Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

107 reviews

robinks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I forgot how much I love paranormal romances 🥲 I loved all the characters and all the important topics Thomas was able to seamlessly include in the story. Even though I was able to predict the ending pretty early on and the ending was a little too perfect, I still enjoyed it. I highly recommend the audio book, as Roque does a phenomenal job of narrating, and the bonus interview with Thomas at the end is so lovely. I love #Yadrian!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Deadnaming and Racism

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Kidnapping, Murder, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

roadesntoades's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

Never has there a book that left like such a true reflection of queer youth in Latin communities. If people don’t like this book, they are not people I’d like to know.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Incest, Transphobia, Blood, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Chronic illness, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Outing

kristinallard's review

emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Deadnaming, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

mallorypen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious 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

3.75

I liked this book. The plot overall  and the conclusion were enjoyable and unique, and I found Yadriel, Julian and Maritsa to be  compelling and multifaceted characters.

The concept of the brujex was fascinating, and the lore was cohesive. Yadirel’s struggle to be seen as a brujo as well as a man was compelling, and it was interesting to think about the additional complications a trans person would face in a language so set in gendered terminology. It was a triumph at the end that his identity was confirmed so thoroughly by his community.

The relationship between Yadriel and Julian was very sweet. Julian’s panic and desire to keep even Yadirel’s family back when he came back to life was so fluffy and wonderful. The “mi querido” when Yadirel’s father asked if Julian was just a friend was amazing.

I also appreciated that there wasn’t a translation for all of the Spanish. Context clues and some of my comprehension were enough to get the gist, but it felt better than having a word-for-word translation from an authenticity standpoint.

My biggest drawback was the pacing. The first half of the book felt like it took forever to get through the plot. It was good to get a sense of the lore of the brujx, to understand how Yadirel’s trans identity was in conflict with their community’s traditions, and how Julian’s personality and home life impacted his character … but it took a LONG time to get to a point where I felt like the pacing was appropriate for the kind of story being told.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Animal death

renlheffernan's review

adventurous lighthearted 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? Yes

4.75

Cemetery Boys was an absolute treat to read. I loved all the characters and their interactions with each other. Yadriel as the main character was perfect choice and I enjoyed how his trans identity was incorporated with the traditions of the brujx. I liked the sense of secrecy around the mystery and it made sense why things were kept from the adults in the story for so long. It was great having a character use and mention wearing a binder!

Julian and Yadriel had such a great dynamic and it was enjoyable to see their relationship progress throughout the novel. I loved how we slowly learned about Julian throughout the novel too, while Yadriel was more of the type to wear everything on his sleeve. Maritza was lovely and her interactions with everyone were great. The characters' goals were clear, the plot was fun even though it was dealing with heavy stuff like death, as well as what it means to grieve/remember someone.

Throughout this novel there was a sense of almost sadness at the prospect of relationship between Julian and Yadriel, as they can't really be together as spirit and human.

But that ending though! I am so glad Yadriel had his hero moment and him and Julian can be together!

I have never read a novel about the traditions incorporated within such as Día de los Muertos, and it did not take me long to get familiarized with the importance of these traditions in this novel as well to real people around the world.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who is open-minded and loves to read about different cultures in young adult literature.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical content, Car accident, and Cultural appropriation

nellienelson's review

adventurous emotional funny 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

I JUST FINISHED READING IT AND I LOVED IT SO MUCH OMG. The representation was so good, so was the storyline and the story itself. I could really relate to the characters. Even though I already suspected what the plot twist would be somewhere in the middle of the book, it still had me on the edge of my seat while reading. It was so well-written and just amazing. 
I definitely recommend!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Outing

Minor: Vomit, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

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

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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

Discussion of gangs

a_libra_library's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense slow-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Grief

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

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

Self-harm for ritualistic purposes.

heapofhay's review against another edition

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? No

4.0

I really liked the book, it was a fun read with loveable characters and good writting. Some things where a bit underdeveloped and plotholey

did we ever learn what it was that Julian and Rio fought about? And would maybe have liked more talking about the death of Yadriels mother) and I had the plot twistfigured out since... I belive chapter 2? (Did also not like how the only other outsider, even thou for a diffrent reason, where non transphobic and always accepting Tio Catriz. Thou there where a very brief acknowledgement from Enriuqe that the family played a part in making Catriz do what he did). I also would have liked to see more of Julians friends and feelt that Maritza was a bit passive in some scenes she was in, not saying anything even thought it felt like it was something she could and would do.

But yeah, sweet book and enjoyable to read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Animal death, Deadnaming, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Car accident