You’ll have to read the book yourself to find out why! I love Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth, and trial four took me straight back to my childhood. I loved the character development and appreciated how the competitors grew more paranoid and stressed as they neared the final trial. I loved how the intensity of each trial increased every time, which in turn raised the stakes. Whenever we were between a trial, I was itching to get to the next one. The Sunbearer Trials themselves were the highlight of the story.

I really relished how the trials were sensationalised by the media in a similar way to the Hunger Games. It was easy to picture the gleaming Sol Stones, like powerful beaming stars in the sky. I adored how these modern elements were combined with the beautifully described cities and buildings, particularly Reino del Sol’s temple. This made the tone of the story feel quite modern, which I rarely see executed well in fantasy. I loved the little changes to common phrases like “for Sol’s sake”.

I enjoyed all the references to social media and celebrity life, especially the different names given to platforms like TikTok and Instagram. It was very easy to join Teo in Quetzlan, which interestingly contained a lot of elements from our own world. I appreciate world-building that fits seamlessly with the plot. Whenever I read a new fantasy, I love learning about the world. I had huge expectations for the Sunbearer Trials, as whilst this was the first novel I’ve read written by Thomas, I have heard nothing but high praise from my friends. I will always be a fan of taking elements of popular YA books from the early 2010s and making them queer. I was so excited when I first heard about this. Stories with deadly competitions are always my favourite. Those books got me started on reading, and the Hunger Games made me fall in love with books. The first book I ever read for fun was Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

SOL. Das Spiel der Zehn by Aiden Thomas