Scan barcode
A review by ezrasupremacy
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
4.0
3.5 ⭐️ rounded up
book one for my 2024 trans rights readathon.
this was a very fun read. i enjoyed the world building and thought it was very well done, although i cannot say how much of it is based on real folklore since i as a european i have very little connection to latin american culture, but i thought it was well explained and interesting nonetheless.
as for the spanish, i would say largely if you did spanish in highschool you should be able to figure everything out w/o having to look up translations, i only had to look up one thing towards the end of the book. and keep in mind my highest ever grade in spanish was a c-.
that aside i would say that while i enjoyed the plot and thought the end was fantastic (enough that this book should stay a standalone imo), it was also very slow paced and it felt like barely anything happened for the first, let’s say, 4/5 of the book. i enjoyed it every time any fantastical elements were brought up and explained, but if this author had made me sit through one more day of them at school i may have screamed.
the book is very clearly YA and that’s not something i would criticise objectively, but it is something that subjectively meant i would never be able to enjoy this enough for a five star rating. if i had read this at like 15 or 16 it probably would’ve meant the world to me though, so i’m very glad that it exists now for ppl who are that age currently to find and read.
this book handled the themes of transphobia and gender dysphoria very well and realistically, which again makes me thankful that there are now trans people telling these stories rather than cis people attempting to do so for them.
i was also actually surprised by the plot twist, less so because it was impossible to guess and more so because i had underestimated the book a bit too much due to its age rating, and therefore not looked at it with the same level of care and analysis i usually do when i read. i will not make that same mistake with the next book by this author i read, which will be very soon for this same readathon.
book one for my 2024 trans rights readathon.
this was a very fun read. i enjoyed the world building and thought it was very well done, although i cannot say how much of it is based on real folklore since i as a european i have very little connection to latin american culture, but i thought it was well explained and interesting nonetheless.
as for the spanish, i would say largely if you did spanish in highschool you should be able to figure everything out w/o having to look up translations, i only had to look up one thing towards the end of the book. and keep in mind my highest ever grade in spanish was a c-.
that aside i would say that while i enjoyed the plot and thought the end was fantastic (enough that this book should stay a standalone imo), it was also very slow paced and it felt like barely anything happened for the first, let’s say, 4/5 of the book. i enjoyed it every time any fantastical elements were brought up and explained, but if this author had made me sit through one more day of them at school i may have screamed.
the book is very clearly YA and that’s not something i would criticise objectively, but it is something that subjectively meant i would never be able to enjoy this enough for a five star rating. if i had read this at like 15 or 16 it probably would’ve meant the world to me though, so i’m very glad that it exists now for ppl who are that age currently to find and read.
this book handled the themes of transphobia and gender dysphoria very well and realistically, which again makes me thankful that there are now trans people telling these stories rather than cis people attempting to do so for them.
i was also actually surprised by the plot twist, less so because it was impossible to guess and more so because i had underestimated the book a bit too much due to its age rating, and therefore not looked at it with the same level of care and analysis i usually do when i read. i will not make that same mistake with the next book by this author i read, which will be very soon for this same readathon.