saltylane 's review for:

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

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Great story, though the first quarter of the book was a bit rough to get through because it hit very close to home. I’m glad I stuck it out till the end, though. I really enjoyed spending time with the characters. I did predict the “twist” at the very beginning, but that didn’t make getting to that part any less enjoyable. 

I just wish all three of the main cast of characters got equal character development—or at least it wasn’t written like the third character didn’t exist when the other two were interacting or something else was going on. I feel like that would have made the characters seem more real and present within the story. 

The story was a little predictable at times, but it also had some surprises. Either way, it only got a little “boring” when there was more interiority than action happening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent

Minor: Cursing, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Transphobia, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, Classism, Deportation