Book review: Aiden Thomas – Cemetery Boys

It’s pride month ❤🧡💛💚💙💜 No better way to celebrate that than by advertising some queer books. I decided to use this time of the year for recommending some of the books I’ve read but either forgot or didn’t find the time / energy to review. Because there are indeed a few books that deserve a recommendation.

One of those books is Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. I’d easily call this one of the best queer books I’ve ever read and I’ll let you know why.

Trans masc protagonist, MLM romance, trans author (Latinx)

Hint: I’ve read the German translation published by Dragonfly as „Yadriel & Julian – Cemetery Boys)

The plot

Yadriel lives in a „magical“ family. All his relatives are healers or able to conjure up ghosts, but since Yadriel is trans, they don’t want him to participate the ritual that will turn him into a fully acknowledged brujo. To prove everyone wrong, Yadriel decides to do the ritual on his own with the help of his cousin Maritza, close to the Mexican Dia de los Muertos. They are successful, but still messed up, as the „wrong“ spirit pops up. Now Yadriel has to deal with the ghost of Julian, the Bad Boy of his high school, who apparently lost his life under mysterious circumstances and isn’t quite ready yet to leave this world without knowing what actually happened to him. Yadriel decides to help him figure out what happened. Together with Maritza, they uncover a few dark secrets – and the more time Yadriel and Julian spend together, the less Yadriel wants Julian to leave their world. However, their time is very limited, as Dia de los Muertos is over soon and they need to find out what happened before the veil between the world of the living and the dead closes again.

The characters

THEY. ARE. SO. ADORABLE! I can’t be too detailed because it’s been a while since I’ve read the books, but let me tell you that Yadriel, Julian and Maritza are absolutely amazing characters. With Yadriel, we have a trans male protagonist who not only struggles a little with his identity, but mostly with his family who is unwilling to accept him as a brujo. It’s not really in a mean sense – most of the time you get the impression that they are trying to accept Yadriel’s identity. However, when it comes to the „traditional“ roles of brujx, his family seems to see him more as a bruja. It’s hard for Yadriel. Thankfully he has Maritza by his side – and Julian’s ghost, who seems to be a lot more open and accepting and supporting than some of his direct family members.

Julian is introduced as the bad boy of the school, mostly because he comes from a rather poor, difficult family background. Life wasn’t too easy on him, but the rough outside protects a soft core and Julian turns out to be a lovely (and loving) character. Sometimes he’s a bit of a very sympathetic dork. It’s very easy to feel attached to him (both as a reader as well as for Yadrial I guess) and his story made me tear up several times.

Yadriel’s cousin Maritza is a very strong character and a great ally for Yadriel – and Julian. Most strikingly about her are her dogs, that (if I remember correctly) look terrifying, but are soft sweethearts. She supports Yadriel as best as she can and helps him to do the ritual to receive his powers from Santa Muerte. She also tries to help him and Julian to solve the mystery around Julian’s death. The relationship between Yadriel and Maritza is very close and she definitely plays a major role in the book.

My overall opinion

I’ve mentioned in my introduction that this is probably one of the best queer books I’ve ever read and I mean it. It’s absolutely touching and heartwarming and wholesome and it made me cry a lot. Even as a non-trans person I found Yadriel’s struggles written in a way that makes him kind of relatable, possibly because Aiden Thomas is an own-voice author who could probably make use of some of his own experience. And while there are struggles and difficulties (the book itself has no trigger warnings, but be prepared for misgendering and perhaps also dead naming, I’m not sure about that anymore but I think it happened somewhere in the story), there’s also hope and love and understanding. Especially the way Julian accepts and understands Yadriel touched my heart in a special sense.

The book is a Young Adult story and with the whole Dia de los Muertos-background it also narrates a great setting. There’s a bit of a fantastic vibe to the story, as the community of the brujx uses magic for healing and communicating with the dead, but it’s in a modern/urban setting. Just like the whole Dia de los Muertos-celebrations itself, the book seems colourful and hopeful. It just made me feel warm and fuzzy and it totally dragged me in.

So here we basically have an own voice story from a Latinx author about a trans kid fighting for acceptance – and finding love. If you need a story that restores your faith in humanity, read this book.

Also if you’re as desperate as I am and need to know if the book has a happy ending or not before daring to read it, check the spoiler below. There won’t be details on the exact ending of the story, but I’ll let you know if it’s happy or not.