical ‘bad boy,’ accepts that Yadriel is trans without any big deal, and thinks it’s messed up that others don’t treat Yadriel (in his own words) like a “real boy.
- “My tacos!” - Julian, finding moldy food on the ground.
- Tito, the spirit gardener who tended flowers all his life and continues to grow them in death—especially flowers for Día de los Muertas, which are his pride and joy.
- Maritza’s family’s pitbulls, Michelangelo and Donatello
- cempasúchil! Every instance where they were described sounded so pretty.
- the romance: “How could he possibly recover from falling for Julian Diaz?” and “Yadriel would happily let himself be consumed by Julian’s fire.”
- an actual non-forced, naturally incorporated meme: “I’ve been—dude, stop screaming—”
This book ripped my heart out and glued it back together wrong way out. That is to say: I give it my highest recommendation, particularly to young people likely to relate to Yadriel and/or Julian. The writing is stellar, the audiobook narration is excellent, and the overall package is absolutely worth your time. (I’d like to mention here that Avi Roque, a trans Latinx narrator, was a great choice for the storytelling and really made the characters come alive. This was apparently their first audiobook narration, too!)
Content notes: death of a loved one; repeated mention of death, dying, and grief; graphic depiction of death on-page; mention of shooting and stabbing; gangs; parental/familial abuse; youth homelessness; transphobia including misgendering and mentioned deadnaming, police profiling based on race
When I say I want more representation of marginalized groups in science fiction and fantasy, Cemetery Boys is case in point. Main character Yadriel is a gay, trans, Latinx boy, and the cast includes mostly other people of color, several of whom are also queer. The characters’ ethnicities, religions, genders, and sexualities play into the story, but they’re not all the story’s about. It’s hard to discuss this without seeming dismissive of the need for a range of good representation across genres, but there’s a place for both books that center the real-world struggles and triumphs of marginalization and books where those struggles and triumphs happen alongside ghost stories and magic. But what I appreciated most about Cemetery Boys was that while the difficulties of existing at the crux of several marginalized identities cropped up in the story, the main sources of pain/drama/angst came from fantasy sources that weren’t identity-centered.
Cemetery Boys also drives home a point that critics of fanfiction—and of fanfic writers, both past and current—repeatedly fail to understand. The point is this: it doesn’t matter if you know how the story’s going to turn out; even if you’ve seen it play out similarly a hundred times before and you see where it’s going, the author can deliver that conclusion in an emotionally satisfying way. I don’t know if Aiden Thomas has written fanfic (my money says yes), but even though I guessed the antagonist and some elements of the climax around halfway through the book, the ending contained plenty of surprises in its execution. It’s why we say “trope” isn’t a bad word—tropes exist for a reason, and they don’t always have to be used in surprising ways to bring a story to a brilliant end.
Frankly, the fact that the antagonist and end twist were guessable pretty early in the book might be my only critique of Cemetery Boys. This is one of my favorite books ever, nearly perfect from the standpoints of craft and pure enjoyment value. Like his protagonist, Thomas is trans, gay, and Latinx, so his understanding of the nuance of the ways those identities intersect shines through in Yadriel. Only part of that identity applies to me, but the realness of Yadriel’s moments of joy, pain, and awkwardness were validating—particularly to a younger and more confused version of me. Despite everything this book puts its characters through, it left me feeling hopeful.
So, the story: What starts out as Yadriel’s quest to prove to his family and community that he’s a brujo with all the abilities that implies becomes the perilous search for a killer who’s disappearing young Latinx people—among them, a boy named Julian. When Yadriel’s friend Maritza and Julian’s friend Luca volunteer to help in the search for Julian, things get even more complicated. Friendships form an enduring theme in Cemetery Boys—it’s clear when an author thinks romance is more important than friendship, and that definitely wasn’t the case here. Maritza and Luca are very different kinds of friends (one snarky, one soft) but both are ride or die when the safety of their loved ones is at stake. Similarly, family is both a source of strength and conflict in the story, but it’s never pushed aside by the writing or framed as second to *relationship drama* or anything else.
In fact, the romance in Cemetery Boys is, for all its angst and potential for tragedy, not a huge part of the book. In parts where it was the focus, I never found it overpowering compared to other plot events. Also, I thought the romantic relationship did a great job of avoiding insta-love territory. Yadriel initially finds Julian inconvenient and annoying and only slowly decides that he’s attractive. It takes even longer before any kind of rapport develops between them and that turns into romance. (Although, as romantic gestures go, scribbling out your crush’s deadname in his yearbook and writing his real name over it is up there.)
Thomas’ knack for creating real-feeling characters and gradually picking them apart leads to some absolutely gutting moments. Even though you can see the heartbreak coming, that doesn’t make it hurt any less when it actually happens! And I mean that as a compliment. Characterization may be one of the author’s strong suits, but certainly not the only one. The book is full of stunningly descriptive imagery, especially describing angry teenagers, churches, and Día de Muertos details like sugar skulls and marigolds. Although—or maybe because —it makes time to show detail and build elaborate character relationships, the pacing never lags in the second act, nor does anything feel rushed in the third. The emotional beats fall where they should, embellished by brutally raw dialogue and more of that gorgeous descriptive prose.
Let’s talk about gender-affirming worldbuilding for a second. The magic system in Cemetery Boys is described as being built around a gender binary: brujas heal living people who suffer; brujos guide spirits who are lost. The magic itself correctly identifies Yadriel as male, so when he tries to perform a female-only ability, it backfires, whereas the male-only one works. (Also, the binary-ness turns out to be partially a product of Yadriel as a narrator with a narrow scope of history: as Julian later points out, there must have been nonbinary brujx and others who didn’t conform to the narrow binary system in the past.) On this subject, the brujx’ knives or rosaries are used to indicate things about their characters—the style, whether they’re adorned with extra charms, etc., which is the kind of fun yet functional worldbuilding I love to see. Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention how the world and its magic are based on various Latinx cultures. I’m not Latinx, so I’m sure I missed some of the references/details, but I enjoyed the way traditions from various places mixed during Día de Muertos and among the brujx in general. And I liked how if there was a long or complex passage in Spanish, it's translated into English, but individual words—even those that weren’t obvious cognates, like sobrino—weren’t translated. People can Google that stuff if they don't know it and can't infer the meaning!
Random good parts that may not all make sense out of context but that I would be remiss not to point out
- an immediate, first-chapter indication that Yadriel is trans (I think he mentions his binder or something) without spelling it out super obviously
- the MC is a SHORT trans boy! Yadriel bemoans that he’s only “a little over five feet”
- “His dead name slipped from her mouth,” instead of actually using the old name is an excellent way of dealing with trans names.
- Julian’s intro is really cool! Definitely one of the most unique ways to introduce a love interest I’ve ever read.
- so nice that Julian, despite being introduced as an archetypical ‘bad boy,’ accepts that Yadriel is trans without any big deal, and thinks it’s messed up that others don’t treat Yadriel (in his own words) like a “real boy.
- “My tacos!” - Julian, finding moldy food on the ground.
- Tito, the spirit gardener who tended flowers all his life and continues to grow them in death—especially flowers for Día de los Muertas, which are his pride and joy.
- Maritza’s family’s pitbulls, Michelangelo and Donatello
- cempasúchil! Every instance where they were described sounded so pretty.
- the romance: “How could he possibly recover from falling for Julian Diaz?” and “Yadriel would happily let himself be consumed by Julian’s fire.”
- an actual non-forced, naturally incorporated meme: “I’ve been—dude, stop screaming—”
This book ripped my heart out and glued it back together wrong way out. That is to say: I give it my highest recommendation, particularly to young people likely to relate to Yadriel and/or Julian. The writing is stellar, the audiobook narration is excellent, and the overall package is absolutely worth your time. (I’d like to mention here that Avi Roque, a trans Latinx narrator, was a great choice for the storytelling and really made the characters come alive. This was apparently their first audiobook narration, too!)
Content notes: death of a loved one; repeated mention of death, dying, and grief; graphic depiction of death on-page; mention of shooting and stabbing; gangs; parental/familial abuse; youth homelessness; transphobia including misgendering and mentioned deadnaming, police profiling based on race
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Transphobia and Racism
Minor: Gun violence, Police brutality, and Grief
keeksreadsalot69's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I really enjoyed this book and all of the characters were so cute and lovable! The pacing was fast and it kinda felt like stuff happened to Yadriel (the mc) and he’d react but not in a way that actually furthered the plot. Felt a little info dumpy at times and I spotted the twist really easily. Despite all of this, I really enjoyed reading Cemetery Boys. Like I said, the characters are all ridiculously likeable and when the plot drags, they carry the story. The background lore and world building was also really enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Racism and Xenophobia
mylynn's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
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? No
5.0
I loved this! It has vibrant worldbuilding, intersting lore, great complex character development, mystery,slow-burn romance, banter, etc. This book centers around Dia De Los Muertos, and our main character and his family are brujx who help spirits (brujo) and are able to heal (bruja).
I loved the coming of age story of Yadriel, as he journeys to gain acceptance from the other brujos. Maritza was a great companion to Yadriel and I loved how she was also going against the grain in her own ways. Julian was my favorite character, I loved how he questioned Yadriel's motivations and showed Yadriel that he didn't need to prove anything to the other brujx. I love that we got to meet Julian's friends and see into his life and he had some of my favorite lines. I've said 'love' so many times in this review but it is what it is.
I listened to the audiobook and it was a great experience. I loved the emotion that Avi Roque put into his performance, and he definitely brought the characters to life. At the end of the audiobook there is a really cute interview between Aiden Thomas and Avi Roque and I could seriously listen to them talk excitedly about anything all day long.
There's a reason I can't stop reading YA and it's because it continues to deliver books like this one!
This was my first book towards the January prompts from #TheDiverseBaseline (prompt: Latine Author).
I loved the coming of age story of Yadriel, as he journeys to gain acceptance from the other brujos. Maritza was a great companion to Yadriel and I loved how she was also going against the grain in her own ways. Julian was my favorite character, I loved how he questioned Yadriel's motivations and showed Yadriel that he didn't need to prove anything to the other brujx. I love that we got to meet Julian's friends and see into his life and he had some of my favorite lines. I've said 'love' so many times in this review but it is what it is.
I listened to the audiobook and it was a great experience. I loved the emotion that Avi Roque put into his performance, and he definitely brought the characters to life. At the end of the audiobook there is a really cute interview between Aiden Thomas and Avi Roque and I could seriously listen to them talk excitedly about anything all day long.
There's a reason I can't stop reading YA and it's because it continues to deliver books like this one!
This was my first book towards the January prompts from #TheDiverseBaseline (prompt: Latine Author).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Racism, Murder, Transphobia, Blood, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, and Homophobia
ageckocalledachilles's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Homophobia, Outing, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Racism, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Medical content, and Classism
cowardlyteaman's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
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? No
3.5
This was certainly a good book, if not a bit ... flat?
I'll be completely honest, and say that the first half of the book was rather uninteresting. The action didn't start until the last hundred pages of the book, but there was definitely potential for more action earlier on as well, to make it more exciting. There was a lot of identity issues and character dialogue during the first half of the book, which is by no means irrelevant to the plot, but to me it got dull.
I also wish that Yadriel had been given a more distinct personality. Julian was exceptional, Maritza was amazing, Catriz was fabulous, but Yadriel...? He deserved more than being a pretty standard protagonist-y type. Apart from being trans, he doesn't stand out as a protagonist at all, and being trans shouldn't be what makes him special. At least the trans people I know have personalities beside being trans.
However! I loved how Spanish was used in this book. Usually, non-English words will be written in cursive, alienating them, as it were. But here they're kind of just woven into the text as any other word, because of course Spanish isn't foreign at all to the narrator, and it makes it easier for me as a reader to relate as well, despite being the from the whitest of corners in Norway.
This applies to the rest of the culture references as well. It was all explained in a very nice way.
On a side note concerning the identity and language here: Why was there one line where author Thomas wrote «Latinx mom»? If the gender was unspecified, it would've made perfect sense, but if it's given that she's a mom, then wouldn't she be Latina...? As far as I know, you wouldn't really have a Latino mom? Maybe a Latino's mom, but... unless I misinterpreted, that wasn't the case.
Anyways, I've given my opinion, but I still enjoyed the read. Frankly quite predictable, but aren't all stories these days.
I'll be completely honest, and say that the first half of the book was rather uninteresting. The action didn't start until the last hundred pages of the book, but there was definitely potential for more action earlier on as well, to make it more exciting. There was a lot of identity issues and character dialogue during the first half of the book, which is by no means irrelevant to the plot, but to me it got dull.
I also wish that Yadriel had been given a more distinct personality. Julian was exceptional, Maritza was amazing, Catriz was fabulous, but Yadriel...? He deserved more than being a pretty standard protagonist-y type. Apart from being trans, he doesn't stand out as a protagonist at all, and being trans shouldn't be what makes him special. At least the trans people I know have personalities beside being trans.
However! I loved how Spanish was used in this book. Usually, non-English words will be written in cursive, alienating them, as it were. But here they're kind of just woven into the text as any other word, because of course Spanish isn't foreign at all to the narrator, and it makes it easier for me as a reader to relate as well, despite being the from the whitest of corners in Norway.
This applies to the rest of the culture references as well. It was all explained in a very nice way.
On a side note concerning the identity and language here: Why was there one line where author Thomas wrote «Latinx mom»? If the gender was unspecified, it would've made perfect sense, but if it's given that she's a mom, then wouldn't she be Latina...? As far as I know, you wouldn't really have a Latino mom? Maybe a Latino's mom, but... unless I misinterpreted, that wasn't the case.
Anyways, I've given my opinion, but I still enjoyed the read. Frankly quite predictable, but aren't all stories these days.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Transphobia, and Blood
Moderate: Racism, Murder, Death of parent, and Dysphoria
Minor: Cursing, Deportation, Deadnaming, Alcohol, Animal death, Classism, and Abandonment
melist6's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexism, and Racism
Moderate: Deportation, Transphobia, Death, Dysphoria, Murder, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Child abuse, Animal death, and Deadnaming
binreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
5.0
The StoryGraph account actually recommended this book to me on tiktok!!
If i could give this a 1000000000000/10, I would.
I've had this sitting on my shelf for a while and since it is spooky season, I thought it was finally the perfect time to read. I loved every second of it. The trans/latin experience and representation was so refreshing to read.
I enjoyed the characters so much, the 3 musketeers, Yadriel, Maritza and Julian. Yad was endearing, Martiza was hysterical and Julien was the heart. The pacing was perfect, never felt too slow or rushed.
Spoilers ahead, beware!
I'm kinda impressed with myself because I had a feeling Tio Catriz was bad halfway through. Mostly because I was thinking, why is this dude being overly nice?
Especially when he caught sight of Yad's portaje, I knew something was up. Why wouldn't Catriz tell his own brother about Yadriel, wouldn't he be worried or concerned? If he really wanted to help Yadriel, why wouldn't he speak with him about it?
Then he was always coming and going so much throughout the book. What I DIDN'T guess, until it was literally happening, was that he had taken Miguel and Julien. That ending was WILD!!!
I saw there's a sequel in the works and I'm super excited to read it!
If i could give this a 1000000000000/10, I would.
I've had this sitting on my shelf for a while and since it is spooky season, I thought it was finally the perfect time to read. I loved every second of it. The trans/latin experience and representation was so refreshing to read.
I enjoyed the characters so much, the 3 musketeers, Yadriel, Maritza and Julian. Yad was endearing, Martiza was hysterical and Julien was the heart. The pacing was perfect, never felt too slow or rushed.
Spoilers ahead, beware!
Especially when he caught sight of Yad's portaje, I knew something was up. Why wouldn't Catriz tell his own brother about Yadriel, wouldn't he be worried or concerned? If he really wanted to help Yadriel, why wouldn't he speak with him about it?
Then he was always coming and going so much throughout the book. What I DIDN'T guess, until it was literally happening, was that he had taken Miguel and Julien. That ending was WILD!!!
I saw there's a sequel in the works and I'm super excited to read it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Transphobia, Grief, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Racism and Deportation
merah's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
sad
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
5.0
the writing is absolutely incredible.
I felt every single emotion while reading this book.
I felt every single emotion while reading this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Transphobia, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Medical content, Blood, Death, Murder, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Body horror, Deportation, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Dysphoria
Minor: Car accident, Confinement, Alcohol, Cancer, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Classism, Cultural appropriation, and Deadnaming
loads of knives, blades, cuts and stabbingslynxpardinus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Grief, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Suicide, Deadnaming, Self harm, Torture, Bullying, Classism, and Racism
Minor: Abandonment, Car accident, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Deportation, Gun violence, Outing, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts