Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

150 reviews

birdie770's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Child death, and Blood

Minor: Car accident, Deportation, and Dysphoria

tinyjude's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted 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

4.5

So happy to exist in a time when these queer books exist and celebrate the lives of trans people from different cultures. I loved Yadriel and Julian's relationship, Maritza and Yadriel's friendship, the love and care put into making the story, characters and the representation and appreciation of their culture.

Younger me would have loved this even more 😭 it was healing to read specially in such an uncertain and terrifying time for trans lives and lgbt+ folks in general

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Grief, Murder, and Transphobia

Minor: Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Blood, Car accident, Homophobia, Deportation, Animal death, and Dysphoria

purplepickle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Dysphoria, Transphobia, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, and Deportation

Minor: Animal death, Deadnaming, and Injury/Injury detail

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

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

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

I spent the whole epilogue of this book crying. Then I just laid there staring at the sky, not really thinking anything, just... being. This is a beautiful book, and I'm so, so glad to have read it.

And, you know, at first "everyone lives" felt like a pulled punch of an ending. Surely, in a book literally about priestexes of death, someone has to die for everything to work out. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that, no. Thomas chose the exact right ending. In a world where queer and trans characters, especially those who are also people of the global majority, die more often than they live, and where, let's face it, real life isn't working out much better for queer and trans people, a book where the queer characters not only live but triumph and flourish and show the cishets a thing or two? Yeah. That's exactly the ending this book needed.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Deadnaming, Animal death, Dysphoria, and Medical content

Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia

ellacole03's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.25

I really enjoyed a look at the trans community through the lens of Spanish culture. With its culture being rooted in tradition, I like how the dad realized that transition and adaptability will keep the roots of the tradition thriving. I am not of Hispanic descent, but I really enjoyed the references to Dia de las Muertos and the casual use of Spanish, because it taught me some stuff that I don't think I even realized. I was a little confused about what a portaje was for the longest, but after I got that it was a dagger, it made more sense.

I also enjoyed the fact that Julian was, in fact, alive and the uncle was corrupted,

but I had 2 key things I loved about this book. I loved Yadriel and Maritza's relationship and I loved how

Julian felt Spanish was an intimate thing for him, then spoke it with Yadriel. Their relationship burned at just the right pace to not feel unrealistic.

The only thing that kind of put me off was the beginning was kind of slow, but I understand that it was because it needed to set up the situation and explain what all the terms were. Overall, really good read!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Murder, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Deadnaming, Animal death, Deportation, Transphobia, Blood, Car accident, 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

_nem_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

Rep: Trans ftm, gay & Latinx main character. Gay, trans mtf and Latinx side characters.

The book got off to a bit of a slow start but by the end I was desperate to know what was going to happen next. It was slightly confusing with the Spanish sprinkled into the dialogue but there were mostly explanations provided and you could still follow what was happening in the story. 

Overall I loved this book as the characters were so well fleshed out and they felt so familiar. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Dysphoria

sunsorbit's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

This book also heavily features ghosts/spirits, and passingly mentions possession. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Violence, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Car accident, Deportation, and Deadnaming

allena_inwonderland'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? It's complicated

4.0

Ugh I loved this story. I found myself encapsulated in the story of Yadriel, Julian, and Maritza. 
There was such wonderful representation of trans and gay rep! I really found it interesting learning about brujo culture within the Latinx community.  (In this specific story)
Yadriel struggles with his family accepting his gender identity, and it plays a part in who he sees himself as a brujo. He tries summoning his cousin’s ghost and winds up bringing someone else!
Maritza was such a fun character and she was so sassy!! She is that best friend everyone needs to remind them of who they are.
Julian is probably my favorite though, he’s the hype man and the loyalist person. The ride or die.
This shows queer joy, queer love and acceptance, but also queer trauma. ❤️
CW - allusion to deadnaming, misgendering, gender dysphoria, parent death

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Dysphoria

Minor: Deadnaming