Book Review: Cemetery Boys by Adien Thomas
Maddison Simmons
January 15, 2021
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We're two weeks into 2021 and things have been a mess, but there's also been some good. I think I'm going to try something new on the blog this year and introduce book reviews. For some reason, the Goodreads option to rate a book and leave a review right after you finish it makes me nervous, so I thought I would take some time after reading a book so I have enough time to process it before I leap into a review. This will probably be a bit of a learning process, so stick with me here (or don't if that's not your cup of tea).
I got Cemetery Boys for Christmas last year, and I used all of my restraint to leave it for the new year so it would be the first book I read in 2021 (also because I read 45 books in 2020 and that was such a satisfying number to end on, but that's beside the point). If you haven't heard of the book, here is a quick synopsis brought to you straight from the Goodreads page:
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.
One of my friends recommended this book to me since I had watched Julie and the Phantoms, and they thought I would like the similar ghost vibes (which I very much did). All I knew before I started reading was that it was very gay and that the main character Yadriel summons an annoying ghost that he ends up falling for. It took me a little bit to get into the book at first since the first chapter or so had a lot of worldbuilding and characters to establish and my brain kind of short circuits with so much information upfront, but once I got into to the story, I couldn't put the book down. I loved Yadriel's characterization so much as an anxious gay character and I fucking latched on to him so fast. I'm pretty sure this was also the first book that I've read with a trans protagonist and it made my little non binary heart sing. I was ready to throw punches whenever Yadriel was (accidentally) misgendered and I thought the author did a really good job of balancing being deadnamed and misgendered without it being malicious. Sometimes it just takes others time to get used to, and my heart ached for Yadriel as he struggled with that. I also appreciated that that was just a small part of the story, so I didn't have my guard up the whole time thinking "oh my god, he's gonna get deadnamed/misgendered/hate crimed/etc," which I very much appreciated.
The two other main characters, Julian and Maritza, were fully fleshed out and fucking adorable. I absolutely fell in love with Maritza, Yadriel's vegan, queer, witchy cousin with split colored hair. Julian has a very tough exterior/reputation, but as Yadriel gets to know him, he realizes how kind and loving Julian is. Also I really vibed with Julian's energy since he couldn't sit still and got bored super easily. The whole dynamic between the trio was really sweet and well written and I would die for each of them. I very much felt like that Rosa Diaz quote that was like "I've only had [these characters] for a day and a half, but if anything happened to [them] I would kill everyone in this room and then myself." Wait, hold on, I'm going to make that meme. Hold on.
I realize that no time passed for you, but it's important to me that you have a visual representation. Okay, where was I? Ah, yes, this book is incredible and I'm so fucking glad that I read it. I would definitely recommend it. I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that there was a happy ending and everything worked out okay in the end. I may or may not have flipped through the book a few times to figure out the ending when things got tense. I may or may not do that with every goddamn book I read. So I can happily say that the ending was good and everyone got what they deserved.
I hope you're all staying healthy and sane, and if you need a new read to keep you company and add some joy to your world, then I highly recommend Cemetery Boys by Adien Thomas.
~Maddison
