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Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas
May. 26th, 2021 09:42 pmOkay, okay, I'm capable of reading actual books, not just obsessing over the Untamed, like I've spent the last several months doing. I have Hugos to read!
This is one of the Lodestar finalists (the YA award voted on with the Hugos) and tbh if it hadn't been on the Lodestar list I probably never would have read it, since it's not really the kind of genre I gravitate to (modern-world YA). And it had a rocky start that didn't pull me in, and if it hadn't been on the Lodestar list I wouldn't have kept reading it. (seriously it took me to nearly 50% before I found myself really engaged.) But I was eventually pulled in!
Cemetery Boys is about a trans boy in a latinx community, and the ghost boy he accidentally summons. I was there for the complexities of Yadriel's feelings about how he does or doesn't fit into his community and family, his tight relationship with his best friend Maritza, and the deep and overwhelming connection he develops with the ghost boy Julian as the two of them are thrown together in an intense situation. But I was even MORE there for the difficult but tight relationship between Julian and his older brother Rio, and Julian and his closest friends. Unfortunately the Julian relationships get far less focus, as Yadriel is the main character.
( cut for spoilers )
This is one of the Lodestar finalists (the YA award voted on with the Hugos) and tbh if it hadn't been on the Lodestar list I probably never would have read it, since it's not really the kind of genre I gravitate to (modern-world YA). And it had a rocky start that didn't pull me in, and if it hadn't been on the Lodestar list I wouldn't have kept reading it. (seriously it took me to nearly 50% before I found myself really engaged.) But I was eventually pulled in!
Cemetery Boys is about a trans boy in a latinx community, and the ghost boy he accidentally summons. I was there for the complexities of Yadriel's feelings about how he does or doesn't fit into his community and family, his tight relationship with his best friend Maritza, and the deep and overwhelming connection he develops with the ghost boy Julian as the two of them are thrown together in an intense situation. But I was even MORE there for the difficult but tight relationship between Julian and his older brother Rio, and Julian and his closest friends. Unfortunately the Julian relationships get far less focus, as Yadriel is the main character.
( cut for spoilers )
