Amanda Smith’s Reviews > The Sunbearer Trials > Status Update

[SPOILER] Xio just lost the third trial. Oh boy, I hope this isn't going to become an allegory for trans kids dying. 😬

I thought it was a little odd that there are two transmasc characters in this book, both on the same side/team and stuck in the same situation, but I get it now: this is an opportunity for Aiden Thomas to explore how trans people seek each other out for support and understanding.

I'm glad I'm listening to the audiobook. My Spanish is weak, and this way I know how the words are actually pronounced. If I was reading the book, I would probably think of incorrect pronunciations, especially for the names.

competing against professionals heroes who have been training for this type of physical competition at a special academy just for this their whole lives, and one of these kids WILL be killed and sacrificed at the end. I am outraged at their parents. (2/2)

This book is seriously pissing me off - in a good way. The parents of the Jade kids gave their kids NO TRAINING, even though there was a chance they could end up in these trials. Sure, Jades haven't been chosen for the trials in decades, but there was STILL a possibility. Now you've got what are basically two basically two normal teenagers with NO training, not even basic physical conditioning, (1/2)

I would be shocked if the twins DON'T bicker constantly in private. I get the feeling the love interest is holding back A LOT for the sake of being professional. Either that, or he's a complete pushover for his sister.

The love interest is painfully autistic-coded. This wouldn't be a bad thing except the author is leaning into misunderstandings as conflict between the protagonist and love interest. It feels lazy and superficial. There's plenty of conflict already, as someone is going to end up dead at the end of this book! Skip the fake stakes and focus on the real stakes.

(Continued) Which SUCKS because he just got (what's it called, the goblet that chooses Harry Potter for the games at Hogwarts?) goblet-ed into the Hunger Games. The weakest person in the Sunbearer Trials gets sacrificed to Sol, and our protagonist has a high likelihood of being the last runner up.

This fantasy world is a weird combination of superheroes, gods, and academia. The main characters are Meso-American gods and demigods that functionally act as superheroes. There's an academia element, where the young gods and demigods go to school to train, but our protagonist missed that because he was never powerful enough to get into the god academia, and went to public school. (Continued)