Reviews with content warning for Torture - Cemetery Boys

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

28 reviews

voidboi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

- very cute spooky, mostly closer to middle-grade but with some more graphic violence at the end that pushes it more towards YA
- Great characters, great chemistry, the romance-y bits with the car etc were perfect
- sometimes cheesy leaning into identity politics (mostly the vegan and side-queer things, a little more telling than showing), but the author is trans and this is a great trans MC treated with so much love and honesty

- all the flipping back and forth with thinking people were really dead at the end was a bit much, and lessened the impact eventually.
- I wish the author had taken more time with the ending- I get the value of a simple happy ending, but the things they went through at the end weren't simple and I don't think the character's reactions were very realistic or relatable. Yadriel and Julian can care deeply for each other and still experience their own pain and recovery, without completely ignoring everyone trying to help them. Then again, they're teenage boys, so maybe that part just wasn't for me.
- Very disappointed that the queer-coded uncle was evil. However, the text does an excellent job of highlighting that he was corrupted by an outside source, and the brujx community takes responsibility for their part in creating that vulnerability, so I think it was very well done.

-Overall, this was fun and sweet and I'm sure will mean so much to kids and teens who need this story with them. Glad I read it.

Content Warnings

bentenuala's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the Spanish and the Latin culture and holidays brought into the story. It was so amazing to read. And I really liked the characters! I will admit that I saw the twist coming, it was kind of predictable. But that didn't take away from my enjoyment at all. Perfect read for the autumn season, especially October and Día de los Muertos.

Definitely check the trigger warnings though!

Content Warnings

alouette's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

As expected, I really loved this book. An own voices story about a trans latinx kid, filled with magic and mystery and romance? Beautiful premise, and well executed to boot, if not a bit cheesy at times. The character dynamics and the characters themselves were probably my favourite part, but of course I also loved the descriptions of the rich culture behind Día de Muertos and all of Yadriel's family (despite their flaws). Yadriel himself was a very lovable, relatable character, same with Julian and Maritza in their unique ways. And the twist, while I saw it coming, was absolutely fascinating and engaging. While I usually have qualms with books that only take place over a few days, the pacing of this one was magnificent as well, and (mostly) believable.

Before I stop myself from going on too much of a ramble, I have to mention how the way Yadriel's deadname was never said made me very happy. He wasn't reduced to who people expect him to be, who they thought he was- he's Yadriel, and he's awesome, and no one can take that away from him.

music pairing: domestic bliss by glass animals

Content Warnings

tachyondecay's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was one of those books where I was afraid it would not live up to the hype, because people I follow on Twitter have not been able to stop talking about it. Fortunately, Cemetery Boys lived up to the hype—perhaps even exceeded it in some ways—and I went from being apprehensive about possibly not liking such a popular book to being really happy I took this chance. It’s great as a trans story, great as a supernatural mystery, probably great as a romance too (not such a fan of that part, myself). I love how Aiden Thomas combines supernatural elements of Latinx beliefs with the hunt for a missing community member and the main character’s own struggles to belong.

Yadriel is seventeen years old, two years past when he should have celebrated his quinces and been inducted as a brujo, a male member of his community who can use magic to send spirits on to the afterlife. The issue? Yads is transgender. His late mother was very supportive of his transition and how that related to his future in the brujx community. His father and the other leaders of the community? They are supportive in some ways—doing their best to call him by his proper name, for instance—yet they do not embrace him as a brujo. This stings, of course, and the novel opens with Yadriel and his best friend, Maritska, sneaking into the church at their community’s cemetery to perform Yadriel’s quinces ceremony themselves. In a classic case of “be careful what you wish for,” Yadriel acquires the power that is his male birthright, and immediately ends up entangled with the spirit of a boy his age who died that night. As the community reels from one of their own dying under mysterious, unexplained circumstances, Yads must help Julian find out how he died so he can get closure.

I love the setup in this novel. For the first few pages, I admit I was a little lost, but you quickly adapt to Thomas’ style of narration and lose yourself in the action. I love that Thomas sets up the death/disappearance of Miguel and then immediately sidetracks us into the main plot—Yadriel and Julian—while making it clear that there must be some kind of connection happening. Indeed, one of my criticisms of this book would simply be that the mystery is fairly obvious: it was easy for me to connect the dots, to deduce who was behind everything and what they were up to, right up until the climax. Neverthless, Thomas executes it so artfully that I don’t mind I saw it all coming. The foreshadowing, the fulfilment … mmm, yeah, it’s all there.

There are some excellent themes about family here, both blood and found. Yads and Maritska’s bond is great. Similarly, Thomas portrays the realities of many poor youth (particularly Latinx) in places like southern California—Julian and his friends are not exactly running in a gang, but many of them have precarious home lives that cause them to be on the streets more than is safe for them. Julian sums this up perhaps most poignantly when he confesses to Yads that he never expected to live very long—perhaps only to thirty. His is a life already circumscribed in potential not by dint of anything he has done, or who he is, but rather because of how the system works.

Thomas explores similar issues of race and racism throughout the novel. Community members have difficulty filing a police report, for the police would prefer to interrogate them about their immigration status rather than provide them an interpreter. Similarly, neither Julian’s friends nor his brother Rio consider filing a missing persons report for Julian, because the police will probably consider him a runaway and therefore not worth their time. This exact issue comes up in Hood Feminism, which I just finished! All in all, Thomas deftly highlights the cracks in our society in a way that young Latinx readers will recognize while people like me, who don’t experience such issues, will hopefully learn and become more aware as a result.

I also really like how Thomas (who is trans) characterizes Yadriel and portrays his transition. For example, we never learn Yadriel’s deadname. At one point, a character slips up and uses it, but the narrator simply says that she uses Yadriel’s deadname without sharing it with us. Similarly, although the book contains misgendering and transphobia, it does so in a way that is compassionate to the reader’s experience.

I like how, at one point, Julian challenges Yadriel, asking why it’s so important that Yads prove to his father and the other brujos that Yads is real brujo. This sparks a powerful discussion that forces Yadriel to consider his motivations—is proving himself something he’s doing for his family, or for himself? As Julian points out, statistically speaking Yadriel cannot be the first trans brujx.

And—this is why I’ve flagged this review as containing spoilers—I have to say that when the moment comes and Yadriel’s father realizes that Yadriel can perform the brujo magic, it’s anticlimactic. I think this is what Julian was trying to get at when he challenges Yads: sure, Lady Death has acknowledged your true gender, and that’s cool, but isn’t it messed up some of your family members need that acknowledgement? Shouldn’t they have taken you at your word anyway? So the sanguine ending in which Yads is suddenly taken in as a true son and true brujo by his father because he proved useful, heroic, etc., isn’t super satisfying to me.

That being said, I don’t think I would have liked the alternative (Yads going his own separate way because his family doesn’t support him), and I understand what Thomas was going for with such an emotional moment of climax and acceptance. I just wish that trans characters didn’t have to prove their usefulness for reluctant family members to see them as the people they are.

That’s my major criticism of Cemetery Boys. Everything else, I loved. The dialogue. The wit. The slightly predictable mystery. The portrayal of gender and sexuality. This is a novel that has been honed to a razor’s edge of competent, compelling characterization and prose.

Content Warnings

stardustandrockets's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

For fans of Julie and the Phantoms, the Raven Cycle, and/or Destiel
•
This story perfectly mixes modern and traditional elements of Latinx culture along with LGBTQ+ issues, deportation, gender identity and what it means to be a man, and family (found and biological).
🕯
Cemetery Boys is the perfect story for anyone who loves a good love story *and* a good ghost story. The mystery and intrigue surrounding the circumstances of Julian's death will keep you hooked until the very last page. 🖤 The mix of Spanish and English was a fantastic touch and helped bring a real authenticity to the East LA setting. As a non-Spanish speaker, I had to look things up, but I'm always 100% willing to put in the extra work. Hell, I have to look up English words too. 😆
🕯
Yadriel and Julian are such a wonderful duo. I love them so much!
》Yadriel — reserved and anxious; reminds me a lot of Alex from JatP and Adam from TRC
》Julian — reckless and so full of puppy dog energy; reminds me a lot of Ronan Lynch from TRC and Reggie from JatP
🕯
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐//5 (ALL THE STARS)

Content Warnings

haleyapratt's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

sssssss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this book! this book... it’s so amazing, to start off with. I read it for the first time a few weeks ago and since then have already started my reread of it. I don’t even know how to put into words my love of this book. just please read it, you will not regret it (but check out the content warnings first!)

also the line, « no, none of us deserved julian diaz » 😭😭😭

also to add, the characters are so well-developed and each of them feel so real. even the side characters feel like they have their own distinct personality and the main characters were well fleshed-out. the fears, wants and thoughts of these characters also are so realistic to their personalities. i just love this book 🥺😭😭.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Transphobia, Child abuse, Death, Sexism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Torture, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

The suicidal thoughts spolier is for something Julian says early on in reference to how his brother is probably glad that he is gone. This isn’t necessarily an explicit suicidal thought but it’s the kind of thinking a lot of suicidal people can have. Additionally, it is mentioned at one point that the two parents of a dead/missing character go to the police to report them missing but the police begin to question them and it is mentioned the police wanted to deport them (they are latinx, I don’t remember their exact ethnicity/(ies). One of the reasons put for this was that they spoke very little english, and the police often respond to this with the xenophobic and racist reaction of wanting to deport them. The characters do not end up getting deported, luckily. At the end (cult tw) and major spoilers for the end of the book (scroll down to see a less detailed/spoilery tw of this)

there is a mention of the characters who were found alive in the old church having been part of a cult ritual as a police explanation. this could be triggering to some readers. additionally, while it is not necessarily a cult, there was a ritual used by a character that was going to kill 4 people. these people were found in time and the character performing the ritual dies instead, but this could also be triggering to some readers.

(cult mention) At the end, there are mentions of a cult in order to explain to people why something significant happened in the book. There are also mentions of a cult ritual. (minor spoilers)

There are an additional few scenes of a ritual taking place, although this ritual is not necessarily a cult ritual. One character dies, but the other characters end up okay.(injuries + stabbing mention)There are mentions of blood and stabbing, and a scene where a character gets a major stab wound. This character ends up okay.

Also mentioned parental abuse, though not explicitly shown. These mentions do not happen a ton but this book doesn’t shy away from being real, so just for a warning. At one point, (animal abuse slightly, but not done purposefully) it is mentioned how the failed healing of a cat caused the cat to be harmed forever. the cat is not in pain but their leg is mutilated. also a warning for slightly unsafe binder use. of course all binder are different but make sure to look up the safety measures for using a binder if you do use one, as this book had some points of the mc sometimes misusing it. there are some mentions of the binder causing them to feel in pain when they are running or something similar, but they are brief. finally, there are a few brief instances of deadnaming. we see yadriel’s hurt reaction and know his thoughts and feelings on it, and this could be triggering. yadriel’s dead name is never spelled-outhowever, so the dead-naming is handled gracefully.

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