Cemetery Boys

I don’t even know where to begin, except that I loved every single word of Cemetery Boys. What a brilliant and fun story; filled with a mystery to solve, loveable characters, a sarcastic ghost, and a trans narrative that is absolutely affirming. Seriously, this book has it all. We have fun and realistic characters. Honestly, every character was meaningful and helped give the worldbuilding extra depth. Yadriel, Martiza, and Julian are simply the best. I would absolutely want to be friends with them and also defend them with my life. Which is how fictional characters should make you feel, right? AND I TOTALLY HAD A CASE OF THE FEELS…all the emotions while reading this one. While there are stressful factors for our characters, including mysterious murders, death as well as grief, transphobia and misgendering, however the book truly is joyful. Full of Latinx culture, learning, growth, as well as love and acceptance. I think there are many morals to learn and especially for cis readers to understand and experience the agony that trans folx experience especially when misgendered. I can only hope that from understanding and experiencing these traumas will and can lead to empathy and visibility. The debut narrator, Avi Roque, was perfect. Their voice was full of emotion and was absolutely brilliant in helping me get lost in the story. I’m looking forward to hearing more of Avi’s voice! This book has my whole heart. I can’t even imagine how impactful it will be for teens to be represented and to see themselves in this novel. Plus it is perfect for this time of year with all the fall vibes, magic, and ghosts. It is one of my favorite books I read this year and I really hope many of you too, will read Cemetery Boys.

(I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.) "Am I dead?" "Yeah...." "Oh, Jesus." -- "My brother is gonna kill me.." "Looks like someone already beat him to it." 'Cemetery Boys' by Aiden Thomas has been one of my most highly anticipated releases of the year and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I'm still feeling a little raw from reading it.. Following the path of a trans boy named Yadriel, the story centers around his determination to prove his status as a brujo to his traditional Latinx family as he struggles with the inherent prejudices both inside and outside their community. Wielding ancient magic gifted to them by their goddess, Lady Death, those who carry her gift are able to see spirits. Women have the power to heal bodies and souls, while men can release lost spirits into the afterlife, but as a trans boy.. Yadriel has never been able to heal like the brujas.. and the leader of the brujx has never allowed him to prove he can fulfill the role of a brujo. Having been prevented from going through his quinces, Yadriel and his best friend Maritza take it upon themselves to see his opportunity come to fruition. When his cousin dies suddenly, Yadriel's focus on proving himself becomes laser-sharp. "You don't need anyone's permission to be you, Yads..." When the spirit he summons turns out not to be his cousin, but rather the resident bad boy.. Julian Diaz, things grow even more complicated. Julian isn't interested in passing quietly into the afterlife. He's intent on discovering what happened to him and taking care of some things before he leaves.. and with Yadriel unable to force him, the two make a deal to help each other. Much of the mythos here is born of a mixture of Aztec and Mayan legend that makes up the more recent Mexican-American folk Catholicism.. such as Mictecacihuatl, the Aztec goddess and queen of the underworld, also known as Santa Muerte (Saint Death or Holy Death).. la Niña Blanca (the White Girl).. la Huesuda (the Bony Lady).. la Flaquita (the Skinny Lady).. and many other names. The magic origins are built largely from the stories of Xibalba (roughly translated as Place of Fright or Place of Fear), which is prominient in both early cultures.. though Bahlam, the Jaguar god and one of the Hero Twins of the Popol Vuh (though there are three translations of this text so it varies slightly), is born of Mayan sources who were said to have defeated the Lords of the Underworld (Xibalba) who had tricked and killed their father and uncle, also twins. Here though, Bahlam is no benevolent being.. and it is conflict between him and Lady Death that actually begins the story of the generations of brujx. "You're insufferable..." "Yeah, but I think you're kinda into it..." Obviously, the story is full of mystique and the tales from which portions of it are created only make it more interesting.. if that's possible. I've always been entranced by myths of gods and goddesses from all cultures and of the pantheons, the Aztec and Mayan remain amongst my favorites. It's impossible not to feel for Yadriel, not to want to shout at those who make things unnecessarily difficult for him.. and not to warm to Maritza for being that ride or die chick by his side. The best friend who will fight the world for him, who wants to see him succeed maybe even more than he does.. even if she has a moral aversion to aspects of the lifestyle for herself. Thomas did a fantastic job of painting Julian as an obnoxious, stubborn spirit with a wicked temper, all the while managing to offer us peeks of those parts of himself he preferred to keep hidden. If I'm being honest, Luca broke my heart more than anyone.. but there's a lot of beauty and a lot of pain sprinkled deftly throughout this bewitching debut novel with all the skill of an old hand. I caught myself laughing and couldn't stop myself from crying. It's emotional and lovely.. and everything I could have hoped for...

What would happen if you accidentally summoned a ghost and you couldn’t get rid of it? How do you prove to your family you are who you are? Get a saint of death to prove it for you! This was such a fun story. I love Yadriel and Julian. As someone who grew up in East LA I loved the references to the locations and streets. The writing wasn’t amazing, there were things that were repeated almost to redundancy but overall I really enjoyed this. Perfect for the season.

I got the hardcover and it came in good condition. The cover art is gorgeous, the paper thick and well textured. As for the book, Aiden Thomas has a talent for writing humour tinged with sadness. For getting the queer experience across, an urge to belong, and urge to prove yourself while at the same time not wanting to. The plot is pretty good, but it's the charachters that make the book. So if you like charachter driven books, I'd say you'll enjoy this. I read the book in a two days and then made my sister read it. Have recommended it to other people as well, i think we'd all be better for having read it. Looking forward to the author's next works.

Yadriel’s brujx family has trouble accepting him as a transgender boy. He wants to prove to them that he can be a brujo, so he summons a ghost. The problem is that he can’t send the ghost on to the afterlife. The ghost turns out to be a bad boy from his school, Julian. Julian wants to make sure his friends are okay before going to the afterlife because he can’t remember the final moments of his life. Yadriel agrees to help Julian, but as they get closer, Yadriel gets more reluctant to send Julian’s spirit away. I loved the way this story looked at gender through traditions and magic. Yadriel’s family was very traditional. They didn’t want to accept him as a brujo because he was born a girl. Some of his family members refused to use his correct pronouns or his preferred name. This was a little complicated, since the Spanish language uses only male or female genders. Similarly, their magic system only identifies someone as a brujo (a boy) or a bruja (a girl). That becomes a problem when someone identifies as male, but the family sees them as female. Yadriel had the support of a couple of family members who helped him find his true magic. I was shocked at the ending. I didn’t see the final twists coming at all. During the last few chapters, I was getting worried that the story wouldn’t end the way I wanted it to. However, there were some surprises and I was pleased with the ending. This is an amazing debut! I’m so glad I finally read it.

Cemetery Boys nos cuenta la historia de Yadriel, un chico trans que quiere demostrarle a su familia –y al resto del mundo- que es un brujx y que es tan bueno como cualquier otro, ya que la Muerte lo ha nombrado digno de ser parte de su comunidad. Este libro juvenil se enfoca en la identidad, en los primeros amores, en el grupo de amigos que se convierten en familia y, a la vez, habla de lo que significa el juntarse entre familiares para celebrar a los espíritus de los que ya se nos adelantaron. Mezcla varias tradiciones de los países Latinoamericanos y hace hincapié en la celebración del Día de Muertos aquí en México. En pocas palabras es una probada de lo que significa ser parte de una cultura que encapsula lo rico y basto de su diversidad gastronómica y, al mismo tiempo, expresa la inconformidad hacia algunas acciones que, en su mayoría, son machistas o binarias. Eso sí, tenemos un romance muy bonito y peculiar, además de una familia encontrada que se siente como un abrazo al corazón. Resta decir que amo mucho a Julian y fue mi favorito en todo el libro, ya que tiene momentos muy dulces, bobos y enternecedores por igual –el “¿te puedo robar un beso?” siempre vivirá en mi memoria. Julian es uno de esos chicos que te roban el aliento y que me encantaría conocer en la vida real. Además, es una lectura que atrapa desde el primer capítulo y que, si eres parte de Latinoamérica, seguro que te vas a identificar en muchos sentidos. La ambientación logra que nos sintamos allí con ellos y que, a la vez, apreciemos la magia de nuestro particular sentido del humor. Ya había escuchado parte de este audiolibro y decidí no terminarlo en esa ocasión porque sí quería tener mi copia en físico, lo cual fue una excelente decisión ya que se convirtió en uno de mis libros favoritos de este año y soy muy feliz de tenerlo en mi biblioteca. En serio lo recomiendo con los ojos cerrados porque, por donde lo veas, es una lectura necesaria, emocionante y estos personajes ciertamente dejaron su marca en mi corazón. El epílogo me destruyó en el mejor de los sentidos y ojalá que todos fuésemos tan valientes como para arriesgarnos a ser nuestro verdadero yo.

Love this book. The story is compelling and even tough it's a YA book, it's really interesting for mature audiences also. Learned a lot too.

“You don't need anyone's permission to be you, Yads” Ahh my heart! It’s full right now 🥰 Cemetery Boys was everything I could’ve asked for and more!! I do not have words or thoughts to express how much I absolutely LOVE this book! Aidan Thomas is a genius! I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I swooned, I legit thought my heart was gonna come out of my chest those last few chapters. I haven’t cried this much at book for ages but my god I love it so much!! I honestly did not know what to expect for the ending because it’s about a boy falling in love with a spirit but Oh My God! it was both utterly heartbreaking and absolute perfection! I’m ruined 😩 I absolutely adore Yadriel! He knows exactly who he is but struggles so much to be his true self around his family. I can’t tell you how many times wanted to step into the book and give him a hug so many times or to slap his family, the way they acted around him was heartbreaking. But the lengths he went too to prove, not only himself, but to his family that he was exactly who he is meant to be was so courageous and I was so proud of him. And thank god for the support from Maritza. One thing I absolutely loved was how Yadriel described himself, until Julian mentioned something about his gender I never would’ve guessed that he could look like a girl, he just came across as a guy to me from the get go. Julian is my new favourite character! I mean his attitude about realising that he’s a spirit was so funny, I laughed out loud so many times. His whole character just embodies life, you can just feel it! He’s the bad boy with a heart of gold 🥰 I 10/10 recommend that everyone reads this immediately!! And I need a sequel please 🥺