Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Powerless

Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Powerless by Lauren Roberts

14 reviews

enchantingreads_rosyreviews's review

adventurous dark emotional funny sad 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

4.5

"'I’m tougher than I look, I assure you. The strongest weapon a woman has at her disposal is that she is often underestimated,' I answer with a small smile. 'And I wield that all the time.'”

When I started reading this, I thought this was a copycat of The Hunger Games. Don't get me wrong, that series is one of my faves, but mirroring its formula feels unnecessary. That said, the more I kept reading, the more unique elements of this story emerged. The Trials are a series of challenges, there are less contestants, more than one survivor is allowed but there's only one winner. Plus, there's quite the variation in abilities people have without it being too confusing.

"... we are trading off blows and blocks as we toy with one another. It’s like a dance, and she is a fierce partner... One minute we’re flirting and the next we’re fighting—possibly even both at the same time. I can’t seem to figure this vicious girl out."

Okay, so I get it now… this is a great book! It’s very “The Hunger Games” but with a unique twist. The relationship dynamic between Kai and Paedyn is amazing (some of their scenes are my absolute favorite). Plus, the way the Trials are set up leaves me on the edge of my seat with anticipation of what’s going to happen next. And it’s interesting to have so many different kinds of enabled people that society can’t keep track of all the different power types, allowing Paedyn to fake an ability in order to blend in. Some moments broke my heart, some made me laugh out loud, but all of them were entertaining and engaging. Highly recommend this book and look forward to the rest of the series!

"I’ve never been looked at like it’s a privilege to be in my presence, an honor to hold my gaze, a gift to get a glimpse of me. Not until I met him. His mask slips, splinters, shatters, leaving only a boy beholding a girl like she is worthy of his wanting... I can’t help but long for this boy who has saved my life more times than I care to admit. This boy who is equally calculating and charming, equally cool and caring. The one who’s tended to my wounds, learned about my past, been my distraction when I needed it most. The one who understands me."

As for the audio, I'm a bit spoiled & have only listened to duet or full cast audiobooks, but dual narration makes up the majority of the audiobook space. And this book is narrated in dual form: the male POV chapter is read entirely by the male narrator & vice versa, meaning he reads female parts & she reads some male parts that occur within their specified chapters. So, this is not my favorite style because when the narrators switch genders, it takes me out of the performance a little bit. That said, it didn't make me hate the narration or take much away from the story's impact because both of these narrators did a fantastic job (especially with the banter moments).

Content Warnings

poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Genuinely enjoyed this YA(maybe, fairly violent) romantsy novel. It was an enemies to lovers, slow burn, potential for love triangle, and a competition story.

I was fairly engaged, and the pacing was excellent until towards the end when I spent way too much time in the characters' heads thinking about how amazing the other characters were..

I liked the characters. They were complex and actually a little villainous, so if morally gray is not your color, this might not be the book for you.

The magic system was fascinating, and the way it was interwoven into the plot was genius.

I'll probably check out the sequel and novella

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c0ve's review

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adventurous challenging emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.75

A captivating book with a reminiscent dystopian world yet focused on relationships mostly which makes you excited to own the book back up

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jayceebutler's review

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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cnannery19's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad 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

4.75

Content Warnings

amanda_reads13's review

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emotional tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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

Content Warnings

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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