Review – Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (3.5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Release Date: September 1, 2020
ISBN-13 : 978-1250250469
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
“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.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book that I borrowed from the library.
Story (4/5): This was fine but I didn’t love it. I enjoyed the inclusion of some of the Mexican traditions and the characters were fine. I just felt like not a lot happened here and the story never had any urgency. It is mostly a mystery where Yadriel and his family are trying to find a missing cousin. It was incredibly easy to predict who the “villain” was and the big twist at the end wasn’t really much of a twist…just the plot playing out exactly like you expected it to.
Characters (4/5): All but a tiny portion of the story is told from Yadriel’s POV. Yadriel is trans and really wants to go through the coming of age ceremony that all the other boys go through. However, his father is having trouble believing that the person who used to be his young daughter will be accepted by Lady Death as a brujo and granted powers over ghosts. Yadriel and his family both grow a lot throughout the book, as both his father and extended family learn to accept Yadriel’s identity. We meet a number of other characters throughout the story as well and they were decently done. I will say though that I never engaged with any of these characters all that well and they all felt a bit one dimensional to me.
Setting (3/5): This book and story takes place around and about LA, most of it takes place in graveyards around that area. The setting was fine but never all that well described, the settings just didn’t really come alive for me and pull me in.
Writing Style (3/5): This book was slow and the pacing just felt off. 90% of the book has a very “day in the life feel to it” and moves very deliberately; it deals a lot with Yadriel’s day to day struggles and school life. The last 10% (or maybe even less) is super intense and action packed and deals a lot more with death magic. I just felt like this wandered so much and could have had a much more interesting and tighter plot. This book had a lot of potential but just ended up kind of “blah”.
My Summary (3.5/5): Overall I am a little confused by why this book has such high reviews. Yes, it does a decent job portraying a gay transgender character but the story itself was lacking. I think the book as a total package could have used some work. Technically it is decently written and it is easy enough to read; I just didn’t find it all that interesting. I did get Aiden Thomas’s next book “Lost in the Never Woods” to review as well, so hopefully I will enjoy that one more than I enjoyed this one.
