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A review by cerealceec
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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? No
2.5
so i really, really wanted to love this book. to start with the good parts, the queer, trans, and latinx representation was wonderful and heartfelt, and i enjoyed it immensely. the portrayal of yadriel's well-meaning but flawed family and community resonated with me and i'm sure other trans readers will feel the same. it was really refreshing to see those very familiar conversations on the page. the romance was pretty basic but sweet and i enjoyed it.
the characterisation left more to be desired. julian is charming and lovable and is probably the most developed out of everyone, but i still felt like he lacked depth. maritza is a spunky purple-haired vegan and not much else. yadriel isn't an annoying protagonist or a complete blank slate, but i wanted a little more from him.
one big issue with yadriel's characterisation, which intersects with how i felt about the plot, is that he nearly doesn't have a character arc at all. we know only a few pages in that lady death considers him a "real" brujo, so the main conflict involves family and community acceptance. multiple times, julian brings up an interesting question—is yadriel trying to prove himself as a "real" brujo to his family, or himself? i thought it was interesting that yadriel responds that they're the same thing, and i was looking forward to the book exploring this more in-depth, but it never happened. yadriel's familyaccepts him as a brujo literally as soon as they learn that he completed his quince ceremony himself... this happens close to the end of the novel, but we saw the ceremony at the very beginning! so it feels too easy, and it cuts off any deeper introspection about acceptance from the family and the self, and how those intersect.
all that said, my main gripe was the writing style, namely the fact that it was very, very juvenile and bland. i know it's a YA novel, but this still almost feels like the driest YA novel i've read in terms of writing style. there is just no creativity or flow in the way things are described, which is a shame because the worldbuilding is so interesting and clearly took a lot of work! there were lots of visuals that could have been written to be much more impactful. it felt like reading a wikipedia article about the plot instead of reading the actual book. lots of telling instead of showing, and heavy exposition, especially towards the beginning, which made the first 80ish pages pretty slow to get through.
overall—sweet romance, last half was hard to put down, lovely representation... just wish it had gone through A LOT more edits.
the characterisation left more to be desired. julian is charming and lovable and is probably the most developed out of everyone, but i still felt like he lacked depth. maritza is a spunky purple-haired vegan and not much else. yadriel isn't an annoying protagonist or a complete blank slate, but i wanted a little more from him.
one big issue with yadriel's characterisation, which intersects with how i felt about the plot, is that he nearly doesn't have a character arc at all. we know only a few pages in that lady death considers him a "real" brujo, so the main conflict involves family and community acceptance. multiple times, julian brings up an interesting question—is yadriel trying to prove himself as a "real" brujo to his family, or himself? i thought it was interesting that yadriel responds that they're the same thing, and i was looking forward to the book exploring this more in-depth, but it never happened. yadriel's family
all that said, my main gripe was the writing style, namely the fact that it was very, very juvenile and bland. i know it's a YA novel, but this still almost feels like the driest YA novel i've read in terms of writing style. there is just no creativity or flow in the way things are described, which is a shame because the worldbuilding is so interesting and clearly took a lot of work! there were lots of visuals that could have been written to be much more impactful. it felt like reading a wikipedia article about the plot instead of reading the actual book. lots of telling instead of showing, and heavy exposition, especially towards the beginning, which made the first 80ish pages pretty slow to get through.
overall—sweet romance, last half was hard to put down, lovely representation... just wish it had gone through A LOT more edits.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia and Violence
Minor: Child abuse