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merlin_reads 's review for:
Cemetery Boys
by Aiden Thomas
This is one of those books that has been on my radar for awhile. The premise had me intrigued, trans latinx MC - yes please. There were so many things that had me excited to read this one. And honestly, it really was enjoyable. There were just a few things that kind of made me go, eh, and I couldn't really rate it up to 4.
What drew me to this story was the culture and the mystery. Yadriel's cousin goes missing while on assignment in the graveyard and no one can locate his body, but because of their magical connection, they all felt something happen to him so he's believed to be dead. This sets off a chain of events with Yadriel and his family searching for Miguel's body & Yadriel accidentally summoning another spirit. This one of a boy named Julian who has no idea how he became a spirit, just that he was attacked and now here he is.
I loved learning about Yadriel's culture - from the brujo's to the bruja's. The way gender roles are defined in the family and how that affected Yadriel. To me, this was where the story lied. The heart of it, if you will. How Yadriel being trans challenged years of ingrained gender norms and how even his own father struggled to adapt. My heart broke every time someone referred to Yadriel as a girl or his dead name. And while I loved the addition of Julian, the love story started to overshadow everything else and that changed the course for me.
Julian was an enigma. He really was a fun character. His presence lightened the mood for bit and brought some fun comedic relief. But then the love story started taking over and it became more about that then the mystery. And by then end - the overreaction they both had - I was just like, it's all right. It also didn't help that the "villain" was pretty predictable.
I think had the romance plot not gone from 0 - obsession so fast and arrived more organically I would have rated this higher, but I did really enjoy it and will most likely read the sequel.
What drew me to this story was the culture and the mystery. Yadriel's cousin goes missing while on assignment in the graveyard and no one can locate his body, but because of their magical connection, they all felt something happen to him so he's believed to be dead. This sets off a chain of events with Yadriel and his family searching for Miguel's body & Yadriel accidentally summoning another spirit. This one of a boy named Julian who has no idea how he became a spirit, just that he was attacked and now here he is.
I loved learning about Yadriel's culture - from the brujo's to the bruja's. The way gender roles are defined in the family and how that affected Yadriel. To me, this was where the story lied. The heart of it, if you will. How Yadriel being trans challenged years of ingrained gender norms and how even his own father struggled to adapt. My heart broke every time someone referred to Yadriel as a girl or his dead name. And while I loved the addition of Julian, the love story started to overshadow everything else and that changed the course for me.
Julian was an enigma. He really was a fun character. His presence lightened the mood for bit and brought some fun comedic relief. But then the love story started taking over and it became more about that then the mystery. And by then end - the overreaction they both had - I was just like, it's all right. It also didn't help that the "villain" was pretty predictable.
I think had the romance plot not gone from 0 - obsession so fast and arrived more organically I would have rated this higher, but I did really enjoy it and will most likely read the sequel.