Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

27 reviews

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

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

eve81's review

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

Moderate: Self harm

thattinyone's review

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

penofpossibilities's review

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: Blood, Self harm, Murder, and Transphobia

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

Minor: Deadnaming

philippmk's review

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, Transphobia, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Self harm

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Deadnaming, and Death of parent

vaguely_pink's review

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

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

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

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: Violence, Death, and Grief

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

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

Self-harm for ritualistic purposes.

tays_books's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Murder, Death, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Blood

Minor: Self harm

arthur_ant18'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Homophobia, Sexism, Misogyny, Medical content, Murder, Racism, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal death, Self harm, Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, and Car accident