Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Trial of the Sun Queen

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli

18 reviews

searchingforhappilyeverafter's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

Trial of the Sun Queen is the first book in Nisha J. Tuli’s Artefacts of Ouranos series.

Lor and her siblings have endured twelve long years of torture and imprisonment under the Aurora King’s rule. Her only desire is to free her family and get revenge for every moment of torment inflicted upon them. Unforeseen circumstances find her in the perilous Sun Queen Trials, where she is to compete against nine others to become queen of Aphelion. The stakes are high. If Lor loses, she dies or will be returned to the Aurora King. While Lor doesn’t fully understand how she ended up in the trials, she wants nothing more than to win the competition so that she can gain her freedom, help her family, and become one step closer to getting revenge.

This story is romantasy entertainment at its best, filled with almost nonstop thrilling action, intriguing politics, magic, fae, romance, and thoughtful social commentary. The writing style feels more YA, though content-wise this book is definitely adult or NA.

The worldbuilding is excellent. Lor has been imprisoned since childhood, so she is practically seeing the outside world for the first time. Basically, the readers are learning everything about this world at the same time Lor is, which I thought was really well done.

Lor is definitely one of my new favorite fantasy FMCs. She is feisty, resilient, intelligent, and willing to do whatever is necessary to save those she loves.

Tuli has brilliantly crafted a story that kept me turning the pages well into the night.

Content Warnings

jasfa's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Content Warnings

mcmao's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

4.0

Excellent first book in a series and it gets better and better with each book. You won’t want to put this series down!

What to expect:
✅ Fae
✅ Fated mates
✅ Dual perspective
✅ 🌶️ (1.5)
✅ Hidden identity
✅ Is it all that it seems?
✅ Incomplete series (Book 4 releases 11/26/24)

Content Warnings

reka111's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.5

Hunger is a language I know. A script I've written a thousand times.

Gods, it's finally over! Well, that was terrible, honestly, some really fucked up intersection of Hunger Games, Selection & ACOTAR. I struggled incredibly hard by the time it ended, oh my goodness.

Lor wasn't that terrible, by the way, although one would think that prison years would make a person distrustful, weak and maybe a little unpredictable, both mentally and physically, but not her. That would be fine, but the fact that she was so terribly naïve (after all of that!) is not. She keeps saying she doesn't need anyone, etc., but she's still helping others — which no sane person would do. I can't figure her out — and I honestly don't want to — but I liked that she had an animalistic rage and a willingness to act. Either way, this martyr role went terribly wrong for her. Atlas, I knew — I felt — that we were going to get another Tamlin, even with a not-so-big change lol. A red flag for everyone, another toxic alpha male that no one needs. When it comes to Nadir, I can't decide what the hell he's doing or who he's having what relationship with, to be honest. He has a goal — an infinitely vague and unnecessary goal — that he pursues like a hound, but I cannot figure out why he does it, and I honestly don't care why he (and everyone else) needs Lor so much. Of the other characters, Gabriel was surprisingly quite tolerable with his duality, but I didn't like him either. Maybe it was Halo who grew a bit close to my heart.

The love story (can I even call it that?) was just so out of the blue that I shook my head. There was no chemistry between them, as if we were trying to put a stone and ice together — there are similarities, but not much. (And by the way, it seems okay to spread your legs the very first time after being raped and abused repeatedly for years at the first opportunity???? What the hell was that??? Who writes such a thing??)

The plot was horribly messed up. No beginning or end, everything was so tuggy and still too fast (a bit counterproductive, but I can't say it any better) all at once. The author should have spent a lot more time and energy building the world (I never thought I'd say that, lol) and leaving eroticism in the background for once in a lifetime. Otherwise, the pace was quite good - not the best, but still not so bad. The wording was fine, although I read it on my mother tongue, so I can't add much. And the end; What was that? I felt the author tried – unsuccessfully – to add a Rhysand rescue expedition (why I don't know) so that if it had fairies, it wouldn't miss the ACOTAR reference. It made no sense or any use.

Overall, there are no gods that would make me volunteer to continue this series, that was more than enough (maybe even a lot) for a lifetime.

PS: that map was terrible.

Content Warnings

bloomingbookworm's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

spicycronereads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book starts out really strong! Lor the FMC is imprisoned with her siblings and is known for getting into trouble. She is smart and funny and indomitable. And she loves Tristan and Willow, her two older siblings.

When she is the human tribute selected to participate in the sun queen trials, every move she makes is to protect them. Trials test physical strength but also reveal Lor’s character.

We also get POV chapters from Nadir, the prince of Aurora, which is the territory that held Lor as prisoner for half of her life.

Th pacing is quite good and the writing is often sharply funny. Some plot points are quite predictable but it is fun getting there all the same. I saw the book described as ACOTAR meets The Hunger Games and that seems pretty spot on.

The secondary characters are fairly flat, with the exception of Gabriel, around whom there is a bit of mystery.

There is a slow burn love interest and some spice. I’d give it two chili peppers. 🌶️🌶️

There is a fair amount of diverse representation with almost every character having some shade of brown skin and many secondary characters in queer relationships or flings. Lor and Nadir are both brown-skinned with dark wavy hair.

Overall it is a fast, fun read that sets up events for the next book (which is less predictable imo). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🌶️🌶️

Content Warnings

thebookwhale's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

So this was okay.
Not horrible, but not excellent either.

The storyline and plot is interesting, but the writing...

Lor, the FMC, lacks A LOT. I can't really described what exactly it is, but something was amiss. Her character didn't feel complete.

Also, the world building was really shallow. Who or what is Zerra? Presumably a god or something, but I would need an explanation of that. In general, the world was missing a lot of details, and that made it hard for me to truly enjoy the book, since it left me with a lot of questions.

The spicy scenes felt out of place and random, and the affection of the Sun King from the very beginning as well.

I will read the second book though, as I still want to know how everything works out in the end.

Content Warnings

kemikemi's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Content Warnings

goldenleafbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This is the first book I've read by Nisha J Tuli, and I'm absolutely delighted to have found this author. Her characters are very well done, and I especially enjoy the way that she mixes in lore and history of the world throughout the novel. I never felt like they're was an exposition dump.

The book is part of an unfinished series, scheduled to be completed this year. HEA is not at the end of the books, it seems like it will be the end of the series.

Content Warnings

karapillar's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

More...