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A review by kingrosereads
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Okay let’s get to it. This is my first trans rep book and it just happens to be a cute YA contemporary fantasy. I love the concept of a Latinx community in East LA who happen to be a group of brujx(s?) that can see spirits, can feel the death of one of their own, have empathic abilities and able to feel if someone is injured/ill, and half of the group helps the dead crossover while the other half help heal the living. How are these two jobs divvied up? Oh, it’s based on gender. Men have daggers to help cut the earthly ties that keep spirits from crossing over before they turn malignant and poltergeist-like. The women have rosaries they use to help heal wounds and illness. They need the use of animal blood to activate their daggers/rosaries.
This introduces us to Yadriel a 15/16 year old gay trans boy trying to prove himself as a boy and a brujo to his family. With the help of his cousin, Maritza, he does just that, starting with a ceremony to awaken his powers. Maritza is around the same age, a vegan (so she is a conscientious objector to using magic since it requires animal blood), a soccer player, and an overall pretty confident and strong young woman. Yads is a little unsure of himself, hates being in the spotlight, and swallows down his pain over his family misgendering him or deadnaming him.
The night Yadriel gets his brujo powers, he and his community feel one of their own be murdered (Miguel). However, Miguel’s body and spirit are missing so what happened to him is a mystery. Yadriel, eager to prove himself as a brujo, attempts to summon Miguel, but ends up summoning hotheaded 16 year old, cute, bad boy, Julian, a fellow student from his school (who also happens to be gay). Julian is also murdered on the same night and his body is also missing. Julian is effortlessly funny and so alive. Thomas did an excellent job writing Julian, I couldn’t help but smile or laugh or shake my head whenever Julian was just being himself.
I love that Julian is just out and proud and fiercely protective of Yadriel almost from the get go and his little merry band of queers and misfits are pretty great, too (though wish they weren’t just kinda in the background). The yearbook scene will forever have a special place in my heart.
The one thing I really appreciated in this book was the way Yadriel’s entire family wasn’t either 100% supportive or 100% against his identity. Though his mother was able to completely accept him as he is and used his real name and his pronouns perfectly, she’s unfortunately dead by the time we meet Yads, and even deadnames him. His father struggles with seeing his son as a brujo and even refuses to let him try to awaken his powers. His grandmother also constantly uses the female Spanish words with Yadriel. I think it’s realistic that not everyone in your family will accept or reject an trans or queer person and that even those that accept it, it’s still an adjustment for them.
I also appreciate the Latinx culture in this book and the emphasis on Día de Muertos and Latín folklore/mythology. However, I’m not a fan of the explanation of what is said in Spanish or what food they’re eating. I understand a lot of POC authors do this when they’re writing about their community but it’s unnecessary and a bit annoying. I’d never base my rating on this, but it is just annoying.
If you’re expecting this book to be a supernatural mystery, you weren’t the only one. I did expect this book to have more of a focus on Yadriel and these mysterious, supernatural murders, but it was more about him learning to accept himself and learn he doesn’t have to prove to others that he’s a boy or a brujo. The villain and mystery were immediately predictable to me (I called it within the first few chapters) but then again, this is a YA book and it feels very much like a young YA book (like for ages 13-16 years). And it’s more of a coming-of-age with supernatural undertones. The concept of the brujx with their gender-based powers being a way to validate Yadriel as a boy by him receiving the powers of a brujo (which still kind of enforces gender stereotypes, but definitely reminds me of Dreamer in Supergirl getting gifted her powers when they’re based on gender).
This book was still pretty cute, I think Yadriel and Julian had good chemistry (even if they only knew each other for like 4 days [I means they’re 16 so it tracks]). I do think this book falls flat when it comes to developing the mystery, the magical aspect, and the villain, and the flow was off a bit (like why waste time writing about the beach party when they ended up somewhere Julian used visit to have the Feelings moment with Yadriel?), but this book made me laugh, made me cry, and felt like a real experience of coming out as queer in a Latinx family. I think Thomas did a great job just writing Yadriel’s daily experience of being trans (i.e. use of a binder, being nervous about using the school’s bathrooms, struggling between whether or not he should correct people).
I think as a young YA that had enough in it to give me a bunch of laughs (and in tears) that it holds up and important literature for young queer/trans people. It’s definitely a 75-80 outta 100.
This introduces us to Yadriel a 15/16 year old gay trans boy trying to prove himself as a boy and a brujo to his family. With the help of his cousin, Maritza, he does just that, starting with a ceremony to awaken his powers. Maritza is around the same age, a vegan (so she is a conscientious objector to using magic since it requires animal blood), a soccer player, and an overall pretty confident and strong young woman. Yads is a little unsure of himself, hates being in the spotlight, and swallows down his pain over his family misgendering him or deadnaming him.
The night Yadriel gets his brujo powers, he and his community feel one of their own be murdered (Miguel). However, Miguel’s body and spirit are missing so what happened to him is a mystery. Yadriel, eager to prove himself as a brujo, attempts to summon Miguel, but ends up summoning hotheaded 16 year old, cute, bad boy, Julian, a fellow student from his school (who also happens to be gay). Julian is also murdered on the same night and his body is also missing. Julian is effortlessly funny and so alive. Thomas did an excellent job writing Julian, I couldn’t help but smile or laugh or shake my head whenever Julian was just being himself.
I love that Julian is just out and proud and fiercely protective of Yadriel almost from the get go and his little merry band of queers and misfits are pretty great, too (though wish they weren’t just kinda in the background). The yearbook scene will forever have a special place in my heart.
The one thing I really appreciated in this book was the way Yadriel’s entire family wasn’t either 100% supportive or 100% against his identity. Though his mother was able to completely accept him as he is and used his real name and his pronouns perfectly, she’s unfortunately dead by the time we meet Yads, and even deadnames him. His father struggles with seeing his son as a brujo and even refuses to let him try to awaken his powers. His grandmother also constantly uses the female Spanish words with Yadriel. I think it’s realistic that not everyone in your family will accept or reject an trans or queer person and that even those that accept it, it’s still an adjustment for them.
I also appreciate the Latinx culture in this book and the emphasis on Día de Muertos and Latín folklore/mythology. However, I’m not a fan of the explanation of what is said in Spanish or what food they’re eating. I understand a lot of POC authors do this when they’re writing about their community but it’s unnecessary and a bit annoying. I’d never base my rating on this, but it is just annoying.
If you’re expecting this book to be a supernatural mystery, you weren’t the only one. I did expect this book to have more of a focus on Yadriel and these mysterious, supernatural murders, but it was more about him learning to accept himself and learn he doesn’t have to prove to others that he’s a boy or a brujo. The villain and mystery were immediately predictable to me (I called it within the first few chapters) but then again, this is a YA book and it feels very much like a young YA book (like for ages 13-16 years). And it’s more of a coming-of-age with supernatural undertones. The concept of the brujx with their gender-based powers being a way to validate Yadriel as a boy by him receiving the powers of a brujo (which still kind of enforces gender stereotypes, but definitely reminds me of Dreamer in Supergirl getting gifted her powers when they’re based on gender).
This book was still pretty cute, I think Yadriel and Julian had good chemistry (even if they only knew each other for like 4 days [I means they’re 16 so it tracks]). I do think this book falls flat when it comes to developing the mystery, the magical aspect, and the villain, and the flow was off a bit (like why waste time writing about the beach party when they ended up somewhere Julian used visit to have the Feelings moment with Yadriel?), but this book made me laugh, made me cry, and felt like a real experience of coming out as queer in a Latinx family. I think Thomas did a great job just writing Yadriel’s daily experience of being trans (i.e. use of a binder, being nervous about using the school’s bathrooms, struggling between whether or not he should correct people).
I think as a young YA that had enough in it to give me a bunch of laughs (and in tears) that it holds up and important literature for young queer/trans people. It’s definitely a 75-80 outta 100.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Murder, Death of parent, and Child death