Trial of the Sun Queen

Book: Trial of the Sun Queen

Author: Nisha J. Tuli

Series: Artefacts of Ouranos

Rating: 4/5

I am so glad to have found this book. The writing was so well done, the plot was very interesting, and it kept me on my toes the entire time. Also, this book is available on Kindle Unlimited, which is always a plus! 

The idea of the trials to become queen sounded like a more ruthless version of The Selection by Kierra Cass, but there was so much more to this book. The beginning of the book felt a little bit fast, but once we got going with the trials, I was fully hooked. 

I absolutely loved the main character, Lor, she was a very fun character to read. She’s determined, fierce, and… unruly, and I am fully here for it. It was easy to follow her thoughts and understand why she reacted the way she did to stuff. She’s been through a lot and it was nice to see her start to get better, but still hold onto her past in prison and how that formed who she was as a person. It took me a minute, though, to fully grasp that she is 24, because she’s been in prison since she was a CHILD at 12 and been there for 12 years, which is just crazy to me, but of course that is the point is that she has been handed the worst hand of cards in life and is persevering through it. 

Nadir was also great, but I wish we had more from him in this book. I assume we will get more in future books, given that he has his own POV chapters, which I am really looking forward to. His POVs were pretty interesting and I think are giving us some good set up so that we understand more of what is happening outside of the kingdom of Aphelion that Lor is in for a good majority of the book as well as some of his own motivations. I did like that it made it obvious when POVs were switched by listing the names, but I’m not sure how I feel about Nadir’s being in third person. I’m just not a third person girlie, but it doesn’t mean I won’t read a book so it wasn’t anything horrible. 

Atlas was an interesting character and I’m intrigued to see what is going to happen next with his character since it was left as sort of a cliffhanger. Overall though, these crazy games he has these girls doing for the trials? Insane.

Overall I really did enjoy this book and I would absolutely recommend if you like fantasy and romance, read this. If you liked the Selection and want something more grown up, read this.

Alright, past this there are spoilers. You have been warned :) 

***** SPOILERS *****

Oh my god why is Lor so dumb when it comes to Atlas. I get it, it’s like the point, she’s having a moment, but girl come on. She’s been in prison for literally all of her formative years, and she hasn’t really had any experiences with real relationships so she doesn’t really know what’s normal or what to expect and it’s totally fair that Atlas would have stuff going on with the other girls, but he was too nice. Like way too nice. But again, she has been sheltered her whole life so I get why she might not know enough about the man to know this probably isn’t him or something weird might be going on, or that he’s lying about the whole The Umber shit. Which we as the reader knew was a lie thanks to Nadir. Idk, I just didn’t like the vibes from Atlas basically the whole time, though initially I was expecting him to be the main love interest so it was a nice surprise. I knew that stupid Atlas was going to be a villain, he was seriously just way too nice but he also felt way too distant. And of course the chapters from Nadir’s POV kinda led me to believe that Nadir is the true love interest for this series, so I’m excited to see what they do together. 

Also Lor is over here being a human/fae rights QUEEN. I love that one of her like favorite questions is “why do you have a poor district when you’re fucking rich.” Phenomenal. I think a quote that really stuck with me from this book was actually about this topic, it’s “But why did the Umbra ever have to exist when a few nights ago I slept in a bed made of gold?” I think it perfectly sums up how Lor is feeling about this topic and how lots of people feel about this topic. She doesn’t have the financial means to be able to get rid of the Umbra, but she sees that the people in power do and if they weren’t hoarding their wealth for the sake of having beds of gold, then there wouldn’t be a need for the people in the Umbra to be so destitute. It’s Atlas’ responsibility to be able to provide and care for his kingdom, and he is failing them. 

These trials were rough though, and like wow they just let people die? And sometimes didn’t reveal the entire point of a trial? Or did Atlas lie about the rope thing, he probably totally could have lied about that. And OH MY GOD what was up with the whole “Atlas is just a man, he can’t help that he’s going to want to fuck every woman he sees, it’s up to you to say no to the literal king and hope he takes no for an answer” from that batty old bitch Madam Odell before she like grills Lor about her sex life. I did not like that woman, and I think that was part of the point. I have seen some people listing this part of the book as part of why they don’t like the book, but I feel like the purpose of it being in there was lost on many readers if they think that’s the viewpoint of Lor and the author. The point is that the Sun kingdom is fucked up and weird like that, very purity culture and misogyny vibes, and Nadir is 100% going to save her from that, or more likely Lor is going to refuse to accept that kind of crap. Sort of like with Halo and Marici, who I loved by the way, when they asked Lor for help if she won and she was like um well if I win then Atlas doesn’t get to go around fucking his failed wife attempts. She’s like he has to start keeping it in his pants if she wins, and I am here for the girlboss energy. 

My boy Nadir. I did really like what we got from his POV in this book, and I am stoked to get more now that his sister and Mael have Lor “in custody.” I am assuming the next book will focus heavily on that. I am very excited for it too, I look at Nisha Tuli’s Instagram and saw some fan art… I want to get to that scene ASAP and the guy in it looks suspiciously like Nadir is described. 

Anyways, if you haven’t read this book go do that. It is on Kindle Unlimited, so if you have that then this book is a bit more accessible to you, so go read it for free!