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A review by robin1010
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I loved this book a lot.
Spoiler free version: The worldbuilding/magic system was great and done without info-dumping or having a character constantly provide exposition. The characters felt for the most part real, nuanced, and likeable. The relationship was cute. The writing quality was fantastic, and Aiden Thomas is one of my new favourite authors.
The primary drive of this book is the characters, and it works well. Yadriel was an enjoyable protagonist, he was smart with compassion and empathy for the other characters, but had a sort of naivete that all coming of age stories share, which worked well in this case to keep his Tio from being suspicious to the reader for a decent part of the book. His being trans was never treated with anything less than dignity and nuance. The author never outright mentions his deadname, and never goes out of their way to point out physical aspects that might have him appear more feminine or non-passing, which I've seen authors in the past do and it feels extraodinarily shit. Julian was similarly well written, and the combination of a kid who was having to face the struggles of a difficult life from the perspective of post-death was a fascinating one. Hence: “I don’t know, maybe there’s always been something in me, rotting away, and now it’s finally catching up to me—” hit very well. I also appreciated that despite the main characters of the book being men the author didn't neglect the female characters. Martiza was a character I wasn't sure on at the start, but she really quickly grew on me. The short scene with her family was well written enough that we learn spades about her without it feeling like any exposition.
The romance was sweet, and the pacing of it was good for the most part. It felt like at the end it was a bit fast but honestly thats about par for the course for books with teenagers so.
As I mentioned before the author had excellent wordbuilding. The different ghosts wandering around the cemetery and the magic system of the brujx was wonderfully interwoven with real world religion and mythology. I'm curious to know more about the brujx in other regions mentioned at one point but I don't think it's enough to really sponsor a sequel.
The writing quality in general was good. Perspectives were consistent, no spelling or grammar issues, no formatting issues, etc etc. The prose was a bit cliche here and there, but used aptly enough that it didn't feel cheesy.
The plot was a bit difficult for me to judge. I think the pacing for about 70% of the book was perfect, and the last 30% it becomes incredibly rushed. The set up of mentioning the la garra del jaguar being missing, Tio being a sympathetic outcast, the storytelling of Bahlam in preparation - all of it gave you the pieces early enough and subtly enough that it was very satisfying to see it come together. However, Tio becomes an archetypical evil character pretty quickly, and his monologue wouldn't be completely out of place of a bad spy movie. I would have liked to have seen a little more of the depth he had at the start towards the end. Also, I had assumed with Julian and Yadriel both there it might have been some reverse Romeo and Juliet situation but instead it just ends up being a domino effect of character one dies > character two dies to revive them > character three dies to then revive them . And after all that the entire main cast is completely fine. It's not that I wanted anything to happen to them, it was just strange to push them to that point and then have it be instantly reversed.
Overall though I did really the book, and I look forward to reading more of Aiden Thomas' books.
Spoiler free version: The worldbuilding/magic system was great and done without info-dumping or having a character constantly provide exposition. The characters felt for the most part real, nuanced, and likeable. The relationship was cute. The writing quality was fantastic, and Aiden Thomas is one of my new favourite authors.
The romance was sweet, and the pacing of it was good for the most part. It felt like at the end it was a bit fast but honestly thats about par for the course for books with teenagers so.
As I mentioned before the author had excellent wordbuilding. The different ghosts wandering around the cemetery and the magic system of the brujx was wonderfully interwoven with real world religion and mythology. I'm curious to know more about the brujx in other regions mentioned at one point but I don't think it's enough to really sponsor a sequel.
The writing quality in general was good. Perspectives were consistent, no spelling or grammar issues, no formatting issues, etc etc. The prose was a bit cliche here and there, but used aptly enough that it didn't feel cheesy.
The plot was a bit difficult for me to judge. I think the pacing for about 70% of the book was perfect, and the last 30% it becomes incredibly rushed. The set up of mentioning the la garra del jaguar being missing, Tio being a sympathetic outcast, the storytelling of Bahlam in preparation - all of it gave you the pieces early enough and subtly enough that it was very satisfying to see it come together. However, Tio becomes an archetypical evil character pretty quickly, and his monologue wouldn't be completely out of place of a bad spy movie. I would have liked to have seen a little more of the depth he had at the start towards the end. Also, I had assumed with Julian and Yadriel both there it might have been some reverse Romeo and Juliet situation but instead it just ends up being a domino effect of character one dies > character two dies to revive them > character three dies to then revive them . And after all that the entire main cast is completely fine. It's not that I wanted anything to happen to them, it was just strange to push them to that point and then have it be instantly reversed.
Overall though I did really the book, and I look forward to reading more of Aiden Thomas' books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria, Death, and Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming and Violence