Aiden ThomasCritiques

I just finished this book and I am ready to read it again, right now!! Cemetery Boys has all the wonderful feels! I can't recommend this one enough!!

Gr 7 Up—In this Mexican-inspired fantasy, 10 teen semidioses compete in the Sunbearer Trials: the winner brings
light to the temples of Reino del Sol, while the loser is sacrificed to Sol to protect the people. This page-turning
adventure and first in a duology centers trans and queer characters.

Finally a book I've been anticipating that did not disappoint at all! This was such a fun, touching, spooky, wonderful own-voices novel with excellent LGBTQ and Latinx rep and beautiful world-building.

Full review at my booktube channel: https://youtu.be/pit9j9kfHIg?t=71

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to offer an honest review.

"There's no way ya'll have been around for thousands of years without there being one person not fitting into the 'men are this, women are that' bullshit." (pp. 183-4)

Page 240: Yadriel's dad isn't a narcissist. And he's capable of change! I'm not even trans, and I could never be myself around relatives. I'm not a Stepford daughter/niece.

Competent, fluffy, forgettable YA fantasy. Whodunnit was obvious halfway through chapter 2, unfortunately.

In addition to caretaking their neighborhood cemetery in East L.A., Yadriel's extended family are also brujx. The brujas possess enhanced healing abilities, while the brujos' role is to assist the recently dead by releasing them from their tether to an earthly object. Yadriel, however, is trans, and his family is struggling with denial and acceptance, in particular with respect to what his role will be. In secret, inside the old church with the support of his cousin Maritza, Yadriel undergoes the ceremony to become a brujo, and to his joy (and relief), is accepted by Santa Muerte. There's just one snag: in the church they also discover the spirit of the recently murdered Julian Diaz. Now there are two secrets to keep.

I selected this title to fulfill the Read Harder category "a YA book by a trans author," but I approached it with skepticism, as I have never cared for magical realism. Despite my hesitance, I was hooked within the first three chapters and couldn't put it down. The characters felt genuine, and I came to care strongly about them. The writing is also quite wonderful. I have to say it was a very strange experience to have chanced to read this at the same time as Under the Whispering Door. The parallels are eerie and many.

I will also pick up any book by Aiden Thomas. This one was a bit darker than some of the others while still having the amount of heart I expect from this author. I’m a sucker for Peter Pan and this retelling was a refreshing twist on the classic tale.

This book gave me all of the warm spooky fall vibes I was looking for to start the fall season. After inhaling The Sunbearer Trials earlier this year, I can easily say the two books are tied in my heart. Cemetery Boys had a touching coming of age story mixed with a cast of characters that had be rooting for them on every page. The budding romance gave me all of the butterflies I wanted while a world was seemingly falling apart around them.

Will definitely be picking up any book by or recommended by Aiden Thomas!

Cemetery Boys è un romanzo così carino che gli si perdona volentieri tutte le ingenuità tipiche dei libri di esordio. Da lettrice scafata ho capito abbastanza presto quale direzione avrebbe preso la storia (praticamente non appena Thomas mi ha presentato tutti i personaggi), ma non mi sono annoiata o infastidita di fronte alle descrizioni deboli (l’azione finale, per esempio, mi è sembrata un po’ confusa) e a un antagonista che ci viene sventolato davanti al naso fin dal principio.

Non mi sono infastidita perché le motivazioni dell’antagonista sono molto interessanti per il modo in cui aiutano a inquadrare il tema dell’accettazione all’interno del romanzo. Cosa vuol dire accettare la diversità di una persona? Qual è il modo giusto di farlo? Cosa significa per ognunǝ di noi essere accettatз? Qual è il limite oltre il quale cercare l’accettazione è sbagliato? Fin dove è giusto andare incontro alle perplessità altrui? L’importanza di essere accettatз ha a che fare con la possibilità di condividere l’affetto della famiglia o i privilegi di un gruppo sociale?

Thomas ha rifuggito una semplice contrapposizione tra persone queer e persone queerfobiche e ha reso le relazioni all’interno del romanzo molto più sfumate e interessanti. Spero anche più aderenti alla realtà, voglio sperare che la maggior parte delle famiglie non sia fatta da persone che vogliono buttare fuori di casa lз figliз trans, ma che sono solo disorientate e senza sapere bene come prendersi cura di loro al meglio. Ribadisco che con una maggiore padronanza del mestiere ne sarebbe uscito un romanzo migliore, ma direi che Thomas è un*autorǝ da tenere d’occhio.

Plauso alla Mondadori e alla traduttrice, Martina Del Romano, per aver mantenuto il genere neutro, come da scelta di Thomas, anche nell’italiano, grazie allo schwa e alla x, con una scelta ibrida per rimanere più fedele al modo in cui in spagnolo si è iniziato a rendere il neutro. Mi fa piacere vedere questo esperimento linguistico uscire dalle piccole CE specializzate.

Was kind of slow at first for me personally but by the end, I thought it was really good and really cute. I loved the story and the culture in it and I loved that Yadriel was happy in the end and Julian. I read this with an audiobook and a book in hand, which helped me read the Spanish bits and it helps me with the voices of the characters so I don't have to put much thought into it and can just imagine what's happening. Anyway, I loved the book, it was awesome and I loved it and it gave me the gripping LGBT novel that I needed in my life. My roommates recommended it to me and I was a tad hesitant at fits but it was A

Really good retelling of a classic story. I like the twists it has and it's just over all a good read.

I really enjoyed this read. I loved that this book was a mix between fairy tale (peter pan) and also a mystery at the heart of it. I was super captured by Aiden writing style and it def was super hard to put down. Romance was def not the main focus but that was okay for me. This book also tackled anxiety and grief and in many different ways. The end really broke me, but i am dying to see what this author comes up with next.

I really wound up enjoying this read. This book was such a great read. It was a nice mash up of elements including some creepy elements but also some fun characters. I also really loved the lead character and how it focused on his path as a trans man. It was nice balance read in regards to mystery elements and also the self discovery elements. I also really enjoyed ending twist that caught me off guard. I also really loved Aiden writing style and just adored this book. Can't wait to read more by this author in the future. Romance was also a joy to read!!

I really enjoyed this read. I loved that this book was a mix between fairy tale (peter pan) and also a mystery at the heart of it. I was super captured by Aiden writing style and it def was super hard to put down. Romance was def not the main focus but that was okay for me. This book also tackled anxiety and grief and in many different ways. The end really broke me, but i am dying to see what this author comes up with next.

I really wound up enjoying this read. This book was such a great read. It was a nice mash up of elements including some creepy elements but also some fun characters. I also really loved the lead character and how it focused on his path as a trans man. It was nice balance read in regards to mystery elements and also the self discovery elements. I also really enjoyed ending twist that caught me off guard. I also really loved Aiden writing style and just adored this book. Can't wait to read more by this author in the future. Romance was also a joy to read!!

This book is a combination Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, and Hispanic-culture-love letter. The world of Reino del Sol is beautiful and lively, even with the ritual sacrifice. Thomas's descriptions make the place so real in my minds eye. I loved watching Teo grow over the course of the book, and how even the antagonistic characters became likeable. I also loved all of the queer jokes included, and how the world accepted queerness without judgment. I can't wait to read the sequel!

“Only the most powerful and honorable semidioses get chosen. I’m just a Jade. I’m not a real hero.”

As each new decade begins, the Sun’s power must be replenished so that Sol can keep traveling along the sky and keep the evil Obsidian gods at bay. Ten semidioses between the ages of thirteen and eighteen are selected by Sol himself as the most worthy to compete in The Sunbearer Trials. The winner carries light and life to all the temples of Reino del Sol, but the loser has the greatest honor of all―they will be sacrificed to Sol, their body used to fuel the Sun Stones that will protect the people of Reino del Sol for the next ten years.

Teo, a 17-year-old Jade semidiós and the trans son of Quetzal, goddess of birds, has never worried about the Trials…or rather, he’s only worried for others. His best friend Niya―daughter of Tierra, the god of earth―is one of the strongest heroes of their generation and is much too likely to be chosen this year. He also can’t help but worry (reluctantly, and under protest) for Aurelio, a powerful Gold semidiós and Teo’s friend-turned-rival who is a shoo-in for the Trials. Teo wouldn’t mind taking Aurelio down a notch or two, but a one-in-ten chance of death is a bit too close for Teo’s taste.

But then, for the first time in over a century, Sol chooses a semidiós who isn’t a Gold. In fact, he chooses two: Xio, the 13-year-old child of Mala Suerte, god of bad luck, and…Teo. Now they must compete in five mysterious trials, against opponents who are both more powerful and better trained, for fame, glory, and their own survival.

Cute YA read, quite liked the setting and the characters. First 80% were very slow, last 20% were SUPER INTENSE IMPORTANT CHAOS FIERCE PROTECTIVENESS what?

Back when I actually was the target demographic I would probably have loved the shit out of this

TW/CW: Death of a parent, mentions of transphobia, death, scary sequences

RATING: 4/5

REVIEW: Cemetery Boys is the story of a young Latinx transman named Yadriel who is trying to make his way in the patriarchal magic community in which he has been raised. He summons the ghost of a young man named Julian Diaz and the two work together to find Julian’s family and friends before he passes on. In the meantime, romance blossoms between Julian and Yadriel…

I thought that this was a good book. I enjoyed reading it. I thought that the magical world Thomas created seemed complex and interesting, and I thought the characters were sympathetic. Maybe this is just because I’m not a teenager, but I would have loved to learn more about the world and have a little less teenage romance angst, but that’s just me.

I recommend this book to fans of YA fantasy!

Listen. I am still a little salty about this because I was promised by multiple people the coziest, most trans-affirming love story wrapped in a fantasy/mystery, and while this may have gotten there by the end, it starts out in some pretty intense transphobic angst, and my heart was feeling fragile enough at the time that I almost DNFed this.

I think this novel's depiction of the in-between place of a family's trans-acceptance is important and vital, and I'm glad it's in the world. I just wish I'd had the warning that this starts out as a bit of a tough hang, thought it gets to an affirming place in the end, and all of it gets a heck of a lot more bearable once Julian shows up.

This is a powerful story of identity and perception and acceptance, with ghosts and magic and Latinx culture and superficial high school reputations and fast cars and the beach and colonialism and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Perceived and again, the richness of Latinx culture.

This was lovely. BUT NOT COZY.

It's a beautiful story and I loved every bit of it. It's been a while that a book has made me shed tears. 4 stars because a major part of the book, even though was really good to read, felt a bit like a filler. It helped me understand the characters better but also made me a tad bit impatient because the suspense introduced in the beginning of the story was put aside all together. But in the end, it was heart warming. ❤️

4.5 stars

AAAAA i’m screaming. i love these boys so much. okay so i would have probably given this 5 stars had i not guessed the plot/climax a mere 3 chapters in. but still, i loved this so much

See hardcover version for full review, borrowed this from the library on audio

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5
0🌶 (YA)

Tagline: Hunger Games meets Percy Jackson meets Mexican Mythology in the first half of an epic YA fantasy duology

This was such an epic adventure. It has the same kind of gripping excitement of a trial based tournament that captured the attention of fans of the Hunger Games, along with the Gods & Demigods dynamic of the Percy Jackson series. However, it goes further to include such an interesting mix of cultural Mexican references and gods, a beautiful and complex fantasy universe, and social commentary, all combined with a variety of LGBTQIA+ and disabled (in this case dead) characters to really bring this kind of epic YA fantasy into the modern era.½

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5
0🌶 (YA)

Tagline: Hunger Games meets Percy Jackson meets Mexican Mythology in the first half of an epic YA fantasy duology

This was such an epic adventure. It has the same kind of gripping excitement of a trial based tournament that captured the attention of fans of the Hunger Games, along with the Gods & Demigods dynamic of the Percy Jackson series. However, it goes further to include such an interesting mix of cultural Mexican references and gods, a beautiful and complex fantasy universe, and social commentary, all combined with a variety of LGBTQIA+ and disabled (in this case dead) characters to really bring this kind of epic YA fantasy into the modern era.

**Summary:

In a Mexican inspired fantasy world, dioses and diosas walk the earth to interact with and protect humans. The large pantheon of gods are separated into different categories, and a millennia ago a war broke out between the factions. In order to win the war and imprison the dark and vengeful gods who started the fighting, the original god Sol sacrificed themselves. Their power was split up into Sol Stones that are now kept across the land at each of the other god's temples for protection for all humanity.

Now the children of the gods, the semidioses, compete in a a competition every 10 years to become the Sunbearer. One demidios gains glory and the role of being Sol's messenger to re-fuel the Sol Stones in each city and temple. But another semidios becomes the sacrifice that provides the energy to re-fuel the Sol Stones.

**Thoughts:

While there are definitely nods to some of the other famous harrowing trials or gods / demigods books in this story, it is also so uniquely it's own. The rich world building, cultural references, and unique characters made this such a vibrant place to imagine. There were so many twists and turns that you are kept guessing right up until the end. I love how this will be a duology so we can get more of these characters, but I also loved how the author chose to break the story up so that each book will have (based on the current clues) different types of adventure arcs.

Now add in the many extra layers that the author chose to include that address problems like class / wealth discrimination, LGBT (especially trans) rights and societal acceptance, and even the seamless inclusion of a deaf character. This is the kind of book I would want in the hands of a YA reader to show them that diversity in all forms is not just important, it can add so much more depth and interest to an already good story. I loved this story and can't wait to dive into book 2 when it comes out.

**The reason I docked half a star off:

While I enjoyed the story and the twists and turns and excitement, the author chose to include some modern technology references that I found a little jarring. While there were different words for things like Instagram and YouTube, there was a direct mention or two of tik-tok. I'm on board with fantasy realms having technology and stuff, but them having apps and websites that were so similar in name to real ones was just a bit off=putting for me / threw me out of the story a tiny bit. This wont bother everyone, but it might bother some.½