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A review by voidboi
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
3.75
- very cute spooky, mostly closer to middle-grade but with some more graphic violence at the end that pushes it more towards YA
- Great characters, great chemistry, the romance-y bits with the car etc were perfect
- sometimes cheesy leaning into identity politics (mostly the vegan and side-queer things, a little more telling than showing), but the author is trans and this is a great trans MC treated with so much love and honesty
- all the flipping back and forth with thinking people were really dead at the end was a bit much, and lessened the impact eventually.
- I wish the author had taken more time with the ending- I get the value of a simple happy ending, but the things they went through at the end weren't simple and I don't think the character's reactions were very realistic or relatable. Yadriel and Julian can care deeply for each other and still experience their own pain and recovery, without completely ignoring everyone trying to help them. Then again, they're teenage boys, so maybe that part just wasn't for me.
- Very disappointed that the queer-coded uncle was evil. However, the text does an excellent job of highlighting that he was corrupted by an outside source, and the brujx community takes responsibility for their part in creating that vulnerability, so I think it was very well done.
-Overall, this was fun and sweet and I'm sure will mean so much to kids and teens who need this story with them. Glad I read it.
- Great characters, great chemistry, the romance-y bits with the car etc were perfect
- sometimes cheesy leaning into identity politics (mostly the vegan and side-queer things, a little more telling than showing), but the author is trans and this is a great trans MC treated with so much love and honesty
- I wish the author had taken more time with the ending- I get the value of a simple happy ending, but the things they went through at the end weren't simple and I don't think the character's reactions were very realistic or relatable. Yadriel and Julian can care deeply for each other and still experience their own pain and recovery, without completely ignoring everyone trying to help them. Then again, they're teenage boys, so maybe that part just wasn't for me.
- Very disappointed that the queer-coded uncle was evil. However, the text does an excellent job of highlighting that he was corrupted by an outside source, and the brujx community takes responsibility for their part in creating that vulnerability, so I think it was very well done.
-Overall, this was fun and sweet and I'm sure will mean so much to kids and teens who need this story with them. Glad I read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Torture
Minor: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders