Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

149 reviews

kestrelfire's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Violence, Racism, and Transphobia

birdieex's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

I cannot begin to explain how many tears I shed from this book! Our main character is a gay, trans, Latino boy. The rep is absolutely incredible. The language and culture interwoven is beautiful. I found myself using an online translator for some words and phrases simply to get the direct meaning, but the author makes it possible to use context clues to figure it out if you don't speak Spanish and sometimes straight up tells you in text.

I fell in love with Yadriel and Julian a soon as they appeared on the page and I highlighted so many quotes the made me laugh. The characters are so strong and I was so absorbed in the world that I had trouble wanting to put the book down.

As a trans adult who was that trans teen fighting for their identity to be seen, that aspect affected me deeply. It was hard to see Yadriel's struggle since I related so much, but it was so beautifully written.

One of my favorite books by far! Can't wait to read more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Dysphoria, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Outing, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death of parent, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Deportation, Police brutality, Violence, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Cursing

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Car accident, Sexism, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Women are discouraged from a certain job in the community.

sapphic_alpaca's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Death, Gore, Body horror, Cursing, Blood, Dysphoria, Transphobia, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Deadnaming

Minor: Homophobia, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Deportation, and Sexual content

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: Blood, Death, Racism, and Transphobia

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

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

astralfeline's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

I tried starting this book multiple times throughout the past couple yrs and for some reason was never hooked in the first couple chapters. But I was determined to make it happen this time since I'd heard so many good things about this book and I have to say I wish I'd read it earlier 😭 This is the sweetest story. I love the lgbt (especially trans) rep in this story. I love the characters and how they feel like real people with their own motivations and interests. I loved the added details about Día de Muertos while also adding in the extra magical elements making it a bit more fantasy feeling.  The character interactions and relationships amongst each other are so well done. And I think the plot and overall storyline is just perfect. It didn't feel like it dragged at any point, but it wasn't too short either. I loved listening to the audiobook and reading along at the same time so I could see the spelling of any Spanish words or phrases and easily translate them if needed. Also

the chemistry and interactions between Julian and Yadriel definitely had me giggling and kicking my feet, it was just so cute. I'm so glad this book had a happy ending because towards the end it definitely had me in tears

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

psitstorrie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

The premise and characters are fantastic. The pacing is very inconsistent though. It starts off so, so slow, but right at the end it is full steam ahead, with little built in between. I enjoyed the book a lot though, and it was really nice seeing the family dynamics play out how they did. It’s fun and dark at the same time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Death, Abandonment, Murder, Transphobia, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Deadnaming, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death and Car accident

mylynn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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 loved this! It has vibrant worldbuilding, intersting lore, great complex character development, mystery,slow-burn romance, banter, etc. This book centers around Dia De Los Muertos, and our main character and his family are brujx who help spirits (brujo) and are able to heal (bruja).

I loved the coming of age story of Yadriel, as he journeys to gain acceptance from the other brujos. Maritza was a great companion to Yadriel and I loved how she was also going against the grain in her own ways. Julian was my favorite character, I loved how he questioned Yadriel's motivations and showed Yadriel that he didn't need to prove anything to the other brujx. I love that we got to meet Julian's friends and see into his life and he had some of my favorite lines. I've said 'love' so many times in this review but it is what it is.

I listened to the audiobook and it was a great experience. I loved the emotion that Avi Roque put into his performance, and he definitely brought the characters to life. At the end of the audiobook there is a really cute interview between Aiden Thomas and Avi Roque and I could seriously listen to them talk excitedly about anything all day long.

There's a reason I can't stop reading YA and it's because it continues to deliver books like this one!

This was my first book towards the January prompts from #TheDiverseBaseline (prompt: Latine Author). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Racism, Murder, Transphobia, Blood, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, and Homophobia

classicalhell's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Transphobia

Moderate: Car accident, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Abandonment, Animal death, Deportation, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Child abuse

ageckocalledachilles's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Homophobia, Outing, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Racism, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Medical content, and Classism

mirandyli's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Dysphoria, Grief, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder