Cemetery Boys

Cemetery Boys

By Aiden Thomas

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.

 

This one was cute enough, although there isn't anything in it that isn't telegraphed from the first quarter of the book.  Yadriel finds a ghost the same night his cousin mysteriously dies, and neither body can be found; not to mention the jaguar claws of ultra-human sacrifice for ultimate power are missing? It doesn't take a genius to put it together. 

I was a little disappointed it takes place in East LA - for some reason I was thinking it took place in Mexico, and I don't know why that makes such a difference, but honestly LA is oddly flat for me as a setting (it's not specific to Cemetery Boys, I don't really get any entertainment that's set there).  

There's certainly enough Spanish in it (and untranslated too, so monolinguists just get to guess at some of the interplay) and the details about Dia de Muertos are thoroughly and lovingly described. And the romance is cute enough, and the main character isn't dumb for plot reasons, or obnoxious or anything like that.  I just... found myself skimming slightly, to get to the action at the end.  One of those things where, since you know so early how the big reveal and denouement will go, all the pit stops along the way start to feel superfluous.  I did appreciate (if not "enjoy") that the author switches to another POV when the main character is potentially dead.  Every little bit of suspense helps!

Yadriel, the main character, is trans, which I somehow managed to not know until after I started reading it, even though it's right in the description and I swear I read that multiple times before checking the book out.  It does impact the plot, since the whole thing hinges on the idea that Yadriel can use the male brujx powers instead of the female, although I still kind of wished that Yadriel didn't dwell so much on it.  I will give him a pass though, since teenagers the world over care way too much about other people's opinions.  I appreciated that Julian was like, no hangups here, dude.  Man, I think I'm just tired of YA right now.  I'm old, and I don't have time for melodramatic nonsense about accepting yourself and finding love.  Give me more no-nonsense heroines, like what's her name in The Alice Network (no, not the modern day one, the cranky old spy).  

28: A Book Set During a Holiday