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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.
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
kays_reading_journal's review against another edition
4.5
Content Warnings: There’s a full list at the bottom but I wanted to elaborate on something: there is a deaf character whose hands are restrained therefore he looses the ability to communicate.
Aiden Thomas is the author that got me back into reading after college and is the author that just got me out of a slump.
He pulls the perfect amount of emotion out of a reader while balancing it with humor.
I won’t lie tho I don’t love all the characters. I adore Teo and Aurelio so much, but Niya just gets on my nerves.
I’m all for redemption, but I wasn’t a fan of how it ended up being handled here. Kind of tied into this, I feel like the horridness of how the characters were treated was glazed over.I mostly mean I cannot believe that the semidioses forgave Xio so quickly, when they barely apologized (if it happened, I don’t remember it). More specifically, Dezi is treated absolutely horrendous. Taking away his ability to communicate for himself and with others. Especially when his power revolves around touch, it was unnecessarily cruel.
I watched a three hour recap of the first book on YouTube before picking up the sequal, and I think if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have enjoyed this so much.
Aiden Thomas is the author that got me back into reading after college and is the author that just got me out of a slump.
He pulls the perfect amount of emotion out of a reader while balancing it with humor.
I won’t lie tho I don’t love all the characters. I adore Teo and Aurelio so much, but Niya just gets on my nerves.
I’m all for redemption, but I wasn’t a fan of how it ended up being handled here. Kind of tied into this, I feel like the horridness of how the characters were treated was glazed over.
I watched a three hour recap of the first book on YouTube before picking up the sequal, and I think if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have enjoyed this so much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Torture, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Blood
embersbooknook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
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? Yes
5.0
DAMN I really adore these characters, this world, and how queer (yet it also isn’t the plot) that the setting is. The plot was excellent, twisting in directions I wasn’t expecting. I thought this was a fantastic sequel, even better than the first.
I REALLY DIDNT WANT SUERTE TO DIE THOUGH Y’ALL😭😭 I really came to love his character in this book. And Fantasma?! What a queen🥹 Xio’s character growth was really well done and felt authentic and unforced, which I appreciated. Niya was hilarious as usual, and Tea & Aurelio were soooo adorable🥹😍🥹
I really enjoyed the theme/idea, and its exploration, of how the gods can’t save us. Like…idk, it was strangely empowering to me - a reminder that the things we put on pedestals as a society (politicians to name a big one very relevant at the moment🫣) can’t really save us. We save ourselves and each other but having community, working together, and taking care of each other. More than ever, a poignant and powerful theme.
As a nonbinary person it is so moving to be represented at all, let alone in such a wonderful cast of characters😭🥹 Also this book made me HUNGRY - all the descriptions of the delicious food😋 Made me nostalgic too, as a Latine reader. 🥹 I need to be more like Aurelio and cook more😄 This weekend might be time to whip up some sopapillas and café de olla I’m thinking….😌☕️
I really enjoyed the theme/idea, and its exploration, of how the gods can’t save us. Like…idk, it was strangely empowering to me - a reminder that the things we put on pedestals as a society (politicians to name a big one very relevant at the moment🫣) can’t really save us. We save ourselves and each other but having community, working together, and taking care of each other. More than ever, a poignant and powerful theme.
As a nonbinary person it is so moving to be represented at all, let alone in such a wonderful cast of characters😭🥹 Also this book made me HUNGRY - all the descriptions of the delicious food😋 Made me nostalgic too, as a Latine reader. 🥹 I need to be more like Aurelio and cook more😄 This weekend might be time to whip up some sopapillas and café de olla I’m thinking….😌☕️
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism
The war/genocide theme is from mentions of something that happened way in the past. Not graphic but the thread is there, so I felt it worth mentioning. None of these are overly graphic but all themes are present.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
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