Reviews with content warning for Torture - Powerless

I ate this up!! If you like The Hunger Games + Divergent + The Selection, you’ll like this a lot. I really liked the premise with the Elites and the Ordinaries, as well as the different powers you see used by Elites throughout the book. The only reason this isn’t a 5 star is because the book felt a bit long (17.5 hr listen for a first book in a YA trilogy is a bit much). I am so excited to read the next book asap!

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saramariebt's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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linaslittlelibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense

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

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callistag1's review

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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

3.5 stars rounded down because if I round it up to click a four it won't feel right.

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.

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I enjoy fantasy and it kept popping up on my feed and trusting Booktok hits can either be hit or miss and this one was a hit. It was all my favourite fantasy books from when I was younger all wrapped into one.

This book has two points of view. The first is Paedyn Gray, and she has been pretending to be something she has not for her whole life. She has been surviving in the slums as an Ordinary and it’s no simple task, and she knows this. She has been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. When Paedyn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself the own into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites’ powers – the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is – completely Ordinary. The second point of view is Kai Azer, he has been trained his whole life to be the Enforcer. His father has been torturing him to “make him stronger” since he has been able to walk. The upcoming trials are going to be fixed so that he looks good for his kingdom, but Kai is sick of these games and sick of putting on a mask and killing people for his father. The one thing he didn’t encounter was Paedyn standing up for him and standing up against him. This book is a young adult fantasy romance.

You couldn’t tell this was a debut at all. This book was brilliantly written, and I enjoyed this book. I loved the characters – Kai and Paedyn were hilarious separately and together and how they were avoiding each other but then they didn’t want to avoid each other and wanted to be around each other. Paedyn could kick my ass and I would thank her for it. I love how blunt she was and how she didn’t give a shit that she was fully surrounded by the rich and powerful and she’s just like see where I live and it’s your fault. Kai was just a golden retriever; man needs to learn to cover his emotions better because she was easy to read as an open book.

My only issue was it was all a bit predictable, just like the Hunger Games and the Purging. The different between the rich and the poor and was just like the districts. Emma being the Cinna and wanting to make sure Paedyn stands out. President Snow looks like Santa Claus compared to the King in this book. You knew the best friend was going to die, like Katniss’s sister did.

The ending was cruel and I'm glad I've read it when I did because I only have to wait 2 or 3 months instead of 7 months. I hope Kitt doesn’t become cruel even though he was betrayed because it will just hurt my heart.

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lizzysk555's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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tegan_watts's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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