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A review by astravars
The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
adventurous
emotional
tense
- 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
i will never get tired of fantasy books with trans main characters – there are way too few of them
"the sunbearer trials" is a suspenseful book about ten semidioses competing in a trial that determines one sacrifice (the person who loses) and one person to kill them (the sunbearer) in order to keep the sun fueled and their people shielded from evil
i want to start this by saying how much i loved the world building! especially how the dioses weren't estranged from their children (like in percy jackson) and the whole concept of having three different "kinds" of dioses (naturally, the jades were my favourites)
then there was, of course, the whole part about the sacrifice. i'm gonna be honest here, it was infuriating.
at one point teo and aurelio have this conversation about how "if being the sacrifice is such an honour, it should the winner of the trial" and honestly teo has a point!!
that said, as a plot point, i thought it was amazing (just the right amount of drama and high stakes)
the plot was so suspenseful i had to stay up all night just to finish this book.
to be fair, i did guess the plot twist, especially after they were at the temple BUT i didn't think that took away from my experience at all (especially because the rational part of my brain kept convincing me i must be wrong because no that would be painful – i wasn't wrong and it was indeed painful)
however, my favourite thing were, as usual, the characters!
my personal favourites were teo and aurelio, closely followed by niya and xio.
they're all so so well developed and loveable and i just want to hug all of them so badly.
by the end of the book, i even had a soft spot for auristela and ocelo... however that happened (ocelo was definitely because of the jaguars and i think aurelio my beloved changed my mind about his sister).
who i do hate with a passion is lumbre, she SUCKS
the slow burn friends to enemies to lovers between teo and aurelio 😩
MY HEART
the candy scene 🤭 oh my gods
i also wanted to take a quick moment to mention TEO'S WINGS
and i want whatever marino and dezi have going on (i also love them both they're such sweethearts)
there were a few scenes with discussions about dysphoria and transness in general, one of them the sweetest scene between teo and xio, and i loved that so much!! especially how it wasn't a huge plot point but just a part of their identity <33
the ending... i'm really not okay i NEED book two immediately help
but also... i don't know how to say this without spoiling the ending of the book so i'll be very vague: i don't blame any of them (except maybe lumbre for shutting teo down)
if you haven't read this book... what are you doing? drop everything and read it NOW (i know i preordered this and read it almost a year later but that doesn't mean you can)
"the sunbearer trials" is a suspenseful book about ten semidioses competing in a trial that determines one sacrifice (the person who loses) and one person to kill them (the sunbearer) in order to keep the sun fueled and their people shielded from evil
i want to start this by saying how much i loved the world building! especially how the dioses weren't estranged from their children (like in percy jackson) and the whole concept of having three different "kinds" of dioses (naturally, the jades were my favourites)
then there was, of course, the whole part about the sacrifice. i'm gonna be honest here, it was infuriating.
at one point teo and aurelio have this conversation about how "if being the sacrifice is such an honour, it should the winner of the trial" and honestly teo has a point!!
that said, as a plot point, i thought it was amazing (just the right amount of drama and high stakes)
the plot was so suspenseful i had to stay up all night just to finish this book.
to be fair, i did guess the plot twist, especially after they were at the temple BUT i didn't think that took away from my experience at all (especially because the rational part of my brain kept convincing me i must be wrong because no that would be painful – i wasn't wrong and it was indeed painful)
however, my favourite thing were, as usual, the characters!
my personal favourites were teo and aurelio, closely followed by niya and xio.
they're all so so well developed and loveable and i just want to hug all of them so badly.
by the end of the book, i even had a soft spot for auristela and ocelo... however that happened (ocelo was definitely because of the jaguars and i think aurelio my beloved changed my mind about his sister).
who i do hate with a passion is lumbre, she SUCKS
the slow burn friends to enemies to lovers between teo and aurelio 😩
MY HEART
the candy scene 🤭 oh my gods
i also wanted to take a quick moment to mention TEO'S WINGS
and i want whatever marino and dezi have going on (i also love them both they're such sweethearts)
there were a few scenes with discussions about dysphoria and transness in general, one of them the sweetest scene between teo and xio, and i loved that so much!! especially how it wasn't a huge plot point but just a part of their identity <33
the ending... i'm really not okay i NEED book two immediately help
but also... i don't know how to say this without spoiling the ending of the book so i'll be very vague: i don't blame any of them (except maybe lumbre for shutting teo down)
if you haven't read this book... what are you doing? drop everything and read it NOW (i know i preordered this and read it almost a year later but that doesn't mean you can)