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callistag1's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Maybe I didn't enjoy this book because I had such high hopes for it, seeing that almost every BookTuber and BookTok account I follow has raved about it. But really, there was a lot about this book I didn't like.
The plot was okay. After a plague wipes through the kingdom of Ilya, most of the surivivors are left with powers and are known as Elites. The few who didn't get powers are known as Ordinaries, and the ones who receive powers that are "too dangerous" are called Fatals. Basically, the king is a dick and decides Fatals should die because they can't be controlled, and Ordinaries should die because they apparently are diseased and make the Elites sick by weakening their powers. The fact that everyone is okay with mass genocide because they want to be able to move shit with their mind or control fire or morph into animals baffles me.
Paedyn, our main character, is an Ordinary who passes herself off as a Psychic in order to not be nerfed on sight. She's literally out here just trying not to die and I respect that. When she shows a bit of human decency and accidentally saves the 2nd born son of the king, Prince Kai, she is voted by the slums she lives in to participate in Purging Trials (a.k.a. PG13 Hunger Games basically because people die but it's not a necessity to win) and now she has to fake it til she makes it. Add in rebellion and some romance and a hint (?) of a love triangle but not really, and that's the book.
Now, the plot had potentially, but there were just a couple things about the book I couldn't get into. One being a nitpicky thing that pissed me off so badly that I removed a full star for it: the author's outrageous use of the word "laugh" or "laughing" or an iteration of the word. I've never read two characters laugh more than I've read Paedyn and Kai laugh. Once the word or an iteration of it was used four times on one page, and it was used almost every page they were together. It felt like when Roberts didn't know how to have them react, she'd just convey that they laughed in one way or another, usually with "laugh" or "huff out a laugh." Is it a small thing? Sure. Still pissed me off though.
Another problem I had was with Kitt as a character, specifically with his relationship with Kai and their father. While it is stated that the king was nicer to Kitt than he ever was to Kai, Kitt knows that Kai was strait up tortured by their father to make him enforcer, and is just... okay with it? Or tries to play peace maker but still seems to love their father as if "well he was nice to me" makes it okay to just ignore the fact that his father is an abuser. Considering how the book makes Kitt and Kai seem to be close, you would think Kitt would not have his head up his dad's ass. Also, he said some out of pocket stuff about "sacrifices of the Ordinaries are necessary" and that had me wondering how I was supposed to care about him at all because even later on he didn't really seem to care that much, so he was probably set up to become the next villain since the king is killed near the end of the book. (I will say I liked that scene. There was only two mentions of laughter instead of a dozen!)
Also, there were just a few things that felt a bit cliche and fan-fiction like, and I feel a bit upset because everyone acted like this was going to be that book when it fell kind of flat.
Overall, the plot isn't bad, but there were things like what I mentioned before that just wasn't it for me. Will I continue the series? Maybe. I have it on my to-read list, but if so, it will be on the lower end of my tbr because there are other books I am much more interested in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic
lorenmarie7's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
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
norisen's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
4.25
Content Warnings
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
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
muriellinn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Child abuse
michellebub's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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 definitely is slow burn, has no sexual content. Which is good don’t get me wrong, it’s YA, but it could have been closed door. The slowest burn that has ever burned, I might die from these burn scars because I can’t get enough from it. If you think this book is enemies to lovers then you’re going to be disappointed. It might be rivals to lovers but if I’m going to be serious can it be considered that if they’re attracted to eachother from the start? I still enjoyed the tension between the two and the banter was exquisite. I still think about them.
It is dual POV tho.
It is dual POV tho.
Content Warnings
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