A review by velvetyaverage
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

I've only had Yadriel, Julian, and Maritza for one book but if anything happened to them I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.

I have become irrationally attached to the characters in this book, even beyond our core trio. Charm and heart oozes out of these pages. Every character we come across is vibrant and adds life to the book.
And yes, I saw his tio doing blood sacrifices from a mile away. And yes, I wish there was a little more development surrounding that plot point.
It's such a good book, though! I'm getting pickier and pickier about YA as I get older but this is one of those YA books that truly can be enjoyed by any age. I might be a little too old to feel like one of the crew but my god would I lay my life down for these kids. These are my babies and I was invested in their well-being. And the fact that this is a debut novel? Amazing!

Also, kind of a little nit-picky side thing but I'm so glad that Yadriel's tio wasn't transphobic and didn't become transphobic after Yadriel discovers and interrupts his plans. He was the antagonist but he cared about Yadriel and he respected him. He didn't revoke that respect for Yadriel's being trans when he was upset with Yadriel. It's such a small detail but it really added to the moment. It would have been so easy to have his tio turn out to have been lying about his support for Yadriel this whole time because he's just evil to the core but Thomas didn't go that route. He kept the positive traits and kept Yadriel's tio human, which I appreciate.
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