Trial of the Sun Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos)

Product Information

Fights to the death to become queen, fae court politics, magic, romance, action, violence, and a little spice…. Do I have your attention?

The storyline is very unreasonable, unreliable, and nonexistent in the world building. Also mind you this book claims to have "The Hunger Games" but bro what even is the game here? One of the challenges is a random fun fact quiz what is this? Who wants to be a Millionaire?😬 I can see the author tried to put the “surprise” aspect at the end with the “twist”🙄 but no it’s so predictable and I’m just so glad I finally finished it😭 didn’t mag or healers question her prison brand on her shoulder? or was it normal for some umbra citizen to have those? Lor is a sassy, take-no-shit FMC and she frequently is speaking her mind. That said, she also knows when it's probably best to keep her mouth shut. By being her most authentic self, she finds herself alienated in the beginning until the other women (only a few) start to realize that she's not a diseased street rat but rather a woman just desperately needing connections. Her tentative friendships with some of these women bring out her protective instincts and she earns even more respect as she goes out of her way to save some of them a few times. While she definitely still has her main adversaries, she gains the general respect of most of the women throughout the trials.Yes, I understand that Atlas was supposed to be the villain, but that still doesn't take away from how underwhelming the romance was in comparison to the rest of the book. Saying that the characters 'felt an immediate connection' with one another, and adding in a few smut scenes doesn't add up to a good romance 😭😭😭. Thank you, Lor. One thing I’ve always hoped for in a bonded partner is someone who can make me become a better version of the Fae I am.” Writing: The writing was so immersive! The world building was just perfect, the descriptions of their surroundings and the character profiles were amazing. The writing really captures your attention and sinks you into the story. When reading about Lor enduring the trials, I was on the edge of my seat, eyes wide, feeling the panic and the fear with her. A really easy and fast-paced read, short chapters. Just everything you would want from an adult fantasy. However, after who knows how long she's been in the pit for, she is saved mere moments from death and is dropped into the Sun Queen Trials of the warring kingdom of Aphelion (aka the Sun Kingdom). Having no proper training, Lor finds herself leagues behind the other 9 contestants. As one would expect, most of the women competing have been training their whole lives for this opportunity, and don't waste any chance to flaunt their clear superiority in Lor's face. In spite of their snubbing, as Lor navigates the training exercises and trials, she learns slowly but surely that while she was never trained formally, her years in the prison prepared her in different ways. She may not have the technique, but she has the tenacity.

Nadir is our second point of view character, a character who Lor sees as the villain throughout. He has the potential to be interesting but nothing below the surface is really explored with him, though it's rather set up that book two would lead to an enemies to lovers arc. That said, honestly, he's another character who was severely disinteresting, two dimensional, and who--quite frankly--didn't need a point of view. Nothing that happened in those sections is something that couldn't have been explored through a point of view in book two because all of his sections were set up for that. This is the first book in a NA fantasy romance where we follow Lor, a young woman who has lived for most of her life in the murky depths of the notorious Nostraza prison. Everyday is a fight for survival in the prisons harsh life conditions, but at least she has her siblings with her. When she is once again sent to the solitary hole for punishment, where starvation and death by lurking creatures is a very likely possibility, the unexpected happens. Don’t worry, Lor. I am giving due attention to all the Tributes, as is my duty. But I am only a male and I am searching for my queen. I’m allowed to have my favorites.'' I think the thing that made it so bad for me, was the blatant disregard of the h's characterization, all for the sake of insta-love 😐. In terms of the MMC, 🤡😭- I don't even want to think about how disappointing he was. He was just as bland as they come, and truly made me question so many things. He couldn't even do his reveals right 💀.

there went my theory about sexual abuse and fantasy romances. the latter doesn’t exist without the former. The fantasy aspect of the book was the only reason I didn't rate this lower. The general premise behind it, although predictable, was relatively interesting, but just was not fledged out. Nothing really got the time to fully be explained. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, and truly had high hopes for this, but the more that I read, the more underwhelmed I became.