Trial of the Sun Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos)

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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. 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. The plot was so intriguing that I couldn't stop reading! I had to find out what was the truth behind the Trials and Atlas. Everything is very mysterious and the author drops little clues then and there... Atlas gives me King Midas's vibes, golden and yet hiding many secrets. The real love interest is not clear, but I have a suspicion... 😏 But, with every answer we get, we end up with more questions along the way. There are hints dropped, clues provided, and easter eggs mentioned and I can only draw my own conclusions about what the author is trying to foreshadow. Some of them seem kind of obvious because they're repetitive, but I'm still not sure where she is going with this. I think it will be a very satisfying story once all of the pieces are put together...

That said, the alternate POV chapters from a certain someone made it difficult to fully invest myself in any connection Lor formed with the people of Aphelion. But, it should be mentioned that I can be cynical and am usually suspicious of any good deed in romantic fantasy books where the stakes are high. To try and avoid any spoilers, I will wait to explain that further until this book has been released.

i got major King Midas from the plated prisoner series vibes ngl 👋 You know where he keeps Auren in a cage and manipulates her for years into believing he's only doing that for her love and safety. When it turns out he only kept her for her POWERS? Yehhhh Okay, hear me out. I really want to love this. The bachelor meets the hunger games? That seems amazing. The blurb sounds incredible, but the execution was terrible. 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. there went my theory about sexual abuse and fantasy romances. the latter doesn’t exist without the former.He tells me of the forgotten realm of Heart and its fallen queen. Its lost Artefact—a crown with a blood-red stone.” every time i read “continent of Ouranos” or anything with “ouranos” , in my head it sounded like “your anus”. 😭😭😭 When a surprise release finds her in the hands of the Sun King, Lor is thrust into the spotlight when she competes against nine other Tributes for the role of queen. If she wins his heart, she'll earn her freedom and finally get her revenge. Lor is rescued, or is it kidnapped? You will have to find out! She is forced to participate in the deadly Sun Queens Trials to rule beside the Sun King; Atlas. Her conditions seem to have improved drastically, now she has a chance to save her family and rule with a handsome and charming man beside her...but why does it still feel like a prison?

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.'' We have the Sun King Atlas. He's a stunning and kind high fae who's drawn to Lor right from the beginning. His words are sweet, and his actions are SWOONworthy and panty dropping 🫳 He's very genuine. Or is he? if atlas was master of illusion i wondered if he made his super fancy appearance and in reality he’s very repulsive like his personality (the truth about which we will learn only later🙄🙄🙄 we indeed learned it later). he was sleazy with his complements, they had bad aftertaste. It made absolutely no sense to me how you can spend chapters building up an independent, hot-headed, non-trusting h, to just have them immediately fall head over heels over someone who quite frankly, was disappointing in all the ways that mattered. The Bachelor meets the Hunger Games. Ten women. A deadly contest. Only one can win the Sun King's heart.

I'm not even joking, it feels wrong to even say that there was romance in this book, because it was a joke 😭. Characters: resilient and strong FMC. A kind and stupidly good-looking Sun King. Irritating (but kinda funny) Captain/escort. Curious and mysterious Prince of Aurora. Lor is an amazing fmc. She’s intelligent, resilient, and a totally bad ass human in a game full of fae. While she was a little naive, I loved watching her grow and get stronger and stronger throughout this book. 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 💀. But, I understand it's hard to write a fantasy book and NOT have it compared to ACTOAR or SJM's work so while these are BROAD strokes, it's more of the vibe. And I loved ACOTAR and I really enjoyed this. I will say that the POV chapters from Naider's POV made it difficult to invest in Atlas. Because why would the non-love interest have their own chapters?

Atlas, the sun king, is the mmc Lor is trying to win the affections of. I was on the fence about him at first, but then he says stuff like, “You’re mine. You’re going to be mine. Nope, there's no romance in the book, just insta-lust all over it. Their whole conversation is so cringeworthy I was tormented reading it. Endured 12 years under the Aurora King. Lor wants to get free and make him pay for every torment he's done. But then she finds herself kidnapped and enters a deadly contest to win the Sun King's heart.i was getting TOG vibes. prison, cruel ruler, deadly competition, always there guard, secretly not a plain human but a long lost queen. Fights to the death to become queen, fae court politics, magic, romance, action, violence, and a little spice…. Do I have your attention?