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A review by delllannney
Powerless by Lauren Roberts
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Well. I have…. Thoughts.
I was so excited for this book. I’ve seen it all over bookstagram & booktok and I couldn’t wait to jump in! Sadly, this booksta darling missed the mark for me.
I’d like to preface this review by saying that this book WAS quite entertaining. It’s an enjoyable read, but I really feel like there are some major issues here. Another thing to keep in mind: this is Lauren Roberts’ first book, so there is, of course, room for improvement!
Let’s start with what I liked: 1) The characters. The MMC, Kai, felt dynamic and jumped off the page at me on multiple occasions. The FMC grew on me as the story went on, and the side characters had just enough detail that I cared about them, but not too much that it was overkill. 2) Banter and tension. Kai and Paedyn have GREAT banter. They’re perfectly funny and flirty and ferocious & I loved the dialogue between them. 3) The ending. I’m intrigued! The last 75ish pages were action packed and set up a great opening for the next installment in the series. 4) Ease of reading. As I said earlier, this was an enjoyable read. It reads quickly and kept me interested.
However, I don’t think there was an original storyline/plot point anywhere in this book. The entire book feels very….. “inspired”….. by the popular dystopian novels of the 2010s, which is great — I love those books — but my issue comes when there are exact scenes portrayed in the exact same way. I noted 3 scenes in the first half of the book alone that were identical to scenes from Divergent. Parts of the Trials, like the interview portion leading up to the competition, were very similar to the press appearances in The Hunger Games. I just wanted more originality? It felt like reading every other YA fantasy I read in middle school. I understand taking inspiration, but the similarities were WAY too similar. For me personally, the pacing was off in the middle 300 pages. I wasn’t a fan of the writing style either - it was very choppy and disjointed. Then there’s also a love triangle that I REALLY wasn’t a fan of… 😅
TLDR; not original, & not for me.
I was so excited for this book. I’ve seen it all over bookstagram & booktok and I couldn’t wait to jump in! Sadly, this booksta darling missed the mark for me.
I’d like to preface this review by saying that this book WAS quite entertaining. It’s an enjoyable read, but I really feel like there are some major issues here. Another thing to keep in mind: this is Lauren Roberts’ first book, so there is, of course, room for improvement!
Let’s start with what I liked: 1) The characters. The MMC, Kai, felt dynamic and jumped off the page at me on multiple occasions. The FMC grew on me as the story went on, and the side characters had just enough detail that I cared about them, but not too much that it was overkill. 2) Banter and tension. Kai and Paedyn have GREAT banter. They’re perfectly funny and flirty and ferocious & I loved the dialogue between them. 3) The ending. I’m intrigued! The last 75ish pages were action packed and set up a great opening for the next installment in the series. 4) Ease of reading. As I said earlier, this was an enjoyable read. It reads quickly and kept me interested.
However, I don’t think there was an original storyline/plot point anywhere in this book. The entire book feels very….. “inspired”….. by the popular dystopian novels of the 2010s, which is great — I love those books — but my issue comes when there are exact scenes portrayed in the exact same way. I noted 3 scenes in the first half of the book alone that were identical to scenes from Divergent. Parts of the Trials, like the interview portion leading up to the competition, were very similar to the press appearances in The Hunger Games. I just wanted more originality? It felt like reading every other YA fantasy I read in middle school. I understand taking inspiration, but the similarities were WAY too similar. For me personally, the pacing was off in the middle 300 pages. I wasn’t a fan of the writing style either - it was very choppy and disjointed. Then there’s also a love triangle that I REALLY wasn’t a fan of… 😅
TLDR; not original, & not for me.