Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Powerless by Lauren Roberts

7 reviews

courtnetto's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’m really enjoying reading fantasy books and envisioning the worlds and the scenes in my head as I read. 
This book follows Paedyn Gray and Kai Azer. Paedyn is an “Ordinary” who claims to have Psychic powers, but she is called upon to take part in the purging trials. Paedyn is unsure how this happened but says that her sole plan is to survive, however, little does she know that the King knows that she is an ordinary as they were responsible for the death of Paedyn’s father. Paedyn makes it to the third and final trial but doesn’t win as they brutally placed her bestfriend in the maze to be killed in order for the trial to be won - but Paedyn being the devoted bestfriend she is could not bring herself to kill her own bestfriend, the bestfriend who she brought there because of her skills as a seamstress. Sadly, Paedyn’s bestfriend is unfortunately killed by a fellow contestant much to Paedyn’s upset. 
This in turn causes her to run away as it breaks her heart to see her bestfriend laid lifeless with a branch through her chest - but also because of the Resistance coming in to the Bowl due to her own doing. 
Only when she is running away, she encounters the King himself who is now going out to kill Paedyn like they did her father. Except, Paedyn comes out on top and she kills the King, which of course breaks the hearts of Kitt and Kai who she had developed close bonds with. During this time, the King tells her that he was not the one who killed her father, but that is was in fact the prince she is close to (Kai). 
After realising what she had done, she ran again and never looked back… 

I really loved the character of Kai and I feel for him so much after what Paedyn had done to him, but not only him, but also what she did to Kitt by betraying him in order to let the Resistance in to the Bowl while the last trial was ongoing. 
It only dropped a star because it took me a bit of time to get into the book itself. It took me even longer to finish the book - clearly I’ve dropped off the reading train recently🙈🤣

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

beckyremillard's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal death

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I ate this up!! If you like The Hunger Games + Divergent + The Selection, you’ll like this a lot. I really liked the premise with the Elites and the Ordinaries, as well as the different powers you see used by Elites throughout the book. The only reason this isn’t a 5 star is because the book felt a bit long (17.5 hr listen for a first book in a YA trilogy is a bit much). I am so excited to read the next book asap!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Medical content, and Kidnapping

readwithsophsx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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. 

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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

memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i get the hype, i loved this. perfect blend of magic, fantasy, romance & tragedy.
i loved the influence from the hunger games and goblet of fire with the trials. the issues of classism and racism. the TENSION was tantalisingly amazing!! i CANNOT wait until july for the second book!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism