The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
Published by Feiwel & Friends
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: Action, Adventure, Theological Fantasy, Brown Characters, Latinx Characters, OwnVoices Representation, Queer Characters, Transgender Characters, Coming of Age, Family Drama, Found Family, Deity Characters, Diverse Representation, Magic Users, Villain Characters, Hearing impairment, Latinx Authors, LGBTQIA+ Authors, Transgender Authors, Mexican, Mythology: Mixed, Mythological Creatures, Various Magic
Series: The Sunbearer Duology #1
My Rating:
Published on: 6th September 2022
Pages: 352
Disability Representation: Deaf
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Bookshop.org US / Bookshop.org UK / Waterstones / BookBeat Audio
Add to Goodreads

A New York Times-Bestseller!

Welcome to The Sunbearer Trials, where teen semidioses compete in a series of challenges with the highest of stakes, in this electric new Mexican-inspired fantasy from Aiden Thomas, the New York Times bestselling author of Cemetery Boys.

“Only the most powerful and honorable semidioses get chosen. I’m just a Jade. I’m not a real hero.”

As each new decade begins, the Sun’s power must be replenished so that Sol can keep traveling along the sky and keep the chaotic Obsidian gods at bay. Sol selects ten of the most worthy semidioses to compete in the Sunbearer Trials. The winner carries light and life to all the temples of Reino del Sol, but the loser has the greatest honor of all—they will be sacrificed to Sol, their body melted down to refuel the Sun Stones, protecting the world for another ten years.

Teo, a seventeen-year-old Jade semidiós and the trans son of the goddess of birds, isn't worried about the Trials . . . at least, not for himself. His best friend, Niya is a Gold semidiós and a shoo-in for the Trials, and while he trusts her abilities, the odds of becoming the sacrifice is one-in-ten.

But then, for the first time in over a century, the impossible happens. Sol chooses not one, but two Jade competitors. Teo, and Xio, the thirteen-year-old child of the god of bad luck. Now they must compete in five trials against Gold opponents who are more powerful and better trained. Worst of all, Teo’s annoyingly handsome ex-best friend and famous semidiós Hero, Aurelio is favored to win. Teo is determined to get himself and his friends through the trials unscathed—for fame, glory, and their own survival.

Content Warnings:

Please note
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programmes I earn a small commission from items purchased using links featured in this post at no extra cost to you. Click here to learn more. Every purchase you make through Just Geeking By helps keep this blog running.

I have shamelessly been stalking following the progress of The Sunbearer Trials on Thomas’ Twitter account for a while now, and fell in love with the sound of it. Even more so when they released a series of trading card-style art during Pride month for each of the semidióses (children of the gods) alongside their parents who would be taking part in the trials in the book. I highly recommend checking out the artwork (available on Thomas’ website here) because the cards actually feature in the book, and the art by Gabriella Bujdoso is gorgeous. You can also own the cards themselves by taking part in The Sunbearer Trials pre-order campaign, which is open internationally (more details here)! No, I’m not paid to say any of this, I’m just a big fan of beautiful art.

So, where to start with this one? It was even better than I expected. I knew from reading Thomas’s previous book, The Cemetery Boys, that this would be filled with beautiful and authentic LGBTQIA+ representation straight from the heart and experience. If you enjoyed that book, then you are going to love The Sunbearer Trials because Thomas has created an incredible Mexican-inspired mythos and kept the core elements of his previous work at the heart of it.

In the world of The Sunbearer Trials, humans and gods live together in a place called Reino del Sol. The creation myth is founded on two gods, Sol, the non-binary god of the sun and Tierra, their male partner and god of the earth. If you know your recreation myths as well as I do, you’ll have immediately noticed how different this is from most others; the two creators are not male and female. As a result, Reino del Sol is a queernormative world. Multiple characters in The Sunbearer Trials are LGBTQIA+, including the protagonist Teo, who is transgender. I kept expecting the Golds, the popular kids, to lash out with trans and gay slurs, and it never once happened. They always stuck to picking on the Jades inferior skills, their appearance, and them being Jades. It’s a society where being LGBTQIA+ is completely accepted. That doesn’t mean that all the feelings and anxieties about being gay or trans go away, though, and I’ll talk more about that in a bit.

First, I should probably explain what I mean when I say Gold and Jade. I don’t want to explain the entire mythos that Thomas has created because I’m a firm believer in enjoying the magic of a book for yourself; however, some context is needed to understand a book review. The Golds are the most powerful gods and have powers that come with the greatest responsibilities. Their children are the heroes of society; they train from childhood to excel in athletics, fighting and generally saving everyone else from any dangers and emergencies. The Jades are less powerful gods; however, they are less vain than the Golds and spend more time helping the humans that live in their cities.  The Jade semidióses are not heroes; they go to school with mortals and are not allowed to join the elite school that the Golds attend.

Every ten years, The Sunbearer Trials are held to replenish the Sun Stones to keep the sun shining and the Obsidians, dark gods who grew jealous of humans and attacked Sol. If they get free again, it means darkness, destruction and enslavement for humans. The Trial pits ten teenage semidióses against each other in a series of trials for the glory of Sol. The winner spreads light between the temples of Sol, ensures that their light continues for another decade. But the light comes from one of their own. The loser of the trial is sacrificed, their essence becoming the light just as Sol gave their life and trapped the Obsidians originally.

It’s called a great honour, however, as Teo and his fellow competitors begin to realise it is anything but an honour.

Of course, Teo isn’t even supposed to be in the Trials to begin with. Golds are trained for these Trials; they look forward to the ceremony when they will be selected, while Teo, a Jade, is just worried about his best friend Niya, a Gold. He certainly does not expect a crown to appear on his head, marking him as a participant! He’s not the only one; the thirteen-year-old son of the god of bad luck, Xios, has also been chosen. Determined to help the younger boy survive the Trials that neither of them has had any training for whatsoever, Teo bands together with Niya and Xios to survive. This quickly becomes a mission to put the arrogant Golds in their place when they overhear them talking about the inclusion of the Jades, making the competition easy for them.

The Sunbearer Trials is a book about breaking expectations, finding strength in the face of adversity, recognising the power you have in yourself and not judging people. That last one probably seems obvious, but it’s not aimed at just judging the less skilled Jades in a competition that seems built for the Golds. Teo is a great character, kind and generous, but he has a large chip on his shoulder when it comes to the Golds. We learn why he does, and while it’s completely justified, he learns more than once that not everything is as it seems. All the semidióses are very different people by the end of the book, and Thomas excels in showing the journey and their growth, even in the characters that don’t seem to have changed (looking at you, Auristela 😉 ).

I fell in love with Niya so completely. Teo describes her as a puppy because she is always so warm and happy to see him, and has little understanding of personal space. She is one hundred per cent a Labrador personality, and yup, I just love her. She has a heart of gold (no pun intended) and the way she just throws herself into action, falls down, bounces back up and runs back in is just… Niya. There is no other way to describe it. There’s a particular scene in one of the trials which reminds me of Scrappy-Doo, let’s just say that. The bestie brother-sister relationship between Teo and Niya is awesome, and she doesn’t hesitate to accept Xios, to help him too.

I mentioned that the trading cards were in the book, and they are, which, as a geek, I thought was fantastic. The Sunbearer Trials are essentially a huge sporting event in Reino del Sol, with humans following their favourite semidióses like people do celebrities. The trading cards have the abilities, strengths and weaknesses of each semidióse on them, and Xios collects them. Sensibly, he brings his collection of them with him, and it gives him and his friends a much-needed edge in the competition.

Xios is an interesting character for multiple reasons. He’s one of the youngest characters, the son of the god of bad luck, the other Jade participant, and he is also transgender. That last part is only notable because he reaches out to Teo to tell him that Teo coming out as trans was what helped him understand his own identity, and there is a great scene where the two of them talk about being trans. It’s a scene that doesn’t feel awkward (other than Xios’ own anxiety at the start), and they talk about being on testosterone, having top surgery, feeling dysphoric, and menstrual cycles. The conversation didn’t feel forced; it flowed from one topic to another naturally, like two teenagers were sitting having a chat.

This book is brimming with representation, including intersectional representation. One of the semidióses, Dezi, is Deaf and is a wonderful character. There are several characters using sign language to communicate directly with Dezi, rather than there always being an interpreter. The only times that an interpreter appeared to be present were when it was a large event, and someone could not speak one-on-one with Dezi. I loved seeing them communicate and interact with Marino, and that is all I’m going to say about that… 😉

I’ve tried to cover as many of my thoughts about this book as I can without dipping into spoilers.The Sunbearer Trials covers some major themes and serious topics, wrapped up in incredible world-building, and there is a huge twist that you won’t see coming. I highly recommend this book, and I’m now going to be sitting impatiently for the sequel!

About Aiden Thomas

Aiden Thomas is a New York Times Bestselling author with an MFA in Creative Writing. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, Oregon. As a queer, trans, Latinx, Aiden advocates strongly for diverse representation in all media. Aiden’s special talents include: quoting The Office, finishing sentences with “is my FAVORITE”, and killing spiders. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color.

Website | Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter | Tiktok | Blue Sky | Threads

Thanks for reading my review of The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas! It is due out on 6th September and 15th September in the UK and is available for pre-order now from any of the links in this review. If you didn’t catch it at the start, there’s an awesome pre-order campaign that you really want to get in on!

If you’re interested in more books with disability representation, I’m hosting GeekDis again this year, and the whole of September, I’m going to be bringing you books with disabled characters. Find out more here and give GeekDis a follow on Twitter!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of my reviews if you’re looking for some more book recommendations 🙂 You can also now sign up for my newsletter to get an email each month with a list of my new reviews!

Support Just Geeking By

I hope you enjoyed this post! If you did please consider sharing it on social media using the nifty buttons at the end of this post <3

If you enjoyed this content please consider helping to support my blog. You can do this in multiple ways (click here to find out how!) or by donating via Ko-Fi to help me reach my current goal.