The Sunbearer Trials Thomas Aiden (2022)

Only the most powerful and honorable will be chosen in this breathtaking, Mexican-inspired fantasy from Aiden Thomas, author of the New York Times-bestselling Cemetery Boys. Teo, a seventeen-year-old Jade semidios and the trans son of the goddess of birds, is not worried about the Trials, at least not for himself. His best friend Niya is a Gold semidios and a certain choice for the Trials, but the odds of becoming the sacrifice are one in ten. Then, for the first time in over a century, the impossible happens: Sol chooses not one, but two Jade competitors. Teo and Xio, the thirteen-year-old child of the god of bad luck, must now compete in five trials against Gold opponents who are more powerful and better trained. Worst of all, Teos annoyingly handsome former best friend and famous semidios, Hero Aurelio, is favored to win. Teo is determined to get himself and his friends through the trials unharmed, for fame, glory and their own survival.