Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

41 reviews

thattinyone's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Transphobia, and Violence

Minor: Deportation, Self harm, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Deadnaming, and Dysphoria

immovabletype's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Dysphoria, Medical content, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

Minor: Child death, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Animal death, and Deportation

kaziaroo's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I was shocked when I read the acknowledgements at the end and found that the author wasn't originally going to write about a trans character and Latinx culture, because those, and the bold, loveable characters, are what really make this book stand out. Otherwise, the writing was a bit repetitive (there's lots of "Yadriel didn't know how to respond" and "Julian tilted his head") and the main mystery was very obvious, but the characters and the depictions of the different facets of their culture and how the characters each relate to the culture are special. It just goes to show that plot isn't everything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Dysphoria, Transphobia, and Death

Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Outing, Death of parent, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Car accident, Deadnaming, Child abuse, Deportation, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation

robinks's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense 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? No

5.0

I forgot how much I love paranormal romances 🥲 I loved all the characters and all the important topics Thomas was able to seamlessly include in the story. Even though I was able to predict the ending pretty early on and the ending was a little too perfect, I still enjoyed it. I highly recommend the audio book, as Roque does a phenomenal job of narrating, and the bonus interview with Thomas at the end is so lovely. I love #Yadrian!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Misogyny, Deportation, Violence, Xenophobia, Death, Classism, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Sexism, Transphobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Deadnaming and Racism

Minor: Alcohol, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Dysphoria, Animal death, Child death, and Bullying

journey2's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring 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

I *LOVED* this book. No pretext, this book is amazing.
 I felt every emotion. I cried many many many tears!
I love reading a story where you feel the love build naturally and honestly as you go. Their love was palpable. The way they saw each other and the passion they felt about everything about each other was so incredible and raw. They cared, they truly cared and wanted the very best for each other and he people that were important to them. 

This book was written with such heart, such beauty and such passion and it has immediately jumped into my favourite book collection. 
 I will read this again and again.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Cultural appropriation, Deportation, Gun violence, Cursing, Child death, Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Violence

TW for transphobia, deadnaming, bullying, blood, violence, death, murder, gangs, conversation about cultural appropriation, deportation

erenrinren's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious 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

4.75

Cemetery Boys was an absolute treat to read. I loved all the characters and their interactions with each other. Yadriel as the main character was perfect choice and I enjoyed how his trans identity was incorporated with the traditions of the brujx. I liked the sense of secrecy around the mystery and it made sense why things were kept from the adults in the story for so long. It was great having a character use and mention wearing a binder!

Julian and Yadriel had such a great dynamic and it was enjoyable to see their relationship progress throughout the novel. I loved how we slowly learned about Julian throughout the novel too, while Yadriel was more of the type to wear everything on his sleeve. Maritza was lovely and her interactions with everyone were great. The characters' goals were clear, the plot was fun even though it was dealing with heavy stuff like death, as well as what it means to grieve/remember someone.

Throughout this novel there was a sense of almost sadness at the prospect of relationship between Julian and Yadriel, as they can't really be together as spirit and human.

But that ending though! I am so glad Yadriel had his hero moment and him and Julian can be together!

I have never read a novel about the traditions incorporated within such as Día de los Muertos, and it did not take me long to get familiarized with the importance of these traditions in this novel as well to real people around the world.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who is open-minded and loves to read about different cultures in young adult literature.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Transphobia, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Deadnaming

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Medical content, and Car accident

hannah_mezz's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Deadnaming

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, and Blood

Minor: Cultural appropriation

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Bullying, and Cursing

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Religious bigotry, Racism, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Police brutality

Discussion of gangs

thenerdybookwitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

Amazing book! I cried so many times, laughed so many times—one of my new fave books I will treasure it. I cannot wait for the eventually sequel to come! 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Deadnaming, Death, Cursing, Transphobia, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Violence, Gaslighting, and Medical content

Minor: Classism, Ableism, Alcohol, Deportation, Child abuse, Vomit, Bullying, and Cultural appropriation

a_libra_library's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deportation, Deadnaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Abandonment, Homophobia, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence