The Sunbearer Trials

Aiden Thomas’s young adult fantasy novel, The Sunbearer Trials (2022), is the first book in The Sunbearer duology. Set in a world inspired by Meso-American mythology and contemporary Mexican culture and geography, the story follows Teo, the transgender son of Quetzal, god of birds, who is chosen to compete in a deadly competition held every 10 years. In The Sunbearer Trials, demigods (known as semidioses) compete in a series of challenges until a winner emerges victorious, and the loser is sacrificed by the winner to ensure the safety of their world. Thematically, the novel explores The Injustice of Inherited Social Hierarchies, The Glorification of Heroism Versus the Reality of Sacrifice, and The Power of Self-Acceptance in a World of Prescribed Norms and Expectations.

Thomas is a New York Times best-selling author of queer young adult fantasy novels, including Cemetery Boys, which was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. As a transgender author, Thomas centers transgender protagonists in his stories, using analogous fantasy and mythological elements to explore the experiences of transgender teens.

This guide references the 2024 Square Fish edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide contain depictions of bullying, gender discrimination, physical and emotional abuse, graphic violence, illness or death, and cursing.

Language Note: The source text employs Spanish vocabulary to refer to its characters in the following ways:

dios – god, male

diosa – god, female

diose – god, gender neutral

semidios – demigod, male

semidiosa – demigod, female

semidiose – demigod, gender neutral

Note that the ending “e” is a way of expressing gender-neutrality in a traditionally gendered language (See: Background).

Plot Summary

The world of Reino del Sol was created by the deities Sol and Tierra, who also formed three races of godly children: powerful Golds, focused Jades, and destructive Obsidians. Sol buried their heart in the earth and their blood mingled with the soil, creating humans. When the Obsidians rebelled, Sol sacrificed themself to imprison the traitors among the stars. Tierra formed Sol’s body into the Sun Stones, which protect the world. To keep the stones fueled, the Sunbearer Trials are held every 10 years. In the Trials, the offspring of gods and humans, known as semidioses, compete in a series of challenges. The winner becomes the Sunbearer, and the loser is sacrificed to replenish the stones’ power.

Seventeen-year-old Teo, a transgender Jade semidios and son of Quetzal, the diosa of birds, lives in the city of Quetzlan. Resentful of the privileged Gold semidioses, he defaces a promotional poster for the upcoming trials featuring smiling Gold faces. Teo feels inadequate compared to the Golds and struggles with dysphoria related to his wings, which he keeps bound and hidden. His life in Quetzlan is defined by his close relationship with his mother and his guardian, Quetzlan’s head priest.

When a fire breaks out at a local bakery, Teo rushes in to help, gets trapped in a burning room, and needs to be rescued by three Gold Heroes: Marino, son of Agua, the diosa of water; Auristela, daughter of Lumbre, the diosa of flame; and her twin brother Aurelio, Teo’s estranged childhood friend. Though hailed as a local hero, Teo feels overshadowed by the Golds.

Back at Quetzal Temple, the head priest scolds Teo for his recklessness, reminding him he is not a trained Hero. Teo and his mother prepare for the journey to Sol Temple, where the trials will begin. During the ceremonial dressing, Teo experiences dysphoria related to his unbound wings, which are “still dull and brown. Feminine. His wings […] never felt right, as though they belonged to someone else or he’d been given the wrong ones” (103). He travels with the head priest and the Quetzlan priests to the central island of Sol Temple.

At Sol Temple, Teo continues to feel out of place among the powerful Golds. He reunites with his best friend, Niya, a Gold and the daughter of Tierra. During the opening ceremony, Sol’s magic selects 10 competitors. To everyone’s shock, two Jades are chosen: Teo and Xio, the 13-year-old transgender son of Mala Suerte, the god of bad luck. They are joined by eight Golds: Niya, Aurelio, Auristela, Ocelo (the nonbinary child of the war diose Guerrero), Marino, Xochi (the transgender daughter of Primavera, diosa of Spring), Dezi (son of Amor, diosa of Love), and Atzi (the 13-year-old daughter of Tormentoso, dios of weather). The selection is unprecedented, as Jades are rarely chosen to compete.

Teo and Xio are terrified. Mala Suerte furiously tries to intervene but is rebuked by Diosa Luna, Sol’s high priestess. The rules of the Sunbearer Trials are explained: the competitors will travel to five host cities for five trials, and the semidiose with the lowest rank at the end will be sacrificed to refuel the Sol stones and preserve the safety of the realm. Teo, Niya, and Xio form an alliance to protect one another and survive the trials. Before they depart, the head priest secretly gives Teo strategic advice on how to survive against the Golds.

The first trial, a mountain race, is held in Niya’s home city of La Cumbre. During the race, Teo feels a surge of euphoria as he discovers his wings have transformed from their dull, brown hue into the brilliant colors of a male quetzal, finally aligning with his identity and giving him the ability to fly. Ocelo attempts to sabotage Xio with a rockslide, but Teo uses his new wings to intervene. To stop Teo from finishing the trial, Atzi strikes him from the sky with a lightning bolt. In the final rankings, Auristela places first. Teo is eighth, Xio is ninth, and Ocelo is last due to their dangerous conduct.

The second trial takes place in El Valle, where the competitors must retrieve a baby alebrije—a fantastical, brightly colored chimera—from a nest guarded by its mother. Teo succeeds by calming and befriending a toucanet alebrije with chameleon eyes and the tail of a snake. While researching past trials, Teo discovers that the last Jade competitor, Paloma, was his half-sister, a daughter of Quetzal who was sacrificed 130 years ago. After the alebrije trial, Niya is ranked first, and Teo rises to fifth.

The third trial, a team-based capture game in Opal Oasis, pairs competitors chosen by Sol. Teo is paired with Aurelio, and they work together effectively to win. During the trial, several competitors, including Niya and Auristela, exhibit uncharacteristic aggression, their eyes turning black, hinting at a sinister influence. Aurelio is ranked first, and Teo rises to fourth place.

For the first time in history, a trial is held in a Jade city, Laberinto. The challenge is to collect valuable stones from a shifting, labyrinthine temple riddled with traps. Teo, Niya, and Xio are separated. Teo nearly secures victory by reaching a replica of the Sol Stone, but Auristela, afflicted by the same dark-eyed rage from the previous trial, attacks him and shatters the stone. In the chaos, Xio fails to finish the trial in time and drops to last place. Teo realizes an external force is manipulating the competitors.

In the final trial, held in Los Restos—a forbidden jungle containing the ruins of the Obsidian gods—the competitors must navigate perilous, illusion-filled paths. Teo and Niya find and rescue Xio. As their paths converge on a collapsing platform, Auristela, again overcome by the dark influence, attacks Teo and Xio with lethal force. During the fight, she falls from the platform and is eliminated. Teo sacrifices his own chance to finish by throwing Xio to safety. When the trial ends, Xio is ranked ninth, Auristela is last, and Teo is named the Sunbearer.

At the Sunbearer ceremony, Teo is given an obsidian dagger to sacrifice Auristela, but he refuses to kill her, and the Sol Stone dims. When the dioses try to intervene, Teo gives the dagger to Xio just as the light in the Sol Stone fades completely. Teo sees Xio’s face transform from fearful to triumphant as Xio uses the dagger to cut his own hand. Black blood drips from his hand, and Teo realizes Xio is an Obsidian, the son of the Obsidian god Venganza. Without the sun’s power, Diosa Luna disappears into a burst of stars. Without the Sol Stone, the Obsidian gods, Venganza, Chupacabra, and Caos have been freed from their celestial prisons. They plunge the world into darkness, open a rift, and kidnap six of the competitors, including Auristela. Teo, Niya, and Aurelio narrowly escape the destruction.

In the aftermath, the remaining gods and semidioses regroup. Diosa Lumbre calls for war, but Tierra proposes a plan to restore Sol by reuniting all the Sun Stones from the temples across Reino del Sol. Devastated by his sister’s capture, Aurelio vows to pursue the Obsidians and rescue the captives. Teo and Niya immediately join him. The gods bestow magical items upon the trio to aid their quest. The novel ends as Teo, Niya, and Aurelio set out to save their friends and bring the sun back to the world.