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becca_wight's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
(It did also have me screaming and kicking my feet for both positive and negative reasons a fair few times, useful information I know)
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism
Moderate: Grief and Abandonment
bethy_joy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
izzyreads13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
➸ MMC who’s the embodiment of a man written by a women, everything he says about halfway through the book when he comes to terms with his feelings for the FMC are heartwarming and almost poetic, “Her. I only want to be deserving of her”.
➸ Interesting world building, while it’s definitely not the most out there world, the author does a good job at throwing parts of the lore around through out the book when needed, making everything easy to understand while also not feeling like you’re constantly getting information thrown at you left and right. Information comes up when it’s needed.
➸ interesting characters. While some are definitely more loveable then others, all of the characters are written with enough depth and background to at least make you build some sort of connection with them, good or bad
➸ our FMC is strong and despite what I thought at a few points of the book, does not need to and or always rely on our MMC to save her. There are of course a few instances when he does but there are enough scenes throughout the book that reinforce the fact that she can stand her own ground without his assistance which I definitely enjoyed.
The story is a little hard to get into at first, I found myself picking the book up at least once every day for about 50 pages at a time but by the halfway mark I definitely felt more inclined to read more and more each time and by the last 100 pages not only was I devastated but satisfied. Devastated that it was over, yet satisfied as to how the book came together at the end. I’m eagerly awaiting the second book in a few months, but the rest of my review will just be some things I noted and felt while reading the book.
➸ definitely a slow burn. While the banter is continuous throughout the book from start to finish, it takes a while to get to a point where the characters verbalize those feelings to one another and by the end of it, only Kai does, our MMC (definitely a “he fell harder” situation). That doesn’t stop the tension between characters however, if anything it elevates it and I loved feeling the love through the words written on the page.
➸ I loved paedyns character as a whole, but through out a lot of the beginning of the book there’s numbers mentions of her deceased father and while it does subside a bit throughout the book, it was definitely very hard to get through for a while and almost made me eye-roll at his mention every time something bad happened. But like I did mention, this does subside mid book and does come back into play at the end.
Overall I truly did enjoy this book, I cried, squealed and everything else you could imagine while getting through this book, it was a fantastic read through and through and I know I’ll be sad when the trilogy ends, even though it has just started. I look forward to the rest of this trilogy and however many novellas Lauren decides to release alongside it in the future. I recommend this read to anyone who loves tension, banter, slow burn, and tropes such as “he fell harder” and the “who did this to you” trope! And please be aware that they are not joking when they market this book as a YA romantasy, because that’s really what it is. If you’re expecting some high end romance that’s more sophisticated, you won’t find it here, but the romance is definitely satisfying, heartfelt and beautifully written. I’d say it’s definitely one you at least have to pick up and try. Happy reading!
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Death, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism
proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Sometimes you know right away that the book you started will be a "hit"! This was the case with Powerless; I fell in love with the characters from the first chapter! Paedyn, orphaned when she was thirteen, survives by stealing. She's very skilled with both bow and knife, and can handle herself in a fight, but she doesn't have magical powers. Kai, whose half-brother Kit will be king one day, have been trained all his life to be the king's enforcer. He can wield others powers, as long as they’re within a certain distance, and he can sense what kind of power you possess. Kai is definitely a morally grey character and that makes him even more interesting!
I'm not completely satisfied with the ending and I thought about lowering my grade a tiny bit, but since it really felt like a five star book up until then I let the five stars remain. The ending was also quite expected and I'm looking forward to reading the next book when it's out!
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
firequeen_ash23's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
norisen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent
weapon_of_your_chosen's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
michellebub's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
It is dual POV tho.
Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Suicide and Alcohol
tabea1409's review against another edition
- 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
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
briony_2010's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Alcohol