visceralreads's reviews
142 reviews

I FINALLY READ THE VERY FIRST BOOK ADDED TO MY GR TBR LIST!! I read this book over a whole month so excuse me if I misremembered events or names :3
[3.5 stars]

TWs: Use of blood in magic, deadnaming, death of a parent (mentioned), gender dysphoria, homo/transphobia, misgendering

Thoughts:
I LOVE the Latinx culture here like omg (i'm not latine but filipino lolzz). There are some similarities between Latinx and Filipino culture, which are evident through the multi-generational households and strong community/family bonds. I really love the inclusion of different spanish accents (puerto rican, cuban, colombian etc.) and the diversity is just *chef's kiss* There's queer rep, obviously, but I'm so glad to see transfem representation (Flaca)!! Another thing I love about Cemetery Boys is the found family aspect (Julian's friends and eventually everyone else) like OUGHH it makes my heart swell every time! I loved how the author wrote the atmosphere (at the cemetery, on Dia de Muertos, the underground chamber thing, and the aquelarre) and how vivid they all are to me :) Also!! The bits of brujx history, latinx culture, and the story of Lady Death and the jaguar god is just so good and really interesting to read about! I love that :DD
__
Okay, this is gonna be controversial but. I didn't really like Yadriel :( There was just something about him that didn't click with me, I don't know if it's because he came across as a little self-centered to me at some points in the book, or maybe he was a little whiny? I loved Julian though, I thought he was a really interesting character. I totally didn't expect him to be this silly, kind, and funny 'bad boy' and his unpredictability made me instantly love him.  Maybe that was what Yadriel lacked -- the element of surprise in his character.

Anyhoo, I need to talk about the plot. The book starts with lots of exposition about the brujx and the cemetery, but I felt that there was way too many details at such an early point in the book. Yadriel is introduced, as well as his cousin Maritza (love her btw), where they both are sneaking into the old church so that Yadriel can be blessed by Lady Death to be officially a brujo. I can't remember the exact point when Julian comes into the picture but there he is, a spirit and incredibly distressed, but it's okay because he's fine with being a ghost anyways (i LOVED this part, it completely surprised me that a recently dead guy is more worried about his brother getting mad than the fact that he himself just died a few minutes ago). THEN one of the brujx dies mysteriously but his body is nowhere to be seen. Fast forward many pages to the end (on the eve of Dia de Muertos) where the missing brujo's and Julian's bodies are [REDACTED] for the [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] was the villain in the underground chamber. 

Here's where I felt the story finally picked up. All i can say for the ending/climax is that The Villain was kinda predictable BUT I felt sorry for them because their ending was so quick and sort of swept under the rug at the end of the story. I wanted more reasons behind their sudden rise to Villany, and in the end, it didn't deliver quite the punch to the twist I was hoping for.

Another thing I must point out is Yadriel and Julian's relationship. I was hoping for more zing to their relationship and a genuine liking towards each other but the writing was so passive that it diluted parts of their interactions. I thought the halloween party at the beach was beautiful, and so is the ending. There are obviously some parts where I really liked Yadriel and Julian's interactions, but most of the time the interactions were repetitive and sort of boring.
__
Whew. There were definitely more cons than pros for this book in my opinion, but I still liked it. That ending at the aquelarre was just magical (AND SO IS LADY DEATH APPEARING!!) and the trans and gay representation is amazing. As always, take my review with a grain of salt :)

- omg i loveee the art style so much!! the soft color palettes and the smooth lineless art and by god, buff women <333
- casual sapphic representation in a middle-grade book! although it's not clearly stated that mae and aure are in a romantic relationship, but i'm sure asl that no girl bbfs look at each other and touch like that <3
- also the coral reef degradation commentary especially in a book that's geared towards younger audiences! I love this, and even though aquicorn cove features a colony of majestic marine creatures called aquicorns and an underwater creature (aure) which are fantasy elements, i think that the message this graphic novel relays is still very clear: coral reef destruction is a real thing and it is very harmful to both marine and human life, and steps must be taken to preserve the ocean, no matter how small (using less plastic, not overfishing etc.)

overall the story is easy to follow with the simple dialogues, heartfelt moments, and captivating art style,, and there's also a section at the back that talks about coral reefs and coral bleaching, which is very helpful for anyone young or old to understand.

 i feel bad for the low rating so I'm gonna let the book marinate long enough for me to review it thoroughly

okay, I had high hopes for this book because a) a peter pan retelling! and b) tink and wendy!!! However the story just wasn't enough for this queer adaptation of peter pan. The dual timelines ('Then' and 'Now') were interesting at first, but it became confusing quickly as I had to keep track of what was happening in the Past Past when Tink and Peter met Wendy, the Past when Peter and Wendy were a thing, the Past Past Past when Tink and Peter were in neverland, the Now where Tink is talking to Wendy's granddaughter, Hope (which is easy to follow through, at least), and the random bits of neverland/fairy lore by the historian (the one who chose Tink to be peter's guardian).

Other than the messy timelines, one thing I really disliked reading about was Tink and Wendy. Don't get me wrong, i'm queer myself, but this is such an injustice to what tink and wendy could've truly been. There's too much telling (tink is attracted to wendy and very explicitly stated that she loves wendy because peter was an awful brat or something) and not enough showing! I don't get to see how wendy and tink developed mutual feelings for each other through their actions (other than that one time when wendy gave tink a leaf) and the narration does absolutely nothing for tink's yearning for wendy. I'm so disappointed when it's all a happy ending in the end and i'm just forced to accept that somehow tink and wendy and together now.

Additionally, peter pan was an astronomical jerk. I've never felt so annoyed by peter when reading this retelling.

Two things I liked though were 1) Tink's personality and 2) the neverland lore:
1) I like this Tink very much, and I was actually surprised that she smoked and drank because i didn't expect that, but it somehow fits her. This Tink stayed true to the original - witty, fierce, jealous, full of mischief, and loyal - but I really love how Tink here was so enjoyable and easy to read. I just love her
2) Also the neverland lore is pretty cool! I liked reading about the fairies and the mermaids and the forgetfulness curse on the Lost Boys and how Neverland works! Although it does little to advance the plot sometimes, it's still very interesting

Take my review with a whole bag of salt though, if you love Peter Pan retellings and/or sapphic romance, go ahead. I was just expecting more from this book :(

i read this once when i was 13, and I read this again when i'm 18. Still amazing

I so love sweet middle grade books that is so humanly human and so genuine for a 12 year old narrator. The tone, the words, and the descriptions are so simple but so deep and makes Ruby Clyde Henderson so smart for her age (but not too smart that she doesn't sound 12). Ruby Clyde has gone through so much, from watching her mom getting arrested for something the boyfriend did, to losing her nun aunt after all the things she'd done for Ruby. Almost Paradise such so heartbreaking for a middle-grade book, but Ruby was so smart and strong and understanding throughout the events of this book. The pacing was surprisingly great too! The major events was well detailed and the flow of the story was so smooth that I never once got bored with exposition and filler scenes. Idk, I like happy endings that are well-deserved, and Ruby Clyde does deserve one

Voyage de Gourmet is a journey of forgiveness and learning to be a better person. It follows Layne Green, a teen cook selected for a reality cooking competition 'Voyage de Gourmet', as he fixes his relationship with his ex-best friend Jang-Mi Pipper, and finds some flavor in his life.

The story is simple and it flows well as a graphic novel. The main character Layne is very flawed and it took me until about 60% of the book to start to warm up to him as he realizes the extent of his jerk-ness towards Jang-Mi and admits it to her. I love his character development throughout the book, and there's a really cool section at the back on how to apologize properly to a friend.

Voyage de Gourmet (the competition) is wild, and the last challenge is definitely unethical to some extent (on human and marine life) but anyway, I like that the contestants get to travel to different countries like Indonesia and Belgium to experience the atmosphere there and make use of what's available to them in those countries. The foods are also diverse (shoutout to (filipino) Adobo!!) and I like that they included ingredients for the dishes in the first part of the book.

In addition to food diversity, the cast themself is also quite diverse. I love the biracial, fat, muslim, queer, and disability representation in this book. However there was one team with two (divorced?) men who were astronomical jerks to everyone (and Frog, Jang-Mi's dog) and I might be reading too much into this but they were just horrible gay rep. Jang-Mi lives with her lesbian aunts and their many adopted kids, and Karla and Tuck are married, so I like that casual sapphic rep, but I was just really annoyed with Flip and Flop, the gay assholes. In another book with a different tone, I would've liked them, but this graphic novel is geared towards young adults (maybe even 11+ based on the story tone) and I don't think I want them to have this idea about gay men. 

Final rating: 3.5/5

Thank you NetGalley, Mad Cave Studios, and Maverick for this ARC! My opinion is my own

Great art style and color combos. The storyline is interesting too but it couldve been expanded more, especially towards the climax, which happened too quickly that i almost didn't notice it. I hoped that Lily and Eli's relationship could be deeper, but I do love that this world is so queernormative :)))