Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas

8 reviews

merc_birb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Blood

redpollrory's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and War

hannahnj17's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Celestial Monsters takes the powerful foundation of the Sunbearer Trials and goes even further in daring to imagine a more equitable world. With the Obsidian dioses freed from their prisons, they are going to take their revenge and plunge the world into eternal darkness unless Teo, Niya and Aurelio can free their captured fellow semidioses and reclaim the Sol Stone. What struck me the most was how the Obsidian people are described in this book; we're introduced to them in the context of the history given in the Sunbearer Trials being a history written by the victors who committed genocide against them. The story of

Suerte and how Xio redeems themself through returning to being his child

is also an incredibly powerful subplot that reaches its culmination at the climax of the action. The characters remain loveable, flawed and often ridiculously silly. I can easily see myself reading and re-reading this duology in the years to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Sexual content, Medical content, and Dysphoria

itsolliebygollie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Aiden Thomas' writing is an amazing blend of Percy Jackson and something completely new and fresh. The world they create is so expansive and complex in a way that isn't overwhelming - don't need a map or notebook to keep track - and is so full of depth that I can imagine it in front of me. I can't wait for whatever Aiden Thomas writes next. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and War

nikki_flowers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Look, I’m a simple lad, give me childhood friends to enemies to lovers (and a queer/trans normative world!!!!!!) and I’ll eat it up EVERY time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

midnightmoon_dreamer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Loved this book, just like the first one. I just think some of the scenes with a lot of characters could have been better. Otherwise, absolutely loved all the characters and their relationships and the worldbuilding. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Dysphoria

barnesbookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is a little predictable in the best ways. I didn't predict the slight twist at the end! I truly love this series. I'm glad we got to see more of Aurelio and Teo's development, and Niya is hilarious as always. This book has multiple instances of one of my favorite queer jokes around pronouns, and it delighted me every time. This was another book I couldn't put down. I think I'll be returning to this series quite a few times in the future to visit Teo, Aurelio, Xio, and Niya.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, and War