Cemetery Boys
by Aiden Thomas
The (a) story follows Yadriel, a transgender boy from a traditional Latinx family. Surrounded by people who continuously struggle to accept his identity, Yadriel grows more and more determined to prove himself a true brujo: a member of an ancient community that can make contact with and help spirits cross over into the afterlife. Having been denied the traditional coming of age ceremony fit for men of the community, Yadriel performs it himself—and is immediately accepted as a brujo by their deity, Lady Death.
But soon afterward, their community is struck by a terrible tragedy. And as Yadriel takes it upon himself to assume the duties of a brujo, he gets a little more than he bargained for: the stubborn, wandering spirit of Julian Diaz, the school bad boy.
Now, Julian is insistent on tying up some loose ends before he moves on. And until then, it looks like Yadriel is stuck with him. But as the two begin to unravel the mystery behind the tragedy that has befallen the brujx community, as well as Julian’s death, it appears as if there is something far more sinister lurking beneath the surface.
And the more time they spend together, the less Yadriel wants to let Julian go.
The (A) story is about truth. But not just any kind of truth: spiritual truth in particular. This is very evident through the character of Yadriel and his struggles as a transgender boy stuck in a fairly conservative, tradition-driven environment. While many of his classmates, neighbors, and family members occasionally slip his deadname into conversation and even shamelessly ignore his pronouns, it is Lady Death herself who looks into his soul and sees him for what he truly is: a boy. This, more than anything else in the story, is a beautiful way to showcase that who we are is determined by what we have inside, not outside.
But the story is also very obviously about companionship and belonging—and to a lesser extent, acceptance. Yadriel knows who he is, and over the course of the story he manages to find others who see him for who he truly is as well. And in the end, it is this acceptance by those closest to him that helps shift the perspectives of the rest of his community.
I really, really wanted to love this book. I especially wanted to love it since this was my first experience reading from the perspective of a transgender character. And let me be clear: I do love the overall concept. I absolutely adore the idea that a transgender person’s identity is solidified by the acceptance of an all-knowing, all-seeing godly figure. As I mentioned above, it was an utterly beautiful way to convey the concept of gender identity to an audience.
However. I just didn’t enjoy the writing as much as I could have. Specifically, the style was just not to my personal tastes. First and foremost, it was extremely “tell” instead of “show,” which really grinds my gears. Not only was there a ton of exposition for the overall culture and the brujx community just within the first few pages, but with almost every line in the book, it seemed, the author was telling me what the characters were thinking and feeling instead of just letting the story demonstrate it. As an example, there was one moment toward the end where one character screamed at another, and the line that followed it was something like: She was very angry.
Now, at this point in the book I was incredibly irritated by all the telling, so my reaction was something along the lines of, “Really?! I could never have possibly guessed that through context and dialogue!!! Grrrrr….”
To make matters worse, because of all the info-dumping within the first couple of chapters, I—100% seriously—deduced who the “surprise” villain was and what he was planning by page 37. No lie. And, okay, maybe certain details just happened to align for me specifically, but I’m confident that if the inciting incident and the backgrounds for certain rituals and items had been more equally spaced out over the course of the narrative, instead of all just shoved at us at once, it wouldn’t have been as obvious.
Is it a terrible book? Ehhh…. only if extensive “telling” and exposition make you want to pull your hair out as much as they make me want to. Otherwise, I’d say the story itself is decent. Also, full disclosure, I’m not really a fan of romances—and I’m especially snobby about contemporary romances—to begin with, so this book had already taken a couple of hit points even before I started reading it. So, if you’re more into this kind of genre in general, it will probably be more enjoyable for you.
Again, I love the concept. I just wish the author had a little more experience under their belt at the time of writing this story (Cemetery Boys was Aiden Thomas’s debut novel). Give it a read if you want, but I’d say, unfortunately, this is one story I probably won’t be coming back to again.
