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A review by rizky
Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
4.0
I loved the Sunbearer Trials and I also loved this sequel!
Overall, I really enjoyed the dynamics between the characters, Xio's character development, the blossoming romance between Teo and Aurelio and getting to see a more vulnerable side of Niya. I would have loved to see more of Dezi in particular (especially because he was hinted at so much in the beginning!) and would die for a Dezi spin-off (I guess I'm just a real big Dezi fan).
I also appreciate the queernormativity and the nonchalance of queer couples, trans people and pronoun usage of this universe! I'm tired of reading about queer trauma in fiction over and over again, there's so much of it in real life and it feels so so good to be able to escape into a world in which queerphobia just... isn't a thing at all.
My main criticism of Celestia Monsters concerns pacing: with the book starting off right at the end of the first one and being so action-packed, it felt like there wasn't a lot of room to breathe, neither for the characters nor for the reader. Sometimes it felt like running from one battle into the next into the next into the next, and instead of the focus so heavily being on fighting, I would have loved to see more dialogue between the characters in general and particularly Teo and Niya instead to better understand how they were processing the whole situation and how it affected their friendshpi.
Super solid story all in all though, definitely recommend!
Overall, I really enjoyed the dynamics between the characters, Xio's character development, the blossoming romance between Teo and Aurelio and getting to see a more vulnerable side of Niya. I would have loved to see more of Dezi in particular (especially because he was hinted at so much in the beginning!) and would die for a Dezi spin-off (I guess I'm just a real big Dezi fan).
I also appreciate the queernormativity and the nonchalance of queer couples, trans people and pronoun usage of this universe! I'm tired of reading about queer trauma in fiction over and over again, there's so much of it in real life and it feels so so good to be able to escape into a world in which queerphobia just... isn't a thing at all.
My main criticism of Celestia Monsters concerns pacing: with the book starting off right at the end of the first one and being so action-packed, it felt like there wasn't a lot of room to breathe, neither for the characters nor for the reader. Sometimes it felt like running from one battle into the next into the next into the next, and instead of the focus so heavily being on fighting, I would have loved to see more dialogue between the characters in general and particularly Teo and Niya instead to better understand how they were processing the whole situation and how it affected their friendshpi.
Super solid story all in all though, definitely recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail