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beckyyreadss's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I wanted to read this book because I enjoy fantasy and it kept popping up on my feed and trusting Booktok hits can either be hit or miss and this one was a hit. It was all my favourite fantasy books from when I was younger all wrapped into one.
This book has two points of view. The first is Paedyn Gray, and she has been pretending to be something she has not for her whole life. She has been surviving in the slums as an Ordinary and it’s no simple task, and she knows this. She has been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. When Paedyn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself the own into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites’ powers – the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is – completely Ordinary. The second point of view is Kai Azer, he has been trained his whole life to be the Enforcer. His father has been torturing him to “make him stronger” since he has been able to walk. The upcoming trials are going to be fixed so that he looks good for his kingdom, but Kai is sick of these games and sick of putting on a mask and killing people for his father. The one thing he didn’t encounter was Paedyn standing up for him and standing up against him. This book is a young adult fantasy romance.
You couldn’t tell this was a debut at all. This book was brilliantly written, and I enjoyed this book. I loved the characters – Kai and Paedyn were hilarious separately and together and how they were avoiding each other but then they didn’t want to avoid each other and wanted to be around each other. Paedyn could kick my ass and I would thank her for it. I love how blunt she was and how she didn’t give a shit that she was fully surrounded by the rich and powerful and she’s just like see where I live and it’s your fault. Kai was just a golden retriever; man needs to learn to cover his emotions better because she was easy to read as an open book.
My only issue was it was all a bit predictable, just like the Hunger Games and the Purging. The different between the rich and the poor and was just like the districts. Emma being the Cinna and wanting to make sure Paedyn stands out. President Snow looks like Santa Claus compared to the King in this book. You knew the best friend was going to die, like Katniss’s sister did.
The ending was cruel and I'm glad I've read it when I did because I only have to wait 2 or 3 months instead of 7 months. I hope Kitt doesn’t become cruel even though he was betrayed because it will just hurt my heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Torture, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol
bluebelle_reads's review against another edition
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture
spatterson7's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Vomit, and Alcohol
kathigh86's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Did I eat this book up? Yes.
Will I look forward to the next books? Also yes.
Do I think this book is necessarily special? No.
This book is full of popular, and dare I say overused tropes. The characters themselves felt a bit flat but maybe that will change in the rest of the series. The world was very simple. The magic system was for a lack of better words "meh." I really with there was more world building and historical background. I will say that this book is popular for a reason, I'm not sure of that reason but it exists. But popular tropes are used because they're good.
Compared to other fantasy novels, this ranks really low. I would not recommend this to other avid fantasy readers.
HOWEVER! I would recommend this to people who are young adults themselves or need an introduction to fantasy/romantasy. It's easy to digest and probably doesn't have a problematic author (as far as I'm aware).
The fact that this is a debut novel that was written before the author turned 18 should not go unnoticed. The amount of potential Lauren has is crazy. I'm very excited to see how she grows as an author within this series and any series she writes in the future.
Will I look forward to the next books? Also yes.
Do I think this book is necessarily special? No.
This book is full of popular, and dare I say overused tropes. The characters themselves felt a bit flat but maybe that will change in the rest of the series. The world was very simple. The magic system was for a lack of better words "meh." I really with there was more world building and historical background. I will say that this book is popular for a reason, I'm not sure of that reason but it exists. But popular tropes are used because they're good.
Compared to other fantasy novels, this ranks really low. I would not recommend this to other avid fantasy readers.
HOWEVER! I would recommend this to people who are young adults themselves or need an introduction to fantasy/romantasy. It's easy to digest and probably doesn't have a problematic author (as far as I'm aware).
The fact that this is a debut novel that was written before the author turned 18 should not go unnoticed. The amount of potential Lauren has is crazy. I'm very excited to see how she grows as an author within this series and any series she writes in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide
sierrabowers's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
For the majority of this book, I was not thrilled because it reminded me of a knock off Hunger Games/Harry Potter (Triwizard Tournament). When the book didn’t focus on the trials, I thought the writing was great. I also liked the twist at the end. The characters are complex and I like that there was a good amount of banter throughout the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
firequeen_ash23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Powerless by Lauren Roberts is a YA, dark fantasy. While I did like this book and it has a lot of potential, I was a little disappointed with certain parts of it. I loved Paedyn and I think she was a great heroine yet I felt like there was something to be desired for her character.
There's a lot of tropes through out this book. You have enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, insta attraction, dagger to throat, "who did this to you", focus on me trope, etc... honestly too many to mention which is what Lauren Roberts said she meant to do but at times was a lot.
While I really did like Paedyn, Kai, Kitt and Adena, and other characters, I felt that there wasn't a lot of character building. There was a lot left to be desired when it came to the characters and getting to know them. I also didn't like that we were told about the characters, not shown. Example: we were told that Jax was extremely close with Kai and Kitt, but there's nothing showing us throughout the story. Just like we're told over and over that Kai is a monster but yet they show him releasing a child back to its family even though it was an ordinary. Yes Kai might have been raised to be a killer and do whatever the king ordered him to do but I don't see him as a monster. He doesn't actually enjoying killing and torturing.
I love fantasy romance and YA romance. I enjoyed paedyn and this story. I think Lauren Roberts has so much potential as does this story. I do wish this book didn't feel like it was taken directly from the Hunger Games. Now I've never read the Hunger Games book but I did see the movies and even I picked up the correlation between the two. Now I know authors will take something they read or watched and then try and write a story using what they read or saw as inspiration but it literally feels like pieces of this story were just copied and pasted.
Now with that said, it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the book or that I won't continue on with the series and see where Roberts goes from here. I will be reading Reckless.
**I will say that I really did enjoy the preview of book 2 at the end of Powerless. I think it was a great cliffhanger.
There's a lot of tropes through out this book. You have enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, insta attraction, dagger to throat, "who did this to you", focus on me trope, etc... honestly too many to mention which is what Lauren Roberts said she meant to do but at times was a lot.
While I really did like Paedyn, Kai, Kitt and Adena, and other characters, I felt that there wasn't a lot of character building. There was a lot left to be desired when it came to the characters and getting to know them. I also didn't like that we were told about the characters, not shown. Example: we were told that Jax was extremely close with Kai and Kitt, but there's nothing showing us throughout the story. Just like we're told over and over that Kai is a monster but yet they show him releasing a child back to its family even though it was an ordinary. Yes Kai might have been raised to be a killer and do whatever the king ordered him to do but I don't see him as a monster. He doesn't actually enjoying killing and torturing.
I love fantasy romance and YA romance. I enjoyed paedyn and this story. I think Lauren Roberts has so much potential as does this story. I do wish this book didn't feel like it was taken directly from the Hunger Games. Now I've never read the Hunger Games book but I did see the movies and even I picked up the correlation between the two. Now I know authors will take something they read or watched and then try and write a story using what they read or saw as inspiration but it literally feels like pieces of this story were just copied and pasted.
Now with that said, it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the book or that I won't continue on with the series and see where Roberts goes from here. I will be reading Reckless.
**I will say that I really did enjoy the preview of book 2 at the end of Powerless. I think it was a great cliffhanger.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture and Violence
Minor: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
druzyquartz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Hate crime, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury
lilycharb's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
l4uren_11's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
This book was amazing! I hadn't been interested in reading lately, but this book grabbed me right away. I finished it so quickly because I just had to find out what happened next!
The story is exciting and suspenseful, but it also takes its time to develop the characters and the world. The main character is a strong woman who can take care of herself, which I loved.
While the book reminded me a bit of "The Red Queen" and "The Hunger Games," I enjoyed it much more. This story felt more balanced and the plot twists were fantastic. I couldn't stop highlighting my favorite parts and I already want to read it again!
Big thanks to the author, Lauren! I can't wait for the next book and I know this story will stay with me for a long time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Murder
Minor: Cursing
tabea1409's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism