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A review by remyblodreina
Powerless by Lauren Roberts
2.75
This book was... underwhelming. I went in with lowish hopes. I’d heard a lot of mixed reviews that set my expectations low—just like when I read Lightlark (which I ended up liking! Maybe I’ll do a Lightlark review sometime... I had mixed feelings, but I’d describe it as a good blueprint and my guilty pleasure, lol).
ANYWAYS. This book has a 4.2 rating on Goodreads, and I’m shocked. At first, I was kind of into it because the pacing was good, and I liked that Paedyn was a clever character. But then it turned into such a stereotypical fantasy novel. I understand not everything is going to be completely original, but really... I kept thinking of all the books that clearly inspired certain scenes, most notably The Hunger Games. Also, the writing was a bit all over the place at times. I’d blink, and suddenly a completely different scene was happening.
So okay, the book is predictable in the typical fantasy way... but how’s the romance? Unpopular opinion—I just couldn’t see it. Yes, they’re clearly into each other, but I didn’t *feel* it lol. It seemed like they just had to pair her with someone, so here you go. When he’d say those things that would normally make a girl swoon, I just felt thrown off. Like, sir... I don’t know, it felt a little like instant love, and I’m just not about that. Also, if I had to hear them say “darling” one.more.time, I was going to lose it. The banter was overhyped and maybe the most disappointing part for me.
I felt like all the characters were interesting, but I didn’t care about them at the same time. They just felt a bit flat.
I will say I liked that it was dual POV, and I appreciated getting some of the same scenes from Pae & Kai’s perspectives. I liked the ending, even though it didn’t save the book for me, since I saw most of it coming from the start. Will I continue the series? I think I will, simply because it’s a trilogy, so why not? I think I have a two-week wait on Libby for Reckless, so again, why not!
ANYWAYS. This book has a 4.2 rating on Goodreads, and I’m shocked. At first, I was kind of into it because the pacing was good, and I liked that Paedyn was a clever character. But then it turned into such a stereotypical fantasy novel. I understand not everything is going to be completely original, but really... I kept thinking of all the books that clearly inspired certain scenes, most notably The Hunger Games. Also, the writing was a bit all over the place at times. I’d blink, and suddenly a completely different scene was happening.
So okay, the book is predictable in the typical fantasy way... but how’s the romance? Unpopular opinion—I just couldn’t see it. Yes, they’re clearly into each other, but I didn’t *feel* it lol. It seemed like they just had to pair her with someone, so here you go. When he’d say those things that would normally make a girl swoon, I just felt thrown off. Like, sir... I don’t know, it felt a little like instant love, and I’m just not about that. Also, if I had to hear them say “darling” one.more.time, I was going to lose it. The banter was overhyped and maybe the most disappointing part for me.
I felt like all the characters were interesting, but I didn’t care about them at the same time. They just felt a bit flat.
I will say I liked that it was dual POV, and I appreciated getting some of the same scenes from Pae & Kai’s perspectives. I liked the ending, even though it didn’t save the book for me, since I saw most of it coming from the start. Will I continue the series? I think I will, simply because it’s a trilogy, so why not? I think I have a two-week wait on Libby for Reckless, so again, why not!