Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

29 reviews

nikia4's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

I figured out the plot twist less than halfway thru the book and there were some things that felt like maybe lazy writing to me, but I honestly loved the characters, the romance, and the worldbuilding so much that this was still a really lovely read. I really enjoyed it. I think I may be older than the target age group for this book too and it would be a great book for younger kids/teenagers to read.

The things that confused me:
1. Why/how was Julian still briefly alive at the end pre Yadriel’s sacrifice when the others were all dead aside from it being a plot device for Yadriel to be able to talk to him… Also how did he have a spirit if he was still alive the whole time?? How did he survive while bleeding out for 3 days??
2. Those daggers needed to be in a triple locked safe and tracked at all times bro. Wdym it was in a box in some grandma’s storage??? it makes no sense that it was That easy to steal and that they were being that casual about it being lost

Aside from that tho i felt like there could have been more development towards the final twist in the second half, it kind of felt like there was no plot progress for a while until suddenly at midnight on Dia de Los Muertos. It slso made me sad that the uncle was the villain, even tho i could tell he was being set up for it bc he was just too perfect and nice/the daggers gave power and he didn’t have much. I didn’t love that the trope was that the one guy without power was the villain and I would have preferred if it was like a false flag and people turned on the Tio and then it turned out they were wrong. It would have done more for the narrative of broader inclusion. It felt like Yadriel’s arc was him being accepted because he evolved to fit perfectly into the binary, and I wish it had been a nicer message loll. But this book is definitely for people younger than me and I can see why a simple narrative of belonging like this would be important.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Murder

Moderate: Self harm, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty and Racism

splittedvoid's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-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

A lovely book but it is too slow paced for my taste

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Self harm, Transphobia, Blood, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

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 that

when Julian said "mi querido"

I screamed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Transphobia, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Self harm, Torture, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Classism, and Deportation

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Deadnaming, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Car accident, Outing, Abandonment, and Deportation

eve81's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Moderate: Self harm

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

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

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious relaxing

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

3.5

Ngl I teared up at the end /pos

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Transphobia, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Minor: Deadnaming

philippmk's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

To be honest, this book took me a while to get into. The ghost-romance was strange in the beginning, but the more time we spent with Yadriel and Julian, the more invested I was in their relationship and understood why they would fall for each other.
I also enjoyed the way this book used magic, with only a small amount of spells available to the brujx that are easy to understand for the reader and connect to the main theme of the book. It's only slightly frustrating that the extend to which ghosts can become physical is a little unclear, e.g. they will take the stairs or sit in a moving car like a living person, but also casually walk through other objects.
The best friend character I found absolutely annoying throughout the book. Although it was interesting to include some elements that feel more contemporary such as veganism into this fantasy world, her only other purpose seemed to yell "YADS!" every few pages.

This, unfortunately, extends to the climax of the book. The final, yet really only confrontation with the antagonist would've been a lot stronger if it had just been Yadriel against his uncle. It would've also felt stronger had we gotten more than just a brief appearances of Yadriel's uncle. Even though I had a feeling it was going to be him when we entered the cave, there really was no indication that he could be so cold-blooded.
And while there was a lot of yelling throughout the climax, both the goddess' dialogue and her followers' attitude seemed strangely casual to her appearance.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Self harm, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Alcohol

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

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

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

Discussion of gangs

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Transphobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Car accident, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Deportation

Self-harm for ritualistic purposes.