Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Powerless

Paedyn is an Ordinary (no powers) living in a city of Elites (has powers). The king has convinced the Elites that the Ordinaries are diseased and ordered them to be purged. After saving the prince, she now has to compete in the Purging Trials.

This is basically the Hunger Games, the Red Queen, and Throne of Glass mixed together. The plot was not original and therefore was incredibly predictable.

There is a secret resistance, she has to lie and use the prince to help the resistance, the kind prince turns brutal at her betrayal, her friend is killed to punish her, etc...

It was a very YA romantasy. I found some things to be very redundant and repetitive (ie. her ocean blue eyes, daggers to the neck). I found her writing to be lacking, she falls victim to the telling instead of showing throughout the entire book. (Ie. We are told that Kai is a monster, but we don't actually see that in the book OR how Kai thinks of Jax as a brother but we never really see it).

I enjoyed the banter and tension between the MCs. I liked that it was dual POV and I enjoyed the switch to Kitts POV at the end.

Due to her writing style, the characters felt flat. I would have liked more of a backstory for these characters, that would help the readers connect more. I wish that there had been more world building and more focus on the trials. The trials almost felt like an afterthought when they were supposed to be the highlight of the book. Also, what was the point of the trails? They make no sense. Why would you want to kill off your strongest Elites?

The implied love triangle was completely unnecessary and very unoriginal. This is marketed as an enemies to lovers, but reads more as an instalove. The enemies to lovers would have made sense if Kitt were the MMC instead of Kai.

Tropes: instalove, trials, fantasy, forbidden, slow burn

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luchikreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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lakinglaze's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

I absolutely loved every single thing about this book! The setting, the conflict, the CHARACTERS! Paedyn and Kai are just *chef’s kiss*! I can’t believe I have to wait until the summer for book 2, but I’m going to have to reread this very soon! Thank you Lauren Roberts for creating this world and characters that I just love to bits. I mean could Kai be any dreamier? *swoon*

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meganfuhr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I already knew I'd love this book from the premise alone, but Lauren beat my expectations!
Not only were these characters fabulous from start to finish, but the plot was just ahhhhhh.
I have now words truly for how much I adored this story,. Even me and my high expectations were shocked with how amazing Powerless was.
And now I have to wait months until book two 😭

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booksalacarte's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Powerless- 3.5⭐️ 2🌶️

New Adult Fantasy Romance

First person

Unique magic system

Prince MMC

Rebellion

Treason

Trials/competition

Murder

Secrets

Slow burn

Banter

Tw: Genocide, grief

The premise of the society built on survivors of a plague who developed magical abilities is pretty intriguing. It’s a very unique magic system set up… but there are so many different magic powers that it seems like there is no rhyme or reason to them. There is just a lot of them. Offensive, defensive. Put in whenever the plot needs something explained away, oh look, a new power we have never heard of.

The dialogue is VERY unrealistic and stilted. Because of the dual narration, the overlap caused so much repetition but from the opposite main character that if the author had cut it, the book would have been FAR shorter. Like half the size.

The MMC being a complicit in the genocide of people without powers is pretty icky. If he is the future enforcer, where is the current one?

This rare material that was invented “By means far too complicated for me to understand” that prevents people from using their powers… that felt a little like a cop out explanation.

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dianaschmidty's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I feel like this book is what I’ve wanted every other fantasy romance novel to be. This was the perfect way to end my 2023. It had some of the best tropes in romantasy and it did all of those tropes so well!

Kai and Paedyn were honestly cute with each other! I really felt the romance between them, with them having the perfect chemistry. They honestly have the most chemistry of any couple I’ve read in a fantasy novel in a very long time.

I really liked how complex both Paedyn and Kai were. I really liked how much their stories and their personalities mirrored each other. They both do what they believe needs being done to survive in their world. I also thought Kai’s inner turmoil about being a monster was really interesting to see, because assassins in fantasy novels often are fine with being villainess, but not the reluctant villain that is Kai.

Also, can we talk about how impressive this is as a debut novel?! This book was 500 pages, but they were very necessary 500 pages that actually flew by. It was very well written and I’m so excited to read more books from her in the future.

There were a few times that it felt a little too much like other popular series I’ve read, but I think that Lauren Roberts had a unique enough spin on those common tropes that this book felt unique in its own way.

I am so incredibly excited for Reckless, especially after that cliffhanger! I’m counting down the days until I can read more of Kai and Paedyn!

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuester, and Lauren Roberts for providing me access to this book.

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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

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

5.0

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olyviatb's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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

5.0

This is probably one of the best books I’ve ever read. It was the perfect combination of the hunger games meets the cruel prince meets acotar but all in a way that was unique to itself. I loved the world building, the lovable characters, the magic, the banter (especially the banter). It all went together so well and created a truly incredible story. I cannot wait until Reckless is out!

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