Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by miyawakiss
Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Wow... Where do I even begin?
First of all, Ms Nisha sure knows how to start a story! The booktok girlies weren't kidding when they said you would be hooked from the start. Our girl, Lor and her siblings have spent the past 12 years in prison and they don't know why. Or at least, Lor doesn't. Sidenote: as much as I love smut, the spicy scene in the prison was really unnecessary and weirdly timed. She dreams of a day where she and her siblings can live freely and when she can finally take revenge on the King of Aurora, the man who threw them in here in the first place. But then, she is whisked away to Faerieland, where everything is rich and gold and shiny, and she has the opportunity to win the Sun King's hand in marriage. She actually has real incentive to want to win - she wants to free her siblings who are still in prison and fulfill her revenge.
But then... we meet the Sun King, Atlas. And can I just say, this is like Tamlin from ACOTAR all over again! But worse!!! Everytime he graces my pages, I am covered in slime, oil and grease. Everytime he murmurs honeyed words, everytime he touches Lor, everytime they get intimate, I just want to go and scrub myself clean. It's a classic case of extreme isolation, lovebombing and gaslighting. Usually I'd be so annoyed if the FMC falls for these tactics but here, it makes sense. Lor has been deprived all her life; she is socially inept, never had much exposure to the faerie allure and is so starved of any kind of affection and positive attention, so naturally she falls for it. In her shoes, I would have fallen for it too. But even though she does, a part of her brain questions it over and over again, which I like because it shows that she's smart and has good instincts. Although it takes her almost the whole book, she does eventually see through the facade and break away from the illusions. Hell yeah for our girl!
Lastly, as readers, we knew exactly who would be the endgame MMC as we're given his POV from the getgo. Unfortunately, we don't see much of him and he gets a grand total of one interaction eith the FMC. So to see more of our guy Nadir, off to the next book we go!
I gave this book a 3.5 ⭐ mainly because Atlas took up a big protion of the book and he grossed me out so much. Tbh, I nearly DNFed the book because of Atlas. I had to look away and gag, and even took breaks just to breathe because seeing the way he was lovebombing and gaslighting Lor was so disgusting. But this just means that this narc ssistic character was very well written.
If you like these, you would eat this book up:
⭐ Faeries
⭐ Strong badass FMC
⭐ Trials and games
⭐ A little political intrigue
⭐ Mysteries and secrets
⭐ Smut and sexual tension (with a gross King)
If the following things aren't your cup of tea, this book is probably not for you:
❌ Lovebombing / gaslighting
❌ A narcissistic love interest (kinda)
❌ Small screentime with MMC
❌ Mean girls and cliques
❌ A lot of unlikeable characters
First of all, Ms Nisha sure knows how to start a story! The booktok girlies weren't kidding when they said you would be hooked from the start. Our girl, Lor and her siblings have spent the past 12 years in prison and they don't know why. Or at least, Lor doesn't. Sidenote: as much as I love smut, the spicy scene in the prison was really unnecessary and weirdly timed. She dreams of a day where she and her siblings can live freely and when she can finally take revenge on the King of Aurora, the man who threw them in here in the first place. But then, she is whisked away to Faerieland, where everything is rich and gold and shiny, and she has the opportunity to win the Sun King's hand in marriage. She actually has real incentive to want to win - she wants to free her siblings who are still in prison and fulfill her revenge.
But then... we meet the Sun King, Atlas. And can I just say, this is like Tamlin from ACOTAR all over again! But worse!!! Everytime he graces my pages, I am covered in slime, oil and grease. Everytime he murmurs honeyed words, everytime he touches Lor, everytime they get intimate, I just want to go and scrub myself clean. It's a classic case of extreme isolation, lovebombing and gaslighting. Usually I'd be so annoyed if the FMC falls for these tactics but here, it makes sense. Lor has been deprived all her life; she is socially inept, never had much exposure to the faerie allure and is so starved of any kind of affection and positive attention, so naturally she falls for it. In her shoes, I would have fallen for it too. But even though she does, a part of her brain questions it over and over again, which I like because it shows that she's smart and has good instincts. Although it takes her almost the whole book, she does eventually see through the facade and break away from the illusions. Hell yeah for our girl!
Lastly, as readers, we knew exactly who would be the endgame MMC as we're given his POV from the getgo. Unfortunately, we don't see much of him and he gets a grand total of one interaction eith the FMC. So to see more of our guy Nadir, off to the next book we go!
I gave this book a 3.5 ⭐ mainly because Atlas took up a big protion of the book and he grossed me out so much. Tbh, I nearly DNFed the book because of Atlas. I had to look away and gag, and even took breaks just to breathe because seeing the way he was lovebombing and gaslighting Lor was so disgusting. But this just means that this narc ssistic character was very well written.
If you like these, you would eat this book up:
⭐ Faeries
⭐ Strong badass FMC
⭐ Trials and games
⭐ A little political intrigue
⭐ Mysteries and secrets
⭐ Smut and sexual tension (with a gross King)
If the following things aren't your cup of tea, this book is probably not for you:
❌ Lovebombing / gaslighting
❌ A narcissistic love interest (kinda)
❌ Small screentime with MMC
❌ Mean girls and cliques
❌ A lot of unlikeable characters