Trial of the Sun Queen

Trial of the Sun Queen critiques the corrupting nature of unchecked power by juxtaposing the decadent, morally bankrupt Fae elite with the brutalized but resilient society of Nostraza’s prisoners. With the repeated use of marked contrasts, the novel argues that overprivilege fosters a callous indifference to suffering, perpetuating cycles of oppression that dehumanize both the powerful and the powerless.

The dehumanizing effect of power is first established within the oppressive hierarchy of Nostraza prison. Warden Kelava and his guards embody how authority can corrupt when exercised unchecked within an unjust system. The wardens treat the inmates as objects for their own sadistic pleasure and exploitation, a dynamic exemplified by Kelava’s repeated physical, sexual, and verbal abuse of Lor. These scenes exemplify a lack of a fairly-applied rule of law removes basic human rights, such as due process, food, safety, and sanitation. The novel’s prison system and its wardens are inhumane, deliberately viewing the prisoners as less than human, and then abusing them for being “like animals.” The inmates, in turn, are forced into a brutal, survivalist mindset, in which they also victimize each other. Lor’s readiness to fight over a stolen bar of soap illustrates a world where human dignity has been stripped away, replaced by a desperate struggle for the basic necessities. This environment shows how being powerless erodes one’s humanity, forcing individuals into a state of animalistic desperation. The novel’s focus on Lor’s first-person narrative provides an important contrast to this, emphasizing the integral humanity of each prisoner, despite the conditions and behaviors they are forced into.

As deliberate juxtaposition, the novel creates the Fae elite of Aphelion to demonstrate how immense privilege also fosters dehumanization, albeit in a different form. Their world is one of extravagant wealth and leisure, which creates a profound disconnect from the suffering of others. Tributes like Apricia, shaped by a lifetime of entitlement, treat those they deem beneath them with casual cruelty and disdain. This callousness is most starkly embodied in the Sun Queen Trials themselves. For the Aphelion court, the deadly competition is a celebrated form of social entertainment. The potential deaths of the Tributes are a source of exciting drama. Madame Odell’s dismissive reference to Lor as an “Umbra rat” (63) encapsulates this perspective, revealing an elite class so insulated by its privilege that it views the less fortunate as inherently inferior and their suffering as inconsequential. This depiction draws on historical influences of a corrupt and decadent class, such as in the Roman Empire, hinting that Aphelion’s power structure are fragile and may be toppled in the series narrative.

Ultimately, the novel argues that the extreme disparity between the powerful and the powerless creates a system that is morally corrosive for all. The elite lose their capacity for empathy, becoming indifferent spectators to brutality, while the oppressed are stripped of their agency and forced to adopt ruthless survival tactics. By presenting these two parallel forms of dehumanization, the narrative suggests that a society built on such profound inequality is inherently corrupt, threatening the shared humanity of everyone trapped within its structure.