Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

158 reviews

swimmingwolf59's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really loved the world building in this book, it was an extremely cool setting!! I also enjoyed the mystery aspect of the book, and I'm happy that I was able to figure it out 😄 I also love Julian, my sweet child 🥹 But I didn't vibe with the main character very much and the pacing of the book was a bit slow for my taste. This is just a personal thing too, but I prefer when world building is slowly unfurled as the book goes on, so the info dump at the beginning of this book was a bit much for my tastes. Still an enjoyable read though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Deadnaming, Gun violence, Racism, Transphobia, Car accident, and Deportation

avrija's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

It was a very lovely book, I’ve enjoyed every second reading it. The writing was easy to understand yet descriptive and all the culture and traditions were lovely to read about! The characters were very likeable and distinctive, even the side characters were quite memorable. I really do recommend reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Outing, and Dysphoria

Minor: Deadnaming

sadetanssija's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Outing, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

al3xa's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

donttouchmyfeet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

There was plenty to love in Cemetery Boys, including the character's personalities, character development, cultural relevance, and relatable scenarios. This is the kind of book I wish I had when I was a teen, it would have meant a lot to me to see trans representation. Aiden Thomas's writing style can occasionally feel over-embellished or repetitive in details that ultimately have little weight to the overall story. Avi Roque was an extraordinary choice for narrating the audiobook, I hope to hear Roque again for the second book! As a whole, I appreciate the space Cemetery Boys is holding, and I ultimately enjoyed the book. It comes down to personal taste; while this wasn't a style I normally enjoy, the story was interesting and heartwarming. I look forward to Yadriel and Julian's future shenanigans! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Classism, and Deportation

Minor: Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Hate crime, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Outing, and Dysphoria

bookishperseus's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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 death, Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Deportation

Minor: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Deportation

annathechaoticreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

Cemetery Boys found me at exactly the right moment and I’m in love. It’s a great romance but more than that it’s a fantastic exploration of colonialism, tradition and queer identities within a complex immigrant community/family. I laughed, I cried, I gasped, I audibly yelled ”wait…WHAT?!”while reading. The best Y/A book I’ve ever read and a new edition to my Favourite Books of All Time list. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation

splittedvoid's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

A lovely book but it is too slow paced for my taste

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Self harm, Transphobia, Blood, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

widowrites's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

I almost didn’t read this book because it’s YA and I typically don’t like YA books. I’m too old for them to be relevant, the characters are frustrating for me because they make decisions a teenager would make (yes, I know, I know. They are. This is why I don’t read them). They aren’t written for me, they’re written for teenagers. However, this one is highly recommended, even by older readers who don’t enjoy YA, so I gave it a chance. And I’m really glad I did!

It was a struggle to read sometimes, not because it wasn’t good, but because Yads family was so frustrating. It was so hard to read him being misgendered and dead named, but it was part of the story. It needed to happen to explain why he did things the way he did. And oooh boy did I even resonate with him and feeling guilt about hurting family even when it’s their fault. 

I figured out the plot twist pretty early on… around the 40% mark, but that’s a feature of YA, so it honestly didn’t bother me. It didn’t detract from the twist, because the character didn’t see it coming.

All in all, I really really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it, even for readers who don’t like YA.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, and Dysphoria

jei_reads_sometimes's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Dysphoria