Reviews with content warning for Deportation - Cemetery Boys

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Reviews tagging 'Deportation'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

99 reviews

offthecarousel_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

I loved this a lot!!

This LGBT coming-of-age story was extremely compelling and had a good ratio of mystery mixed with character development. The romance felt gradual and believable (what feels like a rarity for stories with MCs in high school) and was very cute.

A great book for trans representation and I believe both of the main characters are neurodivergent as well (anxiety and ADHD). I'm excited for the sequel.

I described Yadriel and Julian to my friends as "an anxious grumpy/reckless sunshine vibe." They're so fun!

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male_soley's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny 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

5.0

I've read the book two times now and I still absolutely love it. I love the queer representation, I love the influence of Latin American culture, I love the ups and downs especially with Yadriel's family. The characters and the relationships between the characters are so adorable and I really felt with them.

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gemstonejasper's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.0

This was a fun book. The audio is great. I loved the trans rep in Yadriel. As a trans person myself, I really related to him. Julian has ADHD. That's not up for debate as far as I'm concerned. I have ADHD and relate to him so much. I loved the characters. I will say that Yadriel was kind of a jerk at times. I think growing up in a graveyard may have desensitized him to the very real horror that Julian found himself in. He's dead and doesn't know how that happened, and none of his loved ones can see him. That's a lot for anyone, especially a kid. But Yadriel keeps asking, "are you okay?" Like no. He's not ok. He's dead. Stop asking. But I loved all of the major characters regardless of that. It's a cute paranormal romance that touches on some interesting themes and I would recommend it.

I didn't care for the twist villain. He was the only living adult who supported Yadriel, so I'm not sure how I felt about him being a twist villain. But it was still good.

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callmeames's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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classicalhell's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced

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

3.5

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cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

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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.

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