A review by widowrites
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.5

I almost didn’t read this book because it’s YA and I typically don’t like YA books. I’m too old for them to be relevant, the characters are frustrating for me because they make decisions a teenager would make (yes, I know, I know. They are. This is why I don’t read them). They aren’t written for me, they’re written for teenagers. However, this one is highly recommended, even by older readers who don’t enjoy YA, so I gave it a chance. And I’m really glad I did!

It was a struggle to read sometimes, not because it wasn’t good, but because Yads family was so frustrating. It was so hard to read him being misgendered and dead named, but it was part of the story. It needed to happen to explain why he did things the way he did. And oooh boy did I even resonate with him and feeling guilt about hurting family even when it’s their fault. 

I figured out the plot twist pretty early on… around the 40% mark, but that’s a feature of YA, so it honestly didn’t bother me. It didn’t detract from the twist, because the character didn’t see it coming.

All in all, I really really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it, even for readers who don’t like YA.
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