A review by ramunepocky
Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

“But we could be together in the next world. I’d wait for you.” “We could be together now.” 

This review is not spoiler free 

It is no secret that this was absolutely my most anticipated release of the year and I’ve been excitedly and impatiently dying to read it every single day since I finished The Sunbearer Trials (and proceeded to read it a bunch more times because I loved it so much) and let me tell you, it did NOT disappoint. It picks up pretty immediately after The Sunbearer Trials ends, and I love that it is told it dual POV so that we get to see both Teo and his, Niya’s and Aurelio’s journey to find the Sol Stone and save their friends, and from Xio’s POV so we can see them grappling with their guilt over betraying the only two friends they’ve ever had, and thinking they’re right for what they did, and how the other competitors are coping in their captivity. It also gave us a nice insight into what the Obsidians are like, even with someone they consider “their own.” It was interesting to see Xio go from proud of the way that they’d catered each prison to the captors specific weaknesses to seeing them feel guilt and regret over it. I also enjoyed seeing Vengaza teach Xio how to use their magic and the way that it manifested and how they could use it. 

I really love Teo so much, he makes me laugh even in life threatening situations with his dumb comments and his inability to not be sarcastic. Once a trouble maker, always a trouble maker. He’s so brave and so full of heart, he cares so much about his friends and his mum and the people around him. I did find him frustrating at times though, mostly where Aurelio was concerned, when he didn’t understand why Aurelio was being so “hot and cold” and why he was being withdrawn, like dayum bro, his twin sister, who he is literally never separated from, has been captured and he’s worried about her. USE YOUR BRAIN TEO. I know you’re too busy thirsting after Aurelio but like be for real for two seconds please. There were some really sweet bonding moments between those two and Niya in this book, and so many moments that made me want to sob. I also love that even though Teo was betrayed and angry, he still worried about Xio and didn’t want them to suffer for their actions, and he was the first to want to trust them again when Xio came to help them. I also really love that Huemac packed him his comfort stuffed animal and that he slept with it every night they camped. Bless his little heart. 

My favourite character, surprise, surprise, I’m sure, is 100000% Aurelio. He is actually my favourite character Aiden has written, which speaks volumes because I love Julian Diaz with everything I have to give, but I immediately was attached to Aurelio the second we met him in The Sunbearer Trials and the more I read about him, the more I loved him. That boy, bless him, is just so autistic coded. His social skills and the way he can’t tell when/if people are joking, the way he clearly has no regulation over his expressions/emotions and tone, the way he gets clearly overstimulated, the way he stims tapping his gold bands, cooking obviously being his special interest. Speaking of, I LOVE the way that he has cooking videos saved onto his phone and that he offered to show them to Teo when he was having trouble sleeping when they’d made camp. My heart broke so many times for Aurelio in this book, esp whenever they were fighting a celestial and he’d leave himself open to attack because he was so accustomed to having Auristela covering his weak points that he expected her to be there even though he logically knew she was not. And the way he was clearly struggling with her not being there – it hurt me so much. Twins always destroy me. I absolutely sobbed when the two of them reunited. I also think the development of his and Teo’s relationship was really sweet and seeing them so happy in the epilogue made my heart so SO happy!! And the way that Aurelio no longer had to be the revered hero Son of Lumbre, he could just be Aurelio and go to culinary school and be happy and himself. HE DESERVED THAT SO MUCH. Especially after all the garbage his mother put him through, and it was so sad to see him still struggle with that during this book. ALSO, the way that he’d pocketed that obsidian dagger with the intention to sacrifice himself absolutely destroyed me. He was always trying to look out for and protect everyone else, and no one, besides Auristela, had ever thought to look out for him until Teo does. It hurt me so much, and I’m so thankful that Teo talked him out of it and made him promise, and that he never got the chance to attempt to sacrifice himself because I would NOT have stood for it. I also really loved the way his friendship with Niya developed during this book, as she’d decided that since he and Teo clearly liked each other, he was now her second best friend. 

There are so many other characters in this book I love so so so so much! NIYA, OCELO, XIO, AURISTELA, ATZI, DEZI, MARINO, FANTASMA, XOCHI, QUETZAL, SUERTE !!! JUST ALL OF THEM !!! There’s such a vast and loveable cast and I just wanted every single one of them to thrive and be happy. That is the case for most of them and they almost all get their happy ending, but Suerte sacrificing himself, and his closing words to Xio, absolutely broke me into a million pieces, and then the Dios/Diosas deciding to retreat and leave the world to the mortals and their kids too just had me sobbing, the way Teo desperately tried to negotiate so he’d still be able to see his mum, bless him. 

I really loved the world building in this book !!! It was amazing to see glimpses of the other cities and the way that the Celestials had destroyed them. I loved that seeing Suerte’s city and the way that all the mortals banded together to handle destruction and disasters all the time meant that the celestials didn’t even bother them. And I love that venturing through there gave Teo some perspective and something to think about, the same as when they came across that village of mortals living in the trees that had no Dios and had no heroes, and that they’d never tried to kill the critters they face and had just found other ways of dealing with them. I also loved seeing the way that the Obsidians operated and to learn more about what had happened to the Obsidians mortal cities that had been destroyed during the war. 

All in all, this was just a beautiful incredible book and I cannot believe I now live in a world where I’ve read it. I wake up every day like WOW can’t believe I’ve actually read Celestial Monsters!! I am still very eagerly anticipating my physical copies coming and the audiobook coming out so I can reread it many times more and absolutely tab it. 

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