Celestial Monsters tosses us right back into the world of The Sunbearer Trials – and the end to this colorful & charming duology did not disappoint.

Teo and his friends are forced to go on a monster-filled quest to return the sun and stop the chaos. Their crew doesn’t have much time, and they’re still reeling from the betrayal of a friend, the guilt of putting the world in danger … and the start of a romance. 

Just like in The Sunbearer Trials, I deeply appreciated how inclusive this journey was. I teared up a few times while reading just thinking about how meaningful this story will be to so many young readers. While the heavy-handedness of some topics may be a bit off-putting to adults, I think both the clarity and optimism around a queernormative magical world working on reshaping their societal structures was perfect. 

And the world expanded to be even more delightful! Beyond the magic and fun and incorporation of Mexican mythology, there’s also some beautiful community care and futuristic ways of building societies here (avoiding violence and prioritizing hearing from all voices). That was awesome.

I think my biggest stumble has to be with Teo. It kind of felt like he’d done it all already - like, checkmark on his growth - and I wish that wasn’t the case. He had a wonderful arc in the first book, and I’m not sure why he plateaued here. Xio and Aurelio and Niya all felt like they had much bigger arcs (some of them actually happened too rapidly), and I wonder what it would have been like to have Niya as a narrator. I was really interested in her worldview and maturation here. 

Aurelio had an equally big shift, but we get to puzzle through that through Teo’s eyes. And Xio was a little bit of a mess (some decisions felt like plot decisions rather than in-character choices - and it all happened way too quickly). 

It also felt like their journey was a tad too easy with their godly gifts and tools. I wanted them to face more challenges and figure out how to work together and combine their strengths as a team.

I think, overall, most of my issues were that this felt like a trilogy (or even longer series) that was condensed. The arcs were awesome in theory and a bit awkwardly fast on the page. 

But the villains were deliciously villain-y, the world expansion was wonderful, and I loved getting more of our fierce little group of semidioses. The romance is super cute. There will be moments that crush your heart, but the ending and epilogue were very sweet. 

Yay for an ending that challenges the status quo! 

CW: death (parent/child), blood, violence, torture, fire

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)