Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

18 reviews

zumo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Police brutality, Murder, and Cultural appropriation

queenfury's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"Growth isn't a deviation from what we've done before, but a natural progression to honor all those who make this community strong."

I cried, like, six times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Xenophobia, and Police brutality

saestrah's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Transphobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Animal death and Racism

icannotweave's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Transphobia, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Police brutality and Car accident

bencaroline's review against another edition

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

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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.

wai's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book makes me so soft, I want to just sink down into its pages. It feels like so long ago to me that a book like this could get published but I am so fucking happy that has changed. I almost cried like a thousand times while reading and I'm just so glad trans kids are getting more and more representation - good, solid representation like this. Plus the mystery is super good too !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Transphobia, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Deadnaming and Police brutality

humanmosquito's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Thomas creates a rich world that felt electric and vivid.  If I hadn’t know already I never would have guessed it was a debut novel.

At no point in the story does it feel like a character’s sexuality/gender is their only /a character trait and instead they’re allowed to be actual people. Likewise the chemistry (both romantic and platonic) between characters was so well done. 

Cemetery Boys deserves to be #1 on every must read list.  It was emotional, funny, well written and, wow, I always forget how much better queer people write queer people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Minor: Racism, Transphobia, and Police brutality

samchase112's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was absolutely the perfect book for spooky season! Cemetery Boys brings readers into the world of the brujx, a Latinx community that looks over the spirits of the departed. The rich, cultural descriptions were so beautiful, and I loved being immersed in the brujx culture. It's mystical yet deeply rooted in real cultures and peoples. Thomas also talks a lot about transphobia and what it means to be transgender, as Yadriel is a gay, transgender character. I feel like I learned so much about trans culture, but it felt natural to the story.

In this one, not only do you get an adorable romance, but it's between a spirit and a human?! Yes please! Julien and Yadriel were so cute together, and I loved each of them individually. Julien was such a bright light, and I loved how deeply he cared for his friends and family. Maritza was also a really fun character, and I enjoyed how she played off Yadriel and Julien.

Aiden Thomas weaved all the threads of their story together so well, nothing felt out of place. The mystery, romance, culture, mysticism, and deep discussions all worked together to form a coherent story. I couldn't stop turning the pages! I can't recommend this amazing story enough :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Racism, and Police brutality