A review by ect625
Powerless by Lauren Roberts

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

Paedyn shares many qualities and traits with Celaena in Throne of Glass, Oraya in The Serpent and the Wings of Night, and Violet in Fourth Wing. Powerless has a similar vibe and rough storyline as those books, and scrappy, knife-throwing stabby girls are my fave FMCs, so I loved this book.

A friend who also read the book commented that the magic/power system isn't that great, and I agree with her. It's cumbersome and the origin story feels needlessly complicated. Fortunately, it's easy to take the storyline at face value without needing to think too hard about the how and why.

It's a classic story of 
Scrappy Girl meets Powerful Bad Boy, they fight, she throws knives, he falls in love, she denies her feelings but finally admits them
and that all leads to the ultimate conflict and unresolved ending that sets up the sequel.

Not all books have to be Shakespeare and sometimes a formulaic
stabby girl-bad boy
story is just what I'm looking for.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings