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claudcloud 's review for:

Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas
3.5
adventurous emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
If I had a nickel for every time a story about the gods ended in some sort of catatheosis/realization that ruling with an iron fist and not actually knowing what your 'children' need is causing more harm than good so you need to dip, I'd have two nickels, but it's kind of nice that it happened twice (thank you, Critical Role campaign 3)!

Being back in this world with characters that I love so much has been so amazing 🥹 Teo has always been a delight to read, and getting Xio's perspective as well has been an unexpected but very fun surprise! This motley group of friends who are all so unique but who come together so beautifully is the best thing about this duology, and I'm very glad to have spent more time with them!

That being said... if I still vibed with YA, this would be the YA I vibe with, but I'm afraid that I've been needing more from what I read ;;; The pacing of the story was so quick I felt like we didn't have time to sit in any of the beats enough for them to really sink in, the plot itself was a bit cookie-cutter and quite predictable (semidioses saving the world with the power of friendship, Xio's double agent-to-traitor-to-friend again arc, our trio coming across a village that is diose-free and seeing for themselves that there's another way for their society to function, the trials officially ending and so on), and while the atmosphere and the really immersive world that Aiden has created does make up for some of it, I'm very aware that the gripes I have are not so much the book itself's fault, but rather me no longer being the target audience.

Overall a very fun and fantastical duology that I absolutely will recommend to my cousin's kids!!