I read Celestial Monsters and here are my thoughts

Today I’m talking about Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas, the sequel to The Sunbearer Trials.

Anyway, the blurb says that Teo never thought he could be a hero. Now, he doesn’t have a choice. After Teo refused to sacrifice a fellow semidios during the Sunbearer Trials, the world plunged into a perpetual night. The Obsidian gods have been released from their prison, and chaos and destruction are wreaking havoc on Reino Del Sol. Teo, his crush, Aurelio, and his best friend, Niya, must journey to the dark wilderness of Los Restos and battle vicious monsters. Can they rescue the captured semidioses, retrieve the Sol Stone, and restore order to the world before it’s too late?

Do I remember when the prequel came out? No, I do not, but I remember the plot being that Teo ended up competing in The Sunbearer Trials and that the winner, or the loser, of the trials was going to be sacrificed to keep the world safe, but then he refused to do it and cast the world into darkness. I will say, I normally have an issue with stories that get split into multiple books, but that’s only because I’m greedy and don’t like having to wait years for sequels, and yet, that’s exactly what I did with this book. But I know that it’s a duology so I was fine with this one, because I knew the story would be finished at the end of this book. Also, I know I often complain about fantasy, about how only certain types of fantasy hit for me. And I don’t know what it was, but The Sunbearer Trials did hit for me.

Chapter one opens up post-trials and post-Obsidians being unleashed on the world by Teo. We’re immediately in Xio’s POV, who is the child of one of the Obsidian gods, Venganza. The book opens with most of the group that Teo and the divas knew from the first book being kidnapped – fun times! Meanwhile Teo, Aurelio, and Niya are out in the world, all the while Xio forces themselves not to think about the positive things about them, like how they saw them as just a person, not this paragon of bad luck that everyone else saw them as. You could tell that this was probably setting up to either mean that they were going to eventually break away from the Obsidians to change the world as they knew, or that they would end up distraught at the end when they inevitably lose to the good guys.

The next couple chapters go to Teo with the besties, Aurelio and Niya. Their whole gig throughout the book is that they need to get the Sol Stone from Los Restos and Venganza who, I don’t know why, reminded me of Organzza from Drag Race Brazil. I think it was solely down to the name honestly. When I was first writing these notes, I was immediately going to say that not much happens in the first two chapters you’re with Teo, but that’s literally such a lie. The three leave home on what is essentially a party boat which then gets highjacked in the very first city that they get to, and then they’re forced to fight their way through said city that is being plagued by celestial creatures. Something I noticed that was very prevalent in the sections with Teo (obviously they wouldn’t happen with Xio because most of their sections are in their temple) was that the whole apocalypse in this book came about because Teo never completed his duties as the Sunbearer to keep the light in the world. And because of that, people were furious with him, blaming him for the apocalypse (because it was his fault) but when crowds would boo him, the minute him and his friends went to leave the very same people that were booing him would turn around and then be filled with dread and beg him not to leave, because he’s the only one that could save them from the monsters. And I understood their fear, but at the same time, how much of an attitude do the crowds have, thinking they could treat Teo like garbage, but then beg him to stay because they can’t defend themselves? It was crowds doing this, and it was wild how toxic they were as a group.

I will say, I did, for a little moment in this book, forget that some of the characters – well all the of the characters – were teenagers. Most of the main characters were, and that Xio was thirteen. There was them, and one of the other characters that competed in the Trials, Atzi, I think it was, who was also thirteen. And then reading the stuff that was happening in the book was wild. Like, there are these literal gods that were getting their behinds handed to them by children. I know for the most part it was a group of teenagers against one person, but you mean to tell me these sixteen-year-olds are beating gods? But also, when it’s queer teens? Oh, they absolutely could. I don’t make the rules, that’s just how it works.

You know that era of TV, for people in my sort of age group where you’d get, often a teen show, maybe not, but a show that would end up being on the CW or something that would end up being six or seven seasons? I could fully see this book as one of those TV shows. I can explain that the first book in this duology feels more like a movie – very Hunger Games vibes – but this one definitely feels more like a TV show. So, obviously you have the part where you’ve got Teo, Niya, and Aurelio travelling to Los Restos, but then you’ve also got Xio and the others in Venganza’s temple. I definitely do see it more as the majority of the content following Teo, just because he does so much more throughout the book. But I don’t know, I feel like some books are just books, but there are some books that you read that feel like other media. And I love it when I can see something as other media, because it means it could translate well.

Something else that killed me was that since it had been so long between me reading The Sunbearer Trials and this one, I was fully convinced that Teo and Aurelio had kissed in the first book, like I had convinced myself they had. Then come to the second book, and it’s not until a chunk of the way through that they have their first kiss, and I’m kind of gooped, because I had believed this wasn’t their first. I saw a TikTok recently where a girl referred to herself as a passenger princess reader, by which she means that she sees nothing coming. And to be honest, in a way, I think that’s what I’m trying to lean more towards. The way I see it is that other than plotting and scheming for my own writing, that’s fine, but for others, I want to switch my brain off and enjoy what I’m reading for what it is. It’s all good and well trying to read into it, and I don’t mind occasionally having an idea and thinking, “So and so is the villain”, or that something is going to be a twist. But I’m just not one to actively go digging. If I notice, I notice.

Also, I realise I haven’t actually talked all that much about the book, and that’s because I was really smart and once again just didn’t write notes, so have had to go on vibes for the majority of this post. Once again, I’m a big Aiden Thomas fan, and I really liked this book. I think I definitely preferred the first one over this one, and also, I’m not the biggest fantasy fan, but I have previously said I prefer a more urban fantasy vibe, which this one does have. So this is definitely the kind of fantasy that I’m a fan of. It’s the kind of fantasy that, to me, feels approachable – the good kind for someone who wants to get into fantasy.

Okay bye!