Book Review – Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
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.
My rating:
Ahhhhhhh, this book is so wonderful and lovely. This is such a hard review to write because all I want to do is flail about the book.
Cemetery Boys really does feel honest to it’s trans and Latinx setting, and I loved that. Yadriel is a lovely main character – he is so cute around the stuff with his family, and his friendship with Maritza is so supportive. His family, in particular, is really interesting, as I sadly suspect many families would feel the same as Yadriel’s – hard to accept his true gender and either making mistakes or purposefully sidelining him. If only there were a magic solution to be accepted 😉
The storyline and romance with Julian are honestly so heartwarming. I loved Julian, he’s so sweet and caring underneath his exterior vibe. I was so scared about how it could end and not destroy me from early on, as I was so invested in them. Their dynamic is lovely, and I especially love the early moments where they haven’t quite clicked and also have to adjust to being ghost and Brujo!
For the mystery, I liked how there are two sides to it and while it’s clear they should be related, it’s not clear how. That part felt very well done. I did see certain elements coming but was vaguely surprised by two of the main twists (I say vaguely, as I saw them right before they happened!)
The fantasy is fairly light, and feels really honest to the Latinx community in the way that it discusses day of the dead and magic. Obviously this is coming from a white reader, but from what I know, it really does a lovely job of conveying the culture of that community.
It really is just perfection! 5 stars.
I normally include a link to buy the book here; sadly it’s not yet out in the UK (come ON UK publishers, pick it up!) and so the only real option is the big A. :((
