Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

17 reviews

andelion's review

adventurous emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Blood, and Animal death

Minor: War

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Blood, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Confinement, Dysphoria, Classism, Grief, Death, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Death of parent and Child death

fanboyriot's review

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.0

The world building to this was so interesting, I loved how it all came together and how the gods were there with the humans.  Think a young adult mash up of Percy Jackson and The Hunger Games—and make it queer.

It did take me a few chapters to fully get invested in this but once I did I ended up reading twenty-two chapters in one sitting. 

Obviously, I’m not a fan with how this ended but luckily I waited long enough to read this to know it ended on a major cliffhanger.  So it wasn’t quite as devastating.

Release Date: 06, September 2022

POV: Third Person

Rep: Trans (MC), LGBTQIA+ characters, BIPOC characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Bullying, Blood, and Classism

Moderate: Grief, War, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, and Death

Minor: Transphobia, Child death, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

erikagibson126's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Child death, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Grief, Bullying, Murder, and Dysphoria

mattiedancer's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Writing: 3.5⭐️/5 

The writing in this story is serviceable and clear. Personally, I found a hard time getting into the novel. It took me two attempts to get into the novel, despite reading several chapters into the story both times. The lack of a clear and immediate hook presented a problem; however, as the novel went on, the stakes definitely pulled me in and I was more engaged. If you’re thinking of picking up this book, there might be a bit of a waiting period for the writing to grab you.

Characters: 4⭐️/5

The characters were both fun and realistic. I loved learning about their connections, their various personalities, and their motives and dreams. Some of the characters lacked a bit of polish to me, and I certainly would have loved a few more characters to develop a bit more clearly, but overall the characters shined.

Plot: 3.5⭐️/5 

The plot is fun – and predictable. I enjoyed the world, honestly, more than the plot. I had fun sinking into this world classified by your connection to the gods, and loved learning about the powers and the trials. The actual plot though felt like an aside to the world and, though it eventually wrapped me in, I would have loved a bit more focus here. 

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Fans of LGBTQ+ fantasy novels
• Fans of young adult fantasy books
• Those looking for a cute but strained-by-situation love story
• Those looking for something a bit different, but backed by familiar tropes and plotlines

Content Warnings? 

• Violence, blood, bullying, dysphoria, child abuse, fire, fire injury, injury detail, classism, child death, death, 

Post-Reading Rating:  3⭐️/5

I had fun, but I wouldn’t seek out the next one. 

Final Rating: 3.5⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

theirgracegrace's review

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

In the world of The Sunbearer Trials, ten teenage children of the Gold and Jade deities of Reino del Sol compete once a decade in a tournament of the same name. The winner becomes the Sunbearer, who brings the light of Sol to the world to protect it from the dangerous Obsidian deities from beyond the stars; the loser becomes the sacrifice used to power the light of Sol. When Teo, the trans son of the Jade goddess of birds Quetzal is chosen, he sets out to make sure him and his two friends aren't the sacrifice...but maybe they might be able to win the Trials after all? I personally loved the representation of trans and non-binary people in this book; Teo and his friend Xio (which is also the first time I've seen someone who is actively questioning their gender in a piece of media!) are both trans boys, and the warlike Ocelo is non-binary. I also was enamoured with the deaf chosen boy Dezi, and how the group makes sure he is included. The worldbuilding of this setting is immense, with a pantheon of deities that boggles the mind and deepens in the modern-day context of the world. As a long-time fan of Aiden Thomas's previous book Cemetery Boys, I continue to enjoy the way they blend humour and anguish to make a riveting story with larger-than-life characters. I eagerly await the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Cursing, Death, Dysphoria, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Grief and Medical content

Xio goes through phases of disordered eating in the book due to the stress of the Trials. Teo and Xio have a very frank conversation regarding using hormones and gender dysphoria about halfway through the book.

bedtimesandbooks's review

adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Dysphoria, Classism, and Child death

dododenise's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Aiden did it again: They made me fall completely in love with their book. 
This might be a hunger games rip off, but I love the hunger games, so who am I to blame them. This story was amazing! 
Now I want the second book please.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood

Minor: Murder and Grief

princessrory's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child abuse

Minor: Grief, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Kidnapping, Gore, Transphobia, Blood, and Emotional abuse

This book has amazing trans (and other queer) representation, and while there are mentions of dysphoria, I was so impressed by the author’s approach to world-building that allowed for a queer-loving world to flourish in this book.

some_random_person_hi's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I have missed the intensely fast pacing of certain YA/middle grade books and this fully delivered on that front. The plot hard carried the book by so much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Bullying, Cursing, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Animal death, and Death of parent

Bullying is done both by characters you're not supposed to root for and characters you're supposed to vote for. Ableism is unchallenged & specifically anti-npd ableism.