A review by bookbaddie85
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I decided to read this book because Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World was on my TBR, but I found out the author was transphobic. When I found out about this I found a tread with LGBTQIA+ characters written by people in the community. I posted about it and decided instead of reading Dive into the Waters. That being said I read this book in two days, and I think that rapid consumption led me to realize more things that annoyed me. Now here come the spoilers
Hello since your reading this I’m assuming you have read the book or you want to read my spoilers, anyways welcome. I borrowed this book from the library because I am trying not to buy physical books unless I give them at least 4 stars. The main characters Yadriel, is gay and transgender , and he is trying to convince his family that he is boy and that he can become a brujo. The book kept wackiness me over the head with a comedically big sized mallet saying do you get it the main character is trans. I wish that it would do more of showing and not telling. I enjoyed the bits about how the binder worked while putting it on and wearing it. Maritza, was the main side character and I loved her. I want a whole book about her and her immediate family. I loved that she was a vegan and stuck to it even if it meant she usually couldn’t heal people, it made it all the more better when she saved Yads at the end. But I’m getting ahead of my self. The book really begins when the family feels the pain of Miguel, one of their family members dying. They go out and try to look for his body/ spirit tether, but they are unsuccessful. Yads and Maritza were preforming a ceremony to give Yads his power conveniently at same time Miguel is hurt. Yads accidentally raises this guy Julian instead. And from the point they met Yads is smitten with Julian and that’s all that’s on his mind. Miguel being murdered has been thrown in the back for *squints to check paper* a random hot guy from school who is now a ghost boy, ok. The book moved as slow as that one teachers class that Julian got Yads to leave. There was lots of wandering around and looking for clues and not really finding any. They just so happened to stumble upon what was happening at the end for the twist villain *not really a surprise he’s the only one who had a motive* to expo dump what was happening. The foreshadowing was very blatant. I almost had to check if this was a middle grade book. It was like Dora stating okay what are the clues that we have 4 missing people, the missing jaguar knives that lita keeps asking for, an outcast uncle with no powers, and a prophecy that we keep repeating where you need to stab 4 people with the jaguar knives to gain magical powers . Wonder how those things could be related. I wish they would’ve actually found clues that lead them to the answer. Also this book kept feeling like a big inners guide to diversity. It was like one mtf, one ftm, one gay, one lesbian, and one vegan okay everything is covered. The book also did a lot of repetition that went nowhere.  It was like the author copied and pasted the same phrase when they didn’t know what to write. I sat here trying to remember how many days had past because Julian and Yads were in love within 3-5 business days. I just sat there mouth agape when Yads said Julian was all he cared about like his cousin’s dead body wasn’t sitting there in the same room. You mean to tell me if Yads could only bring one person back from the dead it would be Julian, and not Miguel?? Lastly I felt like the ending was a cop out. I came here for some murder and mystery. At the end of the day nobody died, but the uncle. Like death means nothing unless you’re a "bad guy". I also would’ve committed murder like the uncle if I was treated like mirable from encanto by all of the members of my family. Are the non magical ones useless?? I feel like they could also help the family. That one uncle is the ONLY ONE WITHOUT POWERS?? *that’s suspicious, that’s weird*. Now let’s talk about the dad only accepting Yads because he can do boy magic. What a let down. I wish it had been a I’ll love you no matter what, then Yads expresses that he got his powers. Lastly the book raises a lot of questions that are never explained. What happens with non-binary or gender fluid brujxes? Did Yads ever find other trans brujxes?/ inquiring minds would like to know. I know I just kind of ranted, but I did love:
* Julian for the most part
* Maritza and the boys
*Julian’s friends and the family they built 
* rio 
* the imagery of the world building 
* the different representation of Latinx culture
 

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