The Sunbearer Trials

In a Mexican inspired realm where the Sun must be replenished every decade, ten semidioses are pulled into the brutal Sunbearer Trials where glory and sacrifice share the same altar. Seventeen year old Teo is a Jade semidios and a trans son who never expected to be chosen, and when the Sun shocks the realm by picking two underdogs, Teo and the unlucky child Xio must navigate deadly rituals, political rivalries, and opponents who are stronger and better trained. The Trials are a crucible where identity, loyalty, and survival are tested by fire and ceremony, and quiet moments of friendship and found family shine through the violence. Warm, tense, and emotionally honest, this epic feels both pulse pounding and intimate as Teo fights not just to stay alive but to claim his place in a world that wants to define him.

~ Included for its fierce trans protagonist, vivid mythic world building, and tender found family that reframes sacrifice as resistance ~