The Sunbearer Trials - Aiden Thomas

Author: Aiden Thomas

Series: The Sunbearer Duology #1

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A thrilling combination of Mexican-inspired mythology and The Hunger Games. I had fun with this, but it is clearly YA in its approach. Recommended only to the target age group and to those patient with the flaws of YA fiction.

Story Synopsis:

Once in every decade comes the Sunbearer Trials. These are special games dedicated to the Sun God, Sol, and are essential to replenish the power of Sol to keep the evil Obsidian gods at bay. The winner carries a special honour of carrying the light of the Sun to all the temples in Reino del Sol, while the loser (the one who is placed last) is sacrificed to Sol. The competitors, all semidioses (half human half god) between thirteen to eighteen, are residents of Reino del Sol and are chosen by Sol himself based on their worthiness.

The competitors are almost always Gold semidioses, but Sol has a surprise this time. He has chosen two Jade semidioses worthy of participation, one of whom is our lead – Teo, the seventeen year old trans son of Quetzal, the goddess of birds. Teo didn’t expect to compete in the Trials, but with this unexpected selection, he is forced to ensure his survival, as he has no intention of sacrificing himself to power the Sun.

Thus begins Teo’s journey in The Sunbearer Trials, where he finds new friends and rediscovers old ones, while also making new enemies along the way. With five mysterious trials coming up against opponents who have trained for these competitions all their lives, how will Teo fare?

✔ Quite a lot of the content has parallels to that of The Hunger Games. The main difference is that the dystopian setting is changed to a mytho-inspired setting. I liked the concept of the tri-level semidioses (Gold, Jade and Obsidian) and also the fantastical weaponry.

❌ The Hunger Games concept creates a lot of déjà vu, especially as these trials are also fought in scenic natural settings, and the Gold semidioses are very clearly the equivalent of District One participants of THG.

✔ I loved the Mexican-mytho-inspired elements. While I am not sure how much of the mythology is actually Mexican and how much invented for the story, the theme was great and many fantastical elements were incorporated well. At the same time, their world seemed to be similar to ours, as the semidioses use mobile phones and social media such as “Instagraph”. It was a nice juxtaposition of fantasy and realism.

❌ The world-building could have been better. The trials had the best scene settings, but the non-trial scenes could have taken place anywhere.

✔ The journey to the title of Sunbearer is awesome. The trials are quite unique and the challenges are thrilling to read.

❌ In The Hunger Games, there was never a doubt that it would be Katniss Everdeen to snatch the title... Similarly, the story here soon shows who is to become the next Sunbearer. I wish it hadn’t been so predictable.

✔ There are a few interesting characters among the Gods and the semidioses. My favourite was Niya, Teo’s best friend who was more brawn than brain and also more heart than head. Quetzal was another interesting character. I loved Teo’s pet birds and wished there was more of them in the story.

❌ Every character is either good or bad, there’s no midway. It was too simplistic for the most part. Teo was a bit too whiny for my liking.

✔ I loved the rep! I did have high expectations about it because Aiden Thomas had nailed LGBTQ rep in their first book, “Cemetery Boys”, as well. But it is so much better in this story. There’s no judgement about any trans character; no one bats an eye at gender identities and all use pronouns of their choice without hesitation. There’s one scene where one trans character guides a shy trans about what it’s like to be out. It was one of the most empathetic scenes I have seen with trans characters. If there’s any young trans reader who reads that scene, I am sure they will find it very helpful. There is also plenty of content connected to dysphoria, not just gender dysphoria but also body dysphoria. Teo’s struggles with his wings being a natural extension of his body and his personality were so well-written!

❌ Sometimes, the content bordered on height-shaming. Kind of like ‘Tall people, good; short people, despicable’. This might not have been deliberate but there was enough to make me wave a red flag of protest on behalf of us, the innocent shorties of the world.

❌ Everything I dislike about YA fiction is present in this story. The constant talk of others’ physical appeal, the feelings of attraction rendering themselves through the character’s chest or stomach, the uni-dimensional character sketching, the rambling,… There’s also a sprinkling of cuss words. The only thing missing was outright lust, which I was grateful for.

✔ Then again, the story was advertised as a YA story, so this is all a matter of my taste than the book’s shortcoming. It is perfect for the older YA segment who love YA Fantasy. Not recommending it to younger YA readers because of the swear words, though I am sure this feedback will not dissuade them from the book.

The Audiobook Experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 13.5 hours, is narrated by André Santana and he does an outstanding job. I have a strong feeling that the audiobook made the book better for me, and Santana’s narration had a major role to play in this satisfaction.

There were quite a few characters in the initial chapters and I struggled to remember who was who. Once I decided to forget about the names and go with the flow, things became quite manageable. Audio newbies might get discouraged at the extensive character list.

Is there a cliffhanger ending?

This is the first book of a planned duology, so the above question is pertinent if you are a reader like me. So, just know: There is a cliffhanger but it is not that major and doesn’t leave you frustrated in limbo. The ending made me very keen to know what happens next, so I can say it stopped at the right point for me. I am looking forward to the sequel.

All in all, no regrets reading this YA read. It was a fun story with enough thrills and not too much rambling. At the same time, this is not one of those YA books that would work well beyond its target age group. My rating as an adult would be 3.25 stars, but the book didn’t promise anything other than a YA experience. If I were a YA, this would have been at least a 4.25. So I’ll just go with the average.

My thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “The Sunbearer Trials”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

Here's my review of the second book of this duology: Celestial Monsters, released in September 2024.