This is a book that had been sitting in my tbr for an awkwardly long time, until i shook myself off and decided to pick it up and boy did it not disappoint. As much as I try to berate myself for taking so long to read this masterpiece, I know I read it exactly when I was supposed to. I can only hope that it'll bring you the same joy that it did to me.
Cemetery Boys follows Yadriel's journey as a transgender brujo seeking to prove himself to his community and earn his legitimate title. When he accidentally summons the wrong spirit, Yadriel suddenly finds himself smack in the middle of a much more complex plot, and as time runs out, he has to figure out how to get to the bottom of it—not just to stand up to his family and reclaim his heritage, but also to make sure the darkness surrounding this mystery doesn't come to pass.
Book: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas.
Release Date: September 1st, 2020.
Representation: Ownvoices transgender protagonist, lgbt romance, latinx rep.
A trans boy determined to prove his gender to his traditional Latinx family summons a ghost who refuses to leave in Aiden Thomas's paranormal YA debut Cemetery Boys, described by Entertainment Weekly as "groundbreaking."
Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can't get rid of him.
When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.
However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school's resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He's determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.
(Description taken from Goodreads)
5/5 stars
This book made me feel happy and giddy on the inside. It made me feel seen. It is the book that quickly burrowed its way into my heart, and now I can 100% say it is one of my comfort books, and that I'll be turning to it whenever I need to feel that warmth again.
The representation is impeccable. 10/10. It gave us both sides of the coin: the struggles of being accepted by your family (one of the most painful experiences for us members of the lgbt+ community) in a context of preserving tradition, even if said tradition has no place in the present. However, it also gave us characters that accepted our main character wholeheartedly and unconditionally. I'd like to highlight something in particular: when it came to Yadriel's deadname, it was NEVER mentioned. And that is amazing, astounding, beautiful. It reminds us that we don't NEED to know someone's deadname to know "who they were before"; if you think this way, pack up your transphobic ass and go.
The magic? Chef's kiss. As a brujx myself, although not from a Mexican tradition, I found myself enthralled by the magic system of helping the dead cross over. Gave me a lil bit of Coco energy, too. It reminded me of the importance of my own Venezuelan roots that I have, for a very long time, failed to acknowledge. It is a book that talks about the value of tradition in magical practices, but also about the importance of questioning and abolishing harmful ideas and practices. It is a book about acceptance, love, and growth.
The romance? It made me squeal in joy every five seconds. The banter, the growing flirtatious dynamic between Yadriel and Julian, the FEELINGS, the cute lil crush. I think it developed quite nicely, and well, I don't want to spoil anyone, but those moments nearing the end of the book made me go into that mix of happy sobbing and flailing. I admit I had my gnawing doubts, but there was no way such a perfect buildup would let me down. And it didn't.
Is the book predictable? Yes, but I don't see how this is a problem, given the book is character driven, not plot driven. The character development was so good I didn't mind the fact that I was able to see what was going to happen before I even hit the 50% mark! I just wanted to see HOW it was going to unfold. I've seen a few people give this book less stars because of its predictability, but I urge you to look past that and see it for the amazing show of love, affection, and character growth that it is.
And can we please talk about our badass Maritza? Because I honestly believe we all need our personal sassy, pink-haired, defying bruja in our lives.
This book was an immediate five stars. At least for me, a transgender bisexual, this book hit a cord. It is not a perfect book per se, especially if you want to get into the technical stuff, and that's okay. I gave this book this rating not just because of its content, but also because of the way it made me feel; something that very few books manage. To snake into our very souls and make it sing.
Transmisia, deadnaming, misgendering. Coming out themes, gender dysphoria. Parental abandonment recounted, disownment and child homelessness (side characters). Blood depiction, use of blood for magic and in rituals, dead bodies, use of animal blood for rituals. Dead bodies, serious injury of a loved one, hospital (brief scene). Grief and loss depiction, death of a father and mother recounted, disappearance of a loved one. Murder and attempted murder, knife violence and stabbing. Gun violence recounted, police racial discrimination mentioned, car accident mentioned, smoking and alcohol consumption mentioned.
(Source: Trigger Warning Database)
Aiden Thomas is a New York Times Bestselling author with an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, Oregon. As a queer, trans Latinx, Aiden advocates strongly for diverse representation in all media. Aiden's special talents include: quoting The Office, winning Jenga, finishing sentences with "is my FAVORITE", and killing spiders. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color.
You can find him in Twitter.
Comments