It’s almost fall, and you know what that means here in the desert Southwest: the weather drops a degree — or 20 — and then heats back up for a couple weeks. For those chilly times until the heat wave, I could not recommend the novel “Cemetery Boys” by Aiden Thomas enough.
“Cemetery Boys” follows Yadriel, a young brujo — a person who performs a closed practice of magic — as he works with his cousin and best friend Maritza to figure out the mystery of their cousin Miguel’s death, and help Julian Diaz — who recently became a ghost — before he goes maligno, or malignant.
I’ll be the first to admit that young adult books often make me cringe. While “Cemetery Boys” has all the angst of any other, it feels earned. Yadriel is a transgender and Queer teen who wants his family to accept him. He has inherited a magical gift, which means his patron has accepted him, despite his family’s claims that he wouldn’t be able to practice magic due to tradition.
The way Yadriel’s family is portrayed is nuanced. Although they misgender and deadname him, they do not cast him out. He feels conflicted about his situation, balancing familial love and rightful upset. He turns to Maritza for comfort.
Over the course of the book, Yadriel sees Julian’s Queer group of friends stand by and protect one another.
The book portrays extremely complicated issues realistically. It shows people as people. No one handles anything perfectly, which is part of what makes the book so captivating.
It can be difficult in the Latine community to have trans and Queer identities because of inherited transphobia and Queerphobia. In the book, Yadriel and Julian are both able to find people who care about them and build a community that understands their struggles.
I am very lucky to have found and be a part of the University of New Mexico Association for Jotería, Arts, Activism and Scholarship, a campus group that centers trans and Queer Latinidad.
One of my favorite parts about this book is all the different communities within the Latine categorization it has. Usually Mexican Americans are the focus, but everyone shares the spotlight in “Cemetery Boys.”
“Cemetery Boys” stays true to the mystery young adult genre. To me, a good mystery lets the reader play detective too. I adore a complicated plot, and a good writer can make a plot that feels complicated yet understandable.
There were just enough clues that I had a sense of something being wrong before it was wrong. I had just enough information to make an educated guess, but not so much information that the twist ending wasn’t surprising.
The book has only one major plotline: solving Miguel and Julian’s deaths. This allows for more focused storytelling. There is an ease of reading there that makes the book simpler to get through.
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One of my major critiques involved the character of Miguel. He is the reason Yadriel and Maritza stumble upon Julian in the first place, but he isn’t shown alive before he dies and gets no introduction. It was hard to care for a character I don’t know.
Overall, however, the book shows a lot of love for the trans and Queer Latine community. Reading it felt like a warm hug.
Marcela Johnson is a beat reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo.
Marcela Johnson is a beat reporter for the Daily Lobo, and the editor-in-chief of Limina: UNM Nonfiction Review.
