A review by annadelreads
Powerless by Lauren Roberts

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

4.0

“Remind me to to make you smile like that again, when you aren't dying, and I have all the time in the world to memorize it.”

The world of Powerless is one of the most straight-forward fantasy series I've ever read. The world-building was easily understandable (with of course, a little mystery of how it came to be) and I was just immediately hooked. Paedyn is an Ordinary, which in the Kingdom of Ilya is a crime - punishable by death. Kai, on the other hand, is a prince of Ilya who's responsible to killing Ordinaries. When they say it's an enemies-to-lovers trope, it really is. They, at some point, have to really kill each other and at the same time, fall in love in the process. 

The romance in this book is really just one of the best I've read in a fantasy. The banter. The who-did-this? The secret identity. The freaking tension! The betrayals. The DUAL POV! I can list more but that's just really the top of my head. I devoured this so much, I just wanted to stay at home and read. I would have said that I wish I had seen more of Paedyn and Adena's friendship throughout the book but I guess that's why the author has written Powerful which is Adena's point of view throughout the Powerless story. The flaws I found is that when compared to Hunger Games, the voting wasn't really that beneficial and in my opinion, was really redundant. There was no real advantage if you're voted top stop or if there was, it wasn't explicitly explained unlike in HG. 

I've gotten this book earlier this year but was scared to read it because people all over social media adored it. So when Reckless was released, I was notified by our nearby bookstore that it's available and they have reserved it for me. So I had to get it and to finally start reading this book. Second week of July was definitely just me devouring the series.
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