Oh. My. GOD!!!!!!

DAMN YOU, AIDEN THOMAS!!

♾/5⭐️ and I’m so unwell over it.

When this was advertised as Percy Jackson x Hunger Games, no lies were told. HEAVY on the Percy Jackson.

We open up on Teo and his birds vandalizing a building and very quickly jump into the story of magical hierarchies, a competition between tweens and teens to determine the next sacrifice for the sun god, uncovering personal histories, and figuring out what truly makes a hero.

Despite the large cast of characters and distinct personalities, Aiden Thomas manages to avoid making things feel jumbled or squished together. It’s a fast-paced story featuring fascinating and lively characters with varying motivations, powers, and roles to play.

The main dynamic between Teo, Niya, and Xio managed to be filled to the brim with warmth, familiarity, and humor with how they bounce off of and protect each other. But my favorite relationships were between gods and their children. Even the smallest interactions spoke volumes to who those characters truly are and I was at the edge of my seat from start to finish.

Gorgeous Mexican-inspired world building and magic systems, 3-dimensional and entertaining characters, high stakes, a deeply compelling underdog story, and a book that is beautifully queer to its core.

The ending will haunt me until I get my hands on the eventual sequel.

The Sunbearer Trials is a great YA novel for Percy Jackson fans, with a compelling main character, a fascinating world, and snappy dialogue.

Teo, the main character, is a Jade demidios who is picked to be a reluctant contestant in the Sunbearer Trials. While the Trials are usually the domain of Gold demidioses, Teo has no choice but to participate, and his major development over the book is his reluctant acceptance of his mantle as champion. He matures convincingly and movingly over the novel, but stays snarky and entertaining. He's also a trans guy, which trans author Thomas handles exceptionally effectively and movingly.

The world of The Sunbearer Trials is a neat one I'm excited to see more of. Thomas does an exceptional job of adding pieces of worldbuilding without over-explaining them, creating a world that feels vivid and alive while leaving a lot of mysteries!

A lot of books lately have had characters spouting memes, internetisms, etc., to varying degrees of success-- sometimes it doesn't achieve much besides breaking immersion. Thomas' characters are immersed in some variation of the modern internet in-fiction, though, and so in their mouths memes feel completely natural, and successfully make the book feel like FOR Zoomers, in what seems to me a non-condescending way. I don't know exactly how old Aiden Thomas is, but I'm pretty sure he has some Zoomer energy.

My one complaint with the book is the ending was a little too much of cliffhanger for the next one. There's nothing wrong with a set up for the sequel, but the ending of the book doesn't offer much satisfaction-- particularly looking down the barrel of a wait for the sequel, I wish the finale had a little more resolution before springboarding the next book, but overall I really enjoyed the book!

I can’t help the automatic comparisons between The Sunbearer Trials and the Hunger Games. Both in title and in plot, they are, on the surface, quite similar. A group of young people is chosen to compete in a contest, one that will result in at least one of them dying, sacrificed to the gods. The Golds all train for years to be chosen and almost all contestants are Golds. Except, this year, two Jades are chosen.

Thomas does an exemplary job at explaining the history and culture of this beautiful world he’s created. The gods, the semidioses, are all incredibly vivid in my mind. Like Teo, I do wish we would have spent more time in the different cities.

Thomas is my go-to for queer characters. The sheer variety is astounding, far more than most novels I’ve ever read. The gender affirming joy I feel for Teo is just so wholesome and beautiful. Teo is my new vision of trans joy. This is not a coming out story and Teo is very comfortable in his body. He’s on hormones and has had top surgery. There’s the little problem of his wings still presenting as female wings, but that dysphoria is short lived. I absolutely love his wings and how they’re described. He’s not amazing at using them right away, and the aches and pains from the trials are always there. They don’t magically disappear, even with gods and magical powers.

The first two trials are timed to ten minutes and they fly by, too fast. If there’s one thing I struggle with in this book, it’s the pacing of the trials. There’s just not enough time devoted to them. Not enough time in the cities and not enough time just hanging out as a group of competitors. It’s not until the end, when death looms, that the competitors come together and really begin to learn about each other. I would add about a hundred more pages of these semidioses just hanging out and exploring the different cities, and I wouldn’t be mad about it. Just give me all the cozy times, please! That being said, Teo’s closest friends were well fleshed out and I appreciated them immensely.

I would recommend this book to fans of Thomas’s other works, of course. Fans of adventure and mythology. Anyone who needs more queer books in their life (which is everyone, honestly). Aiden Thomas knocked it out of the park, again, and I look forward to the sequel more than I can say!

If I could give it more than 5 stars I would. I absolutely loved this book and it's a really good contender for my top reads of the year. Aiden Thomas did an amazing job of using humor to deflect in dark times. Each of the characters were unique and fun, especially Niya. She's my favorite. It was definitely reminiscent of Hunger Games but luckily no one does except the sacrifice.
I was so anxious about it ended and was definitely not expecting the twist at the end. Can not wait for the sequel

I think I've come to the conclusion that, while I love Aiden Thomas as a storyteller, I don't particularly get on well with their prose. The Sunbearer Trials has such a good premise and is, truly, quite a solid little book. Percy Jackson and the Hunger Games were both Formative Books TM for me, and, having enjoyed Thomas's past works, this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I like the worldbuilding a lot, I like the diversity and commitment to gender identity being Extremely No Big Deal while still approaching several trans and nonbinary main characters with thought and care. I liked the gods being present as parents, which was a fun distinction! I actually really liked Teo, too. I thought he was a nicely rounded main character with a strong personality and a good character arc.

But.... I don't know. I'm slogging through this book. My Kindle's told me it's been a 7-hour read for me, which is nearly twice what I normally spend on a book this length. It reads quite simplistically and middle grade (which is not a bad thing! I like middle grade!) but with a few too many f-bombs thrown in for that. I'd like to say it's because I'm just no longer in the target audience, which would be fair, but I've revisited the books The Sunbearer Trials uses as comps recently, and they still hold up for me. I can't quite pinpoint what it is about this one that's not quite working for me. It's not bad, and I'm sure there will be people out there who really love it (and I'm so so incredibly excited for them to find it) it's just... a little underwhelming for me.

I was sucked in right away and couldn't put this book down. The world building is amazing. I love all the Mexican references, from Diosa Luna using her chancla to get after demigods, to the gods themselves, candy, and so on. As soon as I finished reading this, I immediately wanted to open up book 2. I'm looking forward to reading it.

I won a digital ARC of The Sunbearer Trials from Fierce Reads and YALLWEST Book Festival!

The Sunbearer Trials follows Theo, son of the goddess Quetzal, competing as one of the first Jades in the Sunbearer Trials in over a century. Along with his friends and frenemies, Theo has to navigate the trials and avoid coming in last place!

This book is really fantastic- I’ve read a bunch since I finished but my brain still keeps coming back to it. There are so many characters I fell in love with!
I ended up preordering a physical copy even though I’ve read it already!

Aiden Thomas is so freaking good. All of his characters are so well developed; even ones that don’t get the most page time don’t feel one dimensional.
~light spoiler alert~ My favorite scene is when things start to get Real with the trials and almost the entire group of kids spent time together. No Gold/Jade issues or competitiveness. Just the kids grappling with the enormity of the situation that they were thrust into.

I am already chomping at the bit for the next book. The cliffhanger is killing me!

Fans of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint absolutely have to check this series out!

Thank you, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, for allowing me to read The Sunbearer Trials early.

Beautiful, gorgeous, stunning, amazing, terrific. Do I need to say more! Aiden Thomas just did it again!

Thank you to YallWest and NetGalley for an ARC.

Every ten years in Reino del Sol, ten semidios teenagers are chosen to compete in the Sunbearer Trials, where they fight to see who gets to become a sunbearer and who will be sacrificed to keep their cities safe. For the first time, two Jades are chosen to compete.

Representation in this was amazing. There are multiple trans and nonbinary characters. There are mentions of same-sex relationships and nobody reacts negatively. One of the characters is deaf and signing is integrated into the world.

Teo's friendship with Niya was great. She liked him for him and didn't care what anybody thought about it. I was confused about how Teo (a Jade) and Niya (a Gold) came to become friends though. The different semidioses seemed to be kept almost completely apart, so while I liked their friendship, I'm not sure I understood it.

I was also confused about why Tierra was considered a Gold when he was one of the creator gods. The others would not exist if not for him, so I felt like he should have been held to a higher regard.

The ending was very intriguing and I look forward to the sequel next year.

Aiden Thomas has done it again, I had enjoyed Cemetery Boys and was excited to read this book. It had Aiden Thomas' writing style that I enjoyed from the previous books. The story was a beautifully done tale and I loved the story, it was what I wanted when I read the Hunger Games. I loved the fact that I didn't feel there was a safety net on the main character, it felt like there were real stakes for the completion. I enjoyed reading this book so much that I wanted to read another in this universe asap.

"He was so used to people grabbing and touching his wings without consent, he hadn’t even considered that Aurelio didn’t touch them because Teo hadn’t given him permission to."

Every ten years, the power of Sol's sacrifice must be renewed so that the evil Obsidian gods are kept trapped in the stars. Ten semidioses in their teens are selected by the diose themself to compete in The Sunbearer Trials. The winner becomes the Sunbearer and personally renews the sun god's power in each of the temples of Reino del Sol. The loser is to be sacrificed to Sol. Their body becomes the fuel that will protect the people of Reino del Sol for the next decade.

Teo is seventeen and the son of a Jade diosa, Quetzal. As a Jade, he never thought he would be selected for the Trials. Gold semidioses are almost always chosen to compete, viewed as the stronger deities with the best powers. Not only is Teo chosen for the trials, but another Jade diose is selected: Thirteen-year-old Xio, son of Mala Suerte. The two Jades and eight Golds must participate in five different trials to see who comes out on top...and who lands at the bottom.

This review will be spoiler-free because this book is not out yet, but you <b>BET</b> your immortal bones I'll be screaming about this come release day.

I loved this. Every single character is loveable and unique. We don't get a lot of development on those outside of Teo's circle, but I adore Dezi entirely despite knowing maybe four things about him. Thomas does an incredible job with their character building and a fantasy novel was a brilliant step for them. The world-building is beautiful and inclusive. We have multiple trans and nonbinary characters, gay characters, bi characters, and a powerful deaf character. Spanish is a historically gendered language and was beautifully and seamlessly integrated into a wonderfully accepting world. I felt warm and hopeful reading some of these character interactions and conversations.

There are no words for how badly I need book two. The pacing of this novel was brilliant and seamless. I could see what was coming as it was laid out in front of me, but I didn't feel like I was being foreshadowed to death. This being a duology feels planned and natural, and untitled book two is absolutely going to be one of my most anticipated reads next year.

This book is basically Percy Jackson, if Percy and Nico were trans, meets The Hunger Games, all in the best way possible. It is a book that deserves the biggest fandom, so I'm really hoping it will be huge!

Aiden Thomas's books, even though they're all fantasy, are all distinctly different subgenres, but they're all super immersive and I once again loved their writing style. Like Cemetery Boys, I think this book will become a comfort read for me.

Our main character Teo is the son of the goddess of birds, and as such he can communicate with birds and he has wings. These wings are a cause of dysphoria for him, because he's trans and the wings look like how a female bird's wings would look, leading him to wear a binder to hide them. I don't want to give too much away, but I absolutely loved how this storyline was handled.

I don't want to give too much away about the Sunbearer Trials either, but they're super fun and engaging to read about, with some twists at the end that make me crave the sequel like nothing else.

this book was amazing, one of the only books that could make me cry. i saw so much of myself in aurelio and auristela, as they reminded me of me and my own twin. i was so happy to see so much representation in one book! when teo got his wings i was so happy, i was literally jumping up and down! i honestly loved every character (except ocelo). there is so much depth and character behind each character in the book. i also loved that this was based on mexican/aztec history! aiden thomas did an absolutely stellar job at this masterpiece of a book and i cannot wait until book 2 comes out!!

The Sunbearer Trials is an exciting new young adult fantasy novel that is enjoyable for all ages. The characters, world building, and plot drew me in instantly and by the end of the novel I was ready for the sequel. The Sunbearer Trials involves elements of young adult classics like Percy Jackson or The Hunger Games, but uses them in a fresh way. The diversity in the cast of characters was included and celebrated from the start. I cannot wait for this book to reach readers who will carry this story with them for a long time as I will.

WOW. I absolutely devoured The Sunbearer Trials. After falling in love with Aiden Thomas’s writing in Cemetery Boys, I was so excited for this one. My expectations were completely blown out of the water. Thomas created a unique word inspired by Mexican culture that somehow felt fresh, yet still encapsulated everything I love about YA fantasy. It was fun, fast paced, heartfelt, and gripping. I honestly couldn’t put it down!

The world building was exceptional. I felt like I was a part of the Sunbearer Trials along with the characters! Thomas paints a vivid picture of the world in your head, which drew me deeper into the story. Also, the trials overall were so fun and suspenseful, I LOVED reading about them.

The characters were also a delight. If you’ve read Cemetery Boys, you know Thomas does an exceptional job creating lovable, diverse characters and The Sunbearer Trials is no exception. Teo was such a fun, chaotic, and lovable MC and the supporting characters blew me away. Especially Aurelio.. I love that boy🥹 As always, Thomas included fantastic rep including, but not limited to, trans and non-binary rep!

Overall, the Sunbearer Trials was a thrilling YA fantasy story full of suspense, adventure, and friendship. The unique storyline had me gripped and at the edge of my seat! Everyone please read this when it comes out on September 6!

Another absolutely incredible story by Aiden Thomas. Teo is such a loveable protagonist. Each and every character is well thought out and add to this amazing story

This book hits with plot and with character development both. I loved experiencing the trials and seeing how all of the characters changed throughout the book.

Every ten years, ten children of the Gods are selected to compete in the Sunbearer Trials. One will earn the title of Sunbearer and one will get sacrificed to keep the world safe for another ten years.
Teo, the trans son of the god Quetzal, is shocked when he is chosen. He is thrown into the games and has to figure out how to survive the competition opposite children who have trained their whole lives for this, while trying to ensure his friends don’t get sacrificed.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 I will be impatiently awaiting book 2😂

3.5 stars

I couldn’t quite connect with the MC in this one as I did with Aiden’s other characters. But I still enjoyed it. A quick read for a rainy day, and filled with beautiful imagery!

The Sunbearer Trials was one of my most anticipated novels of 2022. It was filled with angst, adventure, and heart. The main character, Teo, was likeable and easy to root for. I do wish she of the other characters were more developed.

As a teacher, I will definitely recommend this novel to my students who like adventure and mythology, especially if they enjoy The Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, or other series like that.

Oh my god, I need the sequel right now!!! The visuals of this book were out of this world. I fell in love with each and every character, even the more "villainous" ones. I loved just how much trans/queer rep there was, every time I thought there couldn't be more I was proven wrong. Aiden Thomas' blend of fantasy and modernity was beautiful, and I wish I could live in this world forever. I never wanted this book to end, and I can't wait for book two to come out.