Review: The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was provided an Audio ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own. The narrator was amazing and did a wonderful job with all of the characters and there were quite a few.

This was wonderful! I love mythology of any kind and this brings the mythology to life with the gods and goddesses, or Dioses being present in many scenes and their children competing in a high stakes trial. Every decade the 10 chosen demi-gods or semidioses compete in a trial to restore the power to the Sun Stones that keep the darkness and the Obsidian gods at bay. Typically only the children of the Gold Dioses compete, but this year Teo and Xio, two Jades have been chosen to compete. Teo and his best friend Niya team up to help Xio make it through the trials. As the trials go on Teo finds himself ranking very well, and being rewarded for making good choices and choosing teamwork over violence and betrayal. As the trials go on Teo begins to notice that something is off with the competition as the competitors are acting strangely, and everyone else seems to be ignoring it and accepts it as Sol's will. I won't spoil anything, but Teo's hunch is spot on and he is right to question things.

This was action packed, laced with humor, and has great commentary woven in. Thomas does a great job with the world-building, taking the time to describe all of the various mytholological figures as well as the setting. The author put so much love into making sure the culture was well represented from the clothing the competitors wore to the food they ate. I truly felt transported while reading this. The character development is also well done. Teo has to deal with some self-acceptance issues as well as questions about right and wrong, new and old friendship issues, and his issues with the trials. We also see some great development from Aurelio and I hope to see more of him in book 2. This does leave off on a bit of a cliffhanger, but knowing it was a duology from the start I expected that. I am so anxious to see where the next installment takes us.

If you liked Percy Jackson, The Hunger Games, Cemetery Boys, The Maze Runner, or any books like those I think you will love this. It has a wonderful diverse cast of characters, while being action packed and touching moments. This has some great discussions about body dysphoria, acceptance of self, loneliness, friendship, and doing what is right when things are hard. I'm so thankful to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio/Macmillan Young Listeners for allowing me to review this wonderful book. I cannot wait for book 2!!!

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