The Sunbearer Trials

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Aurelio huffs and rubs his thumb into his palm. "She told us you're so depressed you don't even get out of bed anymore, Teo. You don't eat, you hardly sleep. It's concerning, no, it's more than concerning." The story is full of action, but also does a great job with characterization and complex relationships. We get very human moments with characters in between competitions and Teo must wrestle with big questions about right and wrong, friendship, and sacrifice. While not graphic, this book does touch on physical and emotional abuse by a parent figure. The girl in question stood in his doorframe, arms crossed as she looked at Teo with furrowed brows. "You look like death," she says easily, and walks into the room. Her braids sway behind her, and Teo tries not to be stunned when Aurelio follows her through the doorway.

As each new decade begins, the Sun’s power must be replenished so that Sol can keep traveling along the sky and keep the evil Obsidian gods at bay. Ten semidioses between the ages of thirteen and eighteen are selected by Sol himself as the most worthy 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 used to fuel the Sun Stones that will protect the people of Reino del Sol for the next ten years.

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Unfortunately, the poster was at least as tall as Teo—who was a proud five foot ten, thank you very much—and well out of his reach. Which was where Peri and Pico came in. Teo is mischievous, he's a troublemaker, he can talk to birds, has wings and he's a Jade. That means he isn't allowed to attend the Academy. It also means he isn't being trained for the Sunbearer Trials (that happen every 10 years) like the Golds have been for a long time. It shouldn't matter because no Jade has been chosen to compete for over a hundred years. To everyone's suprise, this trial there are two Jade competitors... What the hell?" He mutters as Aurelio takes the tray from his bedside table and places it outside the door before closing it. He then stands by the end of the bed, a stern look on his face. Pico and Peri used their talons to hook into the advertisement’s canvas, giving them something to hold on to while they wielded the cans of spray paint and got to work. About the Author: Aiden Thomas (he/they) is a trans, Latinx, New York Times Bestselling author with a MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, OR. Their books include Cemetery Boys, Lost in the Never Woods, and The Sunbearer Trials (The Sunbearer Duology #1)

These stories about a group of people fighting against each other to survive-– -or not be sacrificed in—a deadly game are so iconic, Hunger Games, Battle Royale, Squid Game, what do you think makes them resonate so much? How did the impact of stories like these play into The Sunbearer Trials?Teo pretended he didn’t hear them, even as his wings flexed against their bindings beneath his shirt. “It doesn’t have to be perfect!” he said. They needed to be in and out before anyone saw. Thus begins Teo’s journey in The Sunbearer Trials, where he finds new friends and rediscovers old ones, while also making new enemies along the way. With five mysterious trials coming up against opponents who have trained for these competitions all their lives, how will Teo fare? We just...they don't know how to help you, Teo. You barely talk to them anymore. So, she thought you might talk to us," Niya explains softly. There were a lot of things I wanted to explore in The Sunbearer Trials, but American exceptionalism was a big one. Instead of having a story where there is one chosen hero who saves the world and then is given a position of power, I wanted to tell a story that showed the importance of community-led leadership and interventions, and how caste systems are bad, actually.