Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

37 reviews

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Racism, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Deportation, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

kalzeb's review against another edition

funny mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Deadnaming and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, and Grief

hannahbailey's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

Sadly I really struggled with this. The writing was very juvenile/wattpad-like in the sense that the prose was incredibly clunky and the secondary characters were underdeveloped. There were lots of filler chapters which really dragged and then conflict was resolved unrealistically quickly over a couple of pages. The plot didn’t seem well thought out and I was confused by the quick ‘twist’ and ending. Characters would mysteriously disappear during a scene only to save the day a few pages later with no explanation - there were lots of moments when I thought ‘wait, weren’t you here the whole time’?? The immaturity of the dialogue made this book feel more middle-grade to me, however I can see why it’s aimed at an older audience because of the graphic/heavy themes. Overall, I’m just surprised this got through the editing stages given how under-edited it feels 😔

TW: transphobia, death, death of parent, murder, violence, knife crime, blood, animal death, gore

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Deadnaming, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Animal death, Sexism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Misogyny, and Transphobia

tinyjude's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted 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

4.5

So happy to exist in a time when these queer books exist and celebrate the lives of trans people from different cultures. I loved Yadriel and Julian's relationship, Maritza and Yadriel's friendship, the love and care put into making the story, characters and the representation and appreciation of their culture.

Younger me would have loved this even more 😭 it was healing to read specially in such an uncertain and terrifying time for trans lives and lgbt+ folks in general

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Blood, Car accident, Homophobia, Deportation, Animal death, and Dysphoria

angievansprang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

The characters in this book were so vivid and alive, ironic considering some were ghosts. I found myself hopelessly enthralled by this YA romance and constantly trying to predict the outcome of the mystery/thriller side. A novel rich in Latine and general teen culture, I would definitely recommend giving this one a read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Abandonment and Animal cruelty

twistykris's review

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? Yes

5.0

This book gave me all the feels and I'm tearing up looking at fan art of my two sweet boys! It got me KICKIN' MAH FEET!!

I love the cast that represents diversity within the Latinx community- Yadriel is Cuban and Mexican, and Julian is Colombian- as well as the diversity in the queer community- Yadriel is trans and gay, Julian is gay.

There were so many funny, sweet moments as Yadriel and Julian got to know each other while (sort of) solving the mystery of Julian's death (to be honest, the mystery was less a part of the plot than I expected, but I'm okay with it?). The moment when

Julian crosses out Yadriel's dead name in the yearbook</spoiler had me SOBBING😭

  Also, I adore Maritza.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Avi Roque and it was wonderful to hear a Latinx, trans person narrate a book that was so important to them. There was an interview between Avi and Aiden at the end and it was great to hear how Macmillan was dedicated to finding an audiobook narrator and cover artist that was representative in the community this book was meant for, by being either POC, trans, or both.
However, it is noticeable that this is Avi's first audiobook. There are certain sentences where the emphasis would be on the "wrong" word, or awkward pauses or lack of pauses. It brought me out of the immersion at times, but overall, it wasn't super distracting. The fact Spanish phrases and names were pronounced as they should be-rather than butchered in my head- outweighs the inexperienced narrator.

Overall, a really sweet, charming story about two boys that I will never forget 💜

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Deadnaming, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty

nellienelson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.75

I JUST FINISHED READING IT AND I LOVED IT SO MUCH OMG. The representation was so good, so was the storyline and the story itself. I could really relate to the characters. Even though I already suspected what the plot twist would be somewhere in the middle of the book, it still had me on the edge of my seat while reading. It was so well-written and just amazing. 
I definitely recommend!!

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Outing, Violence, Death of parent, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

4.5

An astounding book with no shortage of heart-wrenching teen drama. Yadriel is a brujo, one of the male members of a necromantic tradition stretching back to pre-colonial Central America. He is also transgender and accidentally falls in love with the first spirit he raises, Julian. With the backdrop of a mysterious death in the brujo community and the possibility that Julian's death is linked, I literally burned the midnight oil to read the end of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Transphobia, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Cursing, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexism, Stalking, Misogyny, Bullying, Confinement, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racism, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Deadnaming, Deportation, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Colonisation, Alcohol, and Vomit

angeldaft's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

Very juvenile, if you're into adult literature you probably won't enjoy this book as much. It was really fun, cute and wholesome. The writing style it's very nice, if a little repetitive. Overall an amazing read i would recommend to any young adult.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Deadnaming, and Deportation

Minor: Alcohol

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

I can’t believe it took me so long to finally getting around to reading this. Oh my gosh. This book filled me with so much emotion. Family (of origin and found), identity, magic, death…what more could you want really? While I did see some things coming, I still really enjoyed this and was surprised by some things. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, and Medical content

Minor: Deportation, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Car accident, and Deadnaming