Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Trial of the Sun Queen

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)

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lrenkate's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

Wow I really enjoyed this! I’m immediately hooked to read the next in the series, and can’t wait to see what happens to Lor.
Before starting I saw it was a mix of The Bachelor and Hunger Games in a Fae realm — that really fits. This was a lot of fun! I liked the action and enjoyed how they employed the usual tropes along the way. I couldn’t give it full stars only because there wasn’t really any surprises in the story (though I have a habit of predicting plot points early).
I loved the FMC. Lor was strong though not infallible, caring yet hardened from her experiences. I liked that she didn’t take shit but also had struggles and stresses that made sense for her age/life.
No one else has the depth of character as Lor, but I can see Nadir developing well. Atlas, the MMC, was interesting but always a bit difficult to pin down - intentionally so. I wish we got more from Apricia and the other Tributes, but if they don’t factor much into remaining books I understand why we’d get their name and very little else.

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reka111's review against another edition

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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

travistyaverted's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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megnut's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.5

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spicycronereads's review against another edition

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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). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🌶️🌶️

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cecetomas's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I picked this up needing an easy to read, fast paced fantasy (plus I love The Hunger Games and The Bachelor) and it was exactly what I wanted. Some of the plot felt pretty predictable and the tropes felt just a little but forced but I enjoyed the action quite a bit. I am someone that is usually to predict quite a bit when reading but something I really appreciated is that the MMC love interest is not immediately obvious in the way that there are a few ways that the relationships in this book could go and it was fun thinking about alternating story lines/endings and kind of reading along to see which way it would go. I can't say this book enthralled me enough to sell me on the entire series but it definitely hooked me into the second book.

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