Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

1025 reviews

echaurz's review against another edition

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adventurous 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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the_bookish_owl's review

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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? No

4.0

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aleareads's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.5

There are so many beautiful, amazing parts to Cemetery Boys! The imagery and details of the Latinx culture and brujx folklore were incredible, and the characters are so heartfelt. 

I would have loved to get more of the thrilling mystery in the middle of the story instead of just at the beginning and the end, so the pacing did feel a little off. That being said, the last few chapters of this book are some of the best chapters I’ve read in a long time for so many reasons (but I will refrain from spoilers, so you just need to read it to find out why!!).

I highly recommend, especially if you love:
👻 ghosts (excuse me, spirits) and magic 
🌼 vibrant cultures and traditions 
💛stories of identity and belonging
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sadie_g's review

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I'd had this book for a while and just never read it and I'm so glad I finally did! It was so good, I loved the relationships and friendships and how deep they all were. You could tell that these characters were truly found family to each other. 

The story itself was fun and the mystery had me intrigued the whole time. I'm very happy with how the book ended, even though I suspected it would end this way. I do wish the reveal at the end was a bit longer but otherwise, this book was great. 

Has great representation and believable characters. The setting was so cool, and I liked the magical elements of this. 
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singsandreads's review

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adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.5

I was gonna give it a 5 star, but honestly the twist at the end was anticlimactic for me. There were definitely some elements I didn’t see coming though. 
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mariebrunelm's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

Yadriel is a brujo, there’s no doubt about that to him. But to his family, his transition is still difficult to process and so far he hasn’t been able to take part in the official ceremony during which he is given his portaje, the tool channelling his magic to help spirits go to the spirit world instead of lingering in the realm of the living. That doesn’t stop him, and with the help of his friend Maritza he performs the ceremony himself and Lady Death welcomes him. However, his joy is only momentary when his brother passes away suddenly and his body can’t be found. When Yadriel tries to find him by himself, he only finds another spirit who died recently — the slightly insufferable but charming Julian. Yadriel, Maritza and the ghost of Julian embark on a quest with a ticking clock. Día de Muertos is looming and they have to find Yadriel’s brother by then as well as help Julian remember the circumstances of his death.
What a page-turning, fun book ! I was longing for a truly engrossing read since it had been a long time a book had really hooked me, and this YA paranormal adventure was exactly what the doctor ordered. You have very loveable although imperfect characters, the enchanting setting of autumn in the latinx community of Los Angeles, and a fast-but-not-too-fast plot to keep you reading. I really enjoyed the psychology of characters. Each of them was flawed but good-hearted and willing to help each other. It was slightly heart-breaking to follow Yadriel’s struggles to be accepted by his family, but you can tell that was close to the author’s heart and done very sensitively. The play on bilingualism was chef’s kiss as well and led to even more moving scenes (iykyk). To top it all, and I’ll say it vaguely so as not to spoil anything, I loved that tradition was on Yadriel’s side as a trans boy. That was extremely heart-warming.
All in all, a delightful YA book that is perfect for Autumn !
Rep: latino trans MC, latino gay SC, latina vegan SC.
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disnelyse's review

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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? It's complicated

5.0

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beginningbookend's review against another edition

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It's a perfectly good YA as far as I can judge! But it felt very slice of life. By a third of the way through the book only two plot points had happened, and those were the inciting incidents. There was a lot of time spent on character building in really small ways that didn't hook me. 

The book also felt very conscious of its treatment of representation. I'm guessing that's more a facet of its genre than the author, but it did that YA thing of overexplaining things. 

I'm sure it's a good book for someone,just not for me!
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meheehee's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

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swimmingwolf59's review

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

3.5

I really loved the world building in this book, it was an extremely cool setting!! I also enjoyed the mystery aspect of the book, and I'm happy that I was able to figure it out 😄 I also love Julian, my sweet child 🥹 But I didn't vibe with the main character very much and the pacing of the book was a bit slow for my taste. This is just a personal thing too, but I prefer when world building is slowly unfurled as the book goes on, so the info dump at the beginning of this book was a bit much for my tastes. Still an enjoyable read though!
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