Antonia Bernardin

My 29th read of the year was Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J Tuli, the first book in the Artefacts of Ouranos series. I was actually in a bit of a reading slump and this book kicked me out of it!

This read was part of my podcast’s first buddy read. If you want to join our May – June readalong of A Thorn Among Roses by Hayley Anderton, click here.

A vague summary

Lor has grown up in the worst prison in the court of the Aurora king, for a crime she doesn’t remember committing because she was so young when she was sent there. When her quick temper lands her in the hole for an un-survivable two week stretch, she fears the prison might have finally gotten the better of her… until she wakes up to find herself transported to the Court of the Sun king. She has been bought there to take part in the Sun Queen trials, whether she wants to or not. Faced with the choice of competing and possibly dying, or competing and becoming Queen, or competing and failing, to be sent back to the prison, Lor chooses to fight for the only option that might help free her and her siblings. The Sun King seems to have taken a particular interest in her that Lor can’t quite bring herself to trust but no one has ever touched or looked at her the way he does.

My thoughts

I enjoyed this book, it’s fae, it’s kinda slow burn, it’s bad ass chosen one vibes but she doesn’t just automatically win, she has to fight for her victories. I saw the ending coming but I don’t necessarily think that’s a negative because it means it was well breadcrumbed. I really liked the main character, whose POV is how we’re told the story, she’s funny and had some pretty relatable, realistic reactions to the fuckery that is being asked to fight in trials for the hand of a king.