Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

161 reviews

ageckocalledachilles's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0


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mirandyli's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? No

3.5

An emotional, fast-paced story about a young teenage boy who is gay and trans. Beautifully written and very sweet.

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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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turquoisebell's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

So pretty! I've never seen this type of magic system before, but I love it.

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mle11's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0


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jackie_marion's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0


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grets_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.75


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kirstenf's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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


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melist6's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny 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


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orinthebard's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Beautiful book. I hope many trans teens get to read it. I was confused by the lack of grief for the dead/missing Miguel at the beginning of the book, but I am an adult and emotions/lack thereof in YA novels don't always make sense to me. The first half felt slow/filler-y at times but the second half had me on the edge of my seat. Would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a spooky YA queer/trans read.

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