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A review by bencaroline
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Deadnaming, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry
"Terminal illness" is a good approximation for the magical condition of this world where one can temporarily continue 'living' as a ghost-type spirit. Treated extremely compassionately in the text.
I am editing this after looking at the other content warnings; I would contend that the transphobia in this book is moderate at most. To me (a trans person), this is first and foremost a book about trans joy--no that that would negate extreme transphobia, but to me the depictions of trans acceptance and euphoria are WAY more present in the book than the negative bits, and I want to say that. There are no graphic depictions of transphobic violence, and iirc only brief descriptions of familial rejection or bigotry; Yadriel's family/community has a lot of latent transphobia, BUT, they seem to be working towards embracing his identity.