Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas | Book review & Audiobook Review

Genre: Young adult fiction

Publisher: Swoon Reads, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing

Synopsis:

Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.

When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his 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 up 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 Review:

This was my first time reading a book with a transgender lead character. “Cemetery Boys” by Aiden Thomas captured my heart with its magical elements in a modern setting. After reading House of Earth and Blood, urban fantasy has become one of my favorite sub-genres. This book has been added to that list.

Yadriel’s (Yads) character is expressed so well throughout the book. His struggle to prove himself to this family was very well portrayed. Being a trans in a Latinx cultural traditional family was difficult for Yads, especially when he wasn’t blessed with power like others.

Brujo (Male wizards) has the power to send the dead to peace, and Bruja (Female witches) can heal the wounded. Both have different ceremonies to perform in front of their god Lady Death. When Yadriel refused to perform his ceremony as Bruja, the elders never even let him perform the ceremony as Brujo.

Anyway, he did the ceremony secretly. Who are they to take away his rights from him? With the help of his best friend Maritza, he successfully did the ceremony and accidentally summoned a charming boy, Julian Diaz. Yes, our hero is a dead boy who can be seen by brujx, so no issues. What I liked most is that all these matters happened within the first three chapters and didn’t feel rushed.

Julian(Jules) is a bad-boy-with-good-heart character who stole my heart instantly. He’s such a charmer and captured Yads heart without much effort. Their conversations were one of my favorite parts of this book. I love how Jules understood Yads so quickly and supported him in his way. Maritza, on the other hand, would do anything for Yads. She was a sassy queen who helped Yads in every way possible.

With the help of these two, Yadriel was set on a mission to solve the murder of Julian and Miguel(Yadriel’s cousin). Magic with a murder mystery plot makes this book even more interesting.

Día de Muertos, aka Day of the Dead, is a Latinx festival traditionally celebrated on November 1st and 2nd. This story revolves around this festival. This festival is to celebrate the people who died. In this book, people with powers, brujx can see the dead people within their community on these particular days and spend quality time with them. Isn’t this idea fantastic? I love how the author included magic touch to the real-life festival.

The story starts a couple of days before the festival and ends on the day of the festival. The time-space of this book is so tiny, but it doesn’t seem like that. The murder mystery plot kept me engaged and hooked till the very end. The twist at the end was logical, and I am glad because an Illogical twist in a fantastic story like this is the last thing I want.

With well-developed characters, unique friendships, a gripping murder mystery, a not-so-heavy magic system, best transgender and Latinx representation, this book stands top in my “recommended to everyone” lists. Read this book a year ago, and re-reading it now made me love it even more.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Book links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound

Audiobook Review:

The audiobook was so fantastic to listen to. The characters are based on Latin American culture, so this book has many Spanish words and sentences. Audiobook made this much more awesome.

The characters’ names were pronounced in a Spanish accent, and I didn’t read it in a Spanish accent while reading this book a year ago. So it’s just an amazing experience listening to this book. Hats off to the narrator Avi Roque who is also a trans from Latinx culture.

Audiobook links:

Audible | Google Play | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Libro.fm | Kobo