Powerless

The Powerless Trilogy #1

by Lauren Roberts, Diego Rousselon (Narrator), Laura Carrero del Tío (Narrator)

Ella es lo que él ha pasado toda su vida cazando.

Él es todo lo que ella ha pasado la vida fingiendo ser.

Solo lo extraordinario pertenece al reino de los excepcionales, los poderosos, los élites.

Aquellos que nacieron vulgares son solo vulgares. Y cuando el rey decreta que todos los vulgares serán eliminados para preservar su sociedad de élite, carecer de poder se vuelve un crimen, convirtiendo a Paedyn Gray en una criminal por destino y en una ladrona por necesidad. Se hace pasar por psíquica en la ciudad real, pasando desapercibida para seguir viva y fuera de peligro.

Cuando Paedyn inesperadamente salva a uno de los príncipes de Ilya, se ve arrojada a las Pruebas de la Purga. La brutal competición existe para exhibir los poderes de los élites, algo de lo que Paedyn carece. Si la Purga y sus rivales no la matan, lo hará el príncipe cuando descubra lo que ella es en realidad...

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Romantasy, Young Adult, Enemies To Lovers, Audiobook, Fantasy Romance

17 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 31, 2023

About the author

When Lauren Roberts isn't writing about fantasy worlds and bantering love interests, she can likely be found burrowed in bed reading about them. Lauren has lived in Michigan her whole life, which makes her very familiar with potholes, snow, and various lake activities. She has the hobbies of both a grandmother and a child: knitting, laser tag, hammocking, word searches, and coloring. Powerless is her first novel (now a New York Times Best Seller), and she hopes to have the privilege of writing pretty words for the rest of her life. If you enjoy ranting, reading, and writing, Lauren can be found on both TikTok and Instagram @Laurenrobertslibrary for your entertainment.

Reviews

[saffiyah✧ఌ · Rating 1 out of 5]

an editor! an editor! my kingdom for a f*cking editor!


(no kingdoms were harmed in the making of this review)

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i am what some sexist pigs would call a basic b*tch. if you give me a tall, dark-haired, sarcastic, morally-grey guy in a romantasy that combines some of my favourite books and tropes - whilst still keeping some sense of originality, i'll be content.

this book had all of that. (well, the tall-dark-haired-mmc-in-a-romantasy part)

excluding the originality. (and the morally-grey part but i’ll get to that)

lauren said powerless was “if the child of the hunger games and red queen didn't look anything like its parents.”

…

see, if that were true, then this review wouldn’t exist.

(and i know i’m the myopic b*itch of the prime meridian, but this was exactly like it’s parents, as well shatter me and the selection)

in fact, i was so angry about it, that i made a whole list. and then other people helped me add more to the list, and then, i realised that this wasn’t really an unpopular opinion at all.

but before i get into all the ways this book was unoriginal, i’m going to criticise everything else. and if you don’t want to read about that, then scroll away. do not throw a tantrum in the comment section because someone expressed their criticisms about a book that you enjoyed. it’s incredibly immature, and quite frankly hilarious stupid because you’re wasting your time writing a comment that i’m just going to delete after screenshotting it and sending it on the group chat.

anyway, let’s talk about something that actually wasn’t criticised that much: the writing.

for a debut novel, it wasn’t that bad. for a book hyped up to the point where it could be mistaken as the greatest literary masterpiece this generation could ever bear witness to, it was trash.

it read like an unedited draft that was both half-finished and yet too long at the same time, with the typos only making it worse. every sentence was so long-winded with synonyms upon synonyms being thrown into one sentence so whilst it might sound like this deeply thought-out didactic monologue about how inflation has affected the economy to the point that shakespeare's sonnets are no longer analysed correctly, it’s really just a horny teenage boy trying to sound edgy.

and serious question: have recent authors heard of show not tell? i am not an idiot incapable of coming to my own conclusions, thank you very much. i don’t need to be told about just how morally questionable prince krabs kai is, when i should just be able to infer from what the author implies. except the author didn't imply anything, for f*ck's sake this dude barely killed anyone.

on top of that, the sheer amount of times i read “blue eyes”, “smoky eyes”, “ocean eyes” was enough to put me off reading forever. billie eilish is crying through her “aquamarine orbs” right now. and the amount of times these characters were huffing and puffing - for the love of all that is holy, use!!an!!inhaler!! someone’s lips were always twitching into a smile, or someone was snorting/ chuckling/ blinking/ eyeing something or someone, or paedyn was being called “vicious little thing” by kai - which only succeeded in me receiving fourth wing flashbacks. kai was always flicking paedyn’s nose for no given reason, and one or the other was constantly in a “throng of people”. plus, the inner monologues were also the most repetitive things i have ever read which really helped make the book incredibly long and boring, with the pacing losing to a snail in a 500m run. it’s filled with so much banter and such eye-rolling dialogue that after a certain point, you begin to wonder how on earth the mcs would cope without hearing themselves speak, as well as so many trope-centred and pointless scenes.

if you don’t believe me yet, screw you and read this list of tropes:

knife/dagger/arrow to the throat (every other page), enemies to lovers (not on a single page), insta lust, slow burn, who did this to you, she's so smol, forbidden romance, cleaning each other’s wounds, comforting after a nightmare, the most unnecessary love triangle (only one love interest has a pov), some stupid trials that have no history and don’t even make sense, and the street thief trope (cue the eyeroll - i’m probably an outlier on this one, but i just hate how much the street thief trope has been overused. there was no way paedyn would have survived a day on the streets with the amount of stupid sh*t that she pulled. did no one notice her wonderfully-amazing-most-gorgeous-beautiful-stunning-oh-so-rare-never-seen-before hair colour while she was off pickpocketing the rich? i’m very sure no one did, seeing as it wasn’t mentioned on every.other.page.)

now it's time for more stupid things.. so many stupid things. so many. and i’ve actually missed a lot so if you can remember anything i’m missing please let me know <3

➳ a trained soldier is dancing in the middle of a deathly arena because he likes a girl - mhm wow what a great idea, it's totally not going to get your dumb ass killed. aaand now they’re playing thumb war. sorry are we sure this dude is the future enforcer?

➳ “what i should have done was laugh in his face before making him go down the staircase first, but i’ve thrown caution to the wind and hastily replaced it with curiosity.”
yeahhh great idea, go down a dark, damp, dank, dirty, dusty, secret stairway with a guy you're not even sure you should trust. greaaat idea!!

➳ “it’s really quite simple,” calum says. “the majority of us will finally all gather together, and we’ll show the people of ilya who we are and what we have to say. show them that we are not a threat while also reminding them of who they have been killing for decades. the king is going to have to either admit his lies about the ordinaries or simply give us our freedom. and you are going to help us do it.”
ahhh yess so simple - it totally won't lead to a bunch of deaths, lies, revelations, and another book.

➳ “i can practically hear sadie blink behind me. she’s clearly stunned by his lack of concern, especially after seeing the two of us dancing together only minutes ago. i would be stunned myself if i wasn’t so used to seeing his masks—if i didn’t recognize the cold one he’s just slipped on.”
every.romantasy.ever because GOD FORBID A MAN SHOW HIS FEELINGS

➳ “yes, we are opponents. yes, i am the future enforcer. yes, I’m a killer that has no right to want to keep her. but there is something else, something that has her refusing to admit this confusing connection we share.”
wannabe mafia lord who?

➳ “something begins burning inside of me, but I ignore it, not bothering to acknowledge the jealousy painting me Ilya’s kingdom color.”
i- ..no comment

➳ oh, but little miss paedyn gray over here was no better. every part about her needed a special mention (or two). even her ass!
“as soon as my ass got numb from sitting on that bloody stump, i stood and paced circles around our camp before splashing cold water from the creek on my face and body. then my ass got cold, and i moved next to the fire to lie down on the hard ground i’m so familiar with.”
narcissism who?? this was my daily reminder as to why fictional ya books don’t include the part where they have to deal with bodily functions out in the wild.

➳ and in regards to the trials aspect, it had no real point. our only explanation was that the elites were being killed off in an arena to display their oh-so-original powers despite us constantly being that the elites' lives were more valuable. what the f*ck?? someone introduce this author to world-building immediately. it would have been much more understandable if it were all the ordinaries to battle to the death, (despite this already drawing a lot from the hunger games) and then you get your one oh-so-precious girl who goes through a makeover, has two guys lusting after her yada yada yada [insert all your favourite 2010 dystopian references here]. i honestly wouldn’t have even minded it, and i would have eaten it up immediately.

➳ if anyone is interested in more of my points, i wrote a very long paragraph in message 192 on page 4 of the comments section below. it's also one of the many pages where you can find me breaking my promise to myself to not respond to idiots on the internet

moving on, let’s go back to paedyn seeing as my love for her runs so deep!

she’s katniss’s not-like-other-girls cousin who decides to insult the f*ck out of you the minute you’re stood in a 2-mile radius to any guy. i wanted to claw her eyes out when she began with her “play the part sh*t” - which i’m pretty sure was ripping off the selection, which starred our just as talented, just as flawless america singer!, who by the way is a singer. from the dollar tree.
ANYWAY, according to this very unbiased book, miss paypal over here had exactly 0 flaws. her only weakness was her infinite love for others, which was clearly evidenced when her seamstress friend is introduced yet barely ever mentioned. when our “darling” pae finally realises that she forgot about her after she was whisked away to the palace to become a princess overnight, she has the audacity to ignore her the entire time because she's too busy fawning over prince kahoot. *sigh* don’t you just love our 2012 wattpad heroine!

now for prince krabs! yay! honestly he was the funniest character in the book by far. his lines weren’t just cheesy and cringey, they were downright stupid too! he really is the whole package *swoons*

he was as bland as unseasoned chicken. and annoying. very annoying. the only thing he ever managed to kill was my sanity. he’s also managed to ruin the word “darling” for me forever, which is yk, great. morally-grey my ass, he's a walmart kaz (insulting to kaz but still). he has no true redeeming qualities, and for that reason i quite frankly believe that him and pea-brain really deserve each other!

(i was going to do a section on the side-characters, but considering the amount of brain cells i have already lost just by recounting the so-called “personalities” of the two love-birds above, i don’t think that will be the best thing to do right now. however, when i figure out how to regenerate my axons and dendrites, i will be back.)

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after this rather long paragraph ends, there will be tons of spoilers for the selection series (which i don’t recommend reading), the red queen (didn’t love it, didn’t hate it, just indifferent), the hunger games (if you haven’t read this yet, then what the hell are you doing with your life?), and a few mentions of the shatter me series (which is regarded by some as the greatest piece of literature and by others - me - as the greatest piece of dog sh*t that was dropped into this world), the darkest mind series (i’ve never read it), and the jasad heir (i enjoyed it). if you don’t want to be spoiled (although not all the similarities are spoilers, i just couldn't be asked to mark the ones that are) then you can skip to the bottom of this review where you will see a funny gif i found that pretty much sums up my personal experience with powerless. update: there is now a bonus section at the end (before the funny gif) with books that are similar/give the same vibes as powerless. note: i have not read all of these so please don't kill me if i'm wrong about any. if you have any info you want me to add then leave me a comment/dm

yes, i realise that i have missed out on so many here

the selection:
➳ illéa ilya
➳ a girl from the slums and from an undesirable position in society that rose up in the ranks
➳ our fmc has different colour dress to everyone else
➳ all the scenes where they're eating food
➳ the queen likes the dancing in the balls
➳ the balls
➳ the safe room stuff that i’m not asked to go into detail about
➳ the girl on girl hate - it’s 2024 let’s please rid ourselves of this internalised misogyny
➳ dad is a southern rebel a resistance leader
➳ there was a big explosion during the important ball/dance/gathering
➳ the dumbest love triangle ever


the red queen:
➳ a kingdom divided into two - the ordinaires and the elites vs the reds and the silvers
➳ the elemental powers
➳ the silent stone
➳ silver hair
➳ forced to be a thief
➳ unknowingly steals from a prince
➳ falls in love with him
➳ a love triangle with two brothers
➳ the teaching how to dance with one brother
➳ the other brother taking her to the garden
➳ the sister best friend sewed clothes and she was tortured and killed
➳ the scarlett guard resistance
➳ the big plot twist at the end
➳ there was a big explosion during the important ball/dance/gathering


the hunger games:
➳ loss of a father
➳ father teaching the daughter archery
➳ the daughter being skilled at archery
➳ fmc has a makeover
➳ what’s your favourite colour - because why not copy+paste lines of dialogue into your book and pass it off as your own?
➳ partners in the arena
➳ an arena
➳ the leaders making children fight to the death
➳ someone we liked dies tragically in the arena - who also had to be a brown girl with curly hair
➳ someone places flowers on their grave
➳ they watch the highlights of the arena, with the upper class enjoying watching teenagers kill each other
➳ the highlights are filmed in an odd way
➳ the host of the interview whatever has a “unique” appearance
➳ the screenings of the arena are shown with all the romance stuff and this is just oh so shocking to everyone
➳ comforting the other after a nightmare
➳ there are silver parachutes with gifts from sponsors
➳ everyone dying at the end of one of the trials - the same thing towards/at the end of the first book
➳ the mutts scene towards the end is similar to the wolf scene
➳ a love triangle involving one blonde golden retriever and one brunette black cat - my deepest apologies to all the cats and dogs out there, you didn’t deserve to be compared to these pieces of sh*t

similarities to other books + bonus section:
➳ shatter me - aaron warner's “love” is changed to “darling” + kai's power is similar to that of a character in the series
➳ the darkest minds - the virus that leaves people with special abilities + there are different categories of abilities and the deadliest and most dangerous of them are eliminated
➳ the jasad heir - the three trials aspect although it was done so much more originally (i would absolutely recommend reading this if purposely unlikeable fmcs are your thing but many have pointed out that it does feel like a colonial romance which some may feel uncomfortable with)
➳ a court of mist and fury - the whole schtick about kai having masks + specific moments + “darling”
➳ fourth wing - the vibes of the plot
➳ defy the night - something about the elites (?)
➳ the serpent and the wings of night
➳ renegades
➳ crystal bloom
➳ kindred’s curse




a two years later edit: hi! i am in fact the intended audience for this book. bye!

[shanayaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

➳ 3.5/5 stars

₊⊹⁀➴“But I’m never sober around you, Pae. Never not drunk on every detail that is you."

When this book came out, it felt like everyone was reading it at the same time. I remember the chaos, the absolute frenzy, and, of course, my own case of FOMO kicking in. But as a proud mood reader, I just wasn’t in the right mindset for it back then. Still, the hype was relentless, and after what felt like ages of not touching a fantasy book, I finally caved. Begrudgingly, I convinced myself to pick it up, mostly because I figured, why not?— even though, let’s be real, every time I read a hyped book, I end up hating it.

So, I went in with the lowest expectations possible. And guess what? It actually didn’t disappoint.

Now, did it exceed my expectations? -Absolutely not.
But was it terrible? - Not at all.

It was entertaining enough, and I can see why people enjoyed it. That being said, I still don’t quite understand why it was so insanely hyped. Maybe I missed something. Or maybe—just maybe—I’m simply a hater at heart, LMFAOO. 😭🫸🏻

➳ ABOUT THE BOOK

So, in this book, we have the Kingdom of Ilya, where society is divided into two groups—Elites and Ordinaries. The Elites are powerful and respected, while the Ordinaries? Well, they’re basically sentenced to death. Why? Because the king has decided that Ordinaries are diseased and would ruin Ilya’s reputation. And since he wants his kingdom to be the strongest, his brilliant solution is simple, wipe them all out so only Elites remain.

Every year, Ilya holds these deadly competitions known as "THE TRIALS" where Elites battle it out to prove who’s the best of the best. And this is where things get interesting. Our FMC, who is actually an Ordinary, ends up saving the MMC’s life. This single act turns her into the so-called Silver Savior, and suddenly, she’s chosen to compete in the Trials. The only problem? She has zero powers. But now, to survive, she has to fake being an Elite and somehow win.

➳ ABOUT THE CHARACTERS

╰┈➤ KAI AZER

"She’s so stunning, yet so stubbornly oblivious to how the sunset behind dulls in comparison to the vibrance that is her."

Let’s talk about our mmc, Kai Azer . I have very mixed feelings about this man. On one hand, I like him like really like him. On the other hand… some of his questionable dialogue choices gave me the biggest ick. Like, I had to physically pause, take a deep breath, and mentally prepare myself before continuing. The delivery just wasn’t hitting the way it was supposed to. It could have been cheesy and cute, but instead, it just made me cringe.

Now, as for his actual character, he’s basically every fantasy MMC we’ve ever read.

A leader? — Check.

Morally grey? — Obviously.

The strongest of them all? — Of course.

At this point, are we even shocked anymore? What did catch me off guard, though, was how hard he fell for Pae. Like, my guy was down bad but kept trying to convince himself he wasn’t. He acted like he was this cold, ruthless man with no emotions, but the second she walked into a room? Suddenly, he couldn’t breathe. Sir, be for real.

“And I’ll save your life again and again, aimlessly hoping you will allow me to stay in it."

But let’s be honest—their chemistry? Undeniable. Some of their moments had me straight-up giggling like a teenager. And what really got me was the way he noticed her. The little details, the subtle cues, like how he knew that when she played with her ring, it meant she was nervous? SWOONWORTHY. He protected her, spoke about her like she was the most important thing in his world, and was always there for her.

"Not until I looked into a pair of ocean blue eyes and realized that perhaps drowning was a beautiful thing. Not until I looked into a pair of fiery blue eyes and realized that perhaps burning was a painless thing. Not until I looked into a pair of sky-blue eyes and realized that perhaps falling was a peaceful thing. I’d never thought about what my favorite color was before because I hadn’t seen one that was worthy of the title. Until now, that is."

So yeah, while I do have my reservations about him, I can’t deny that he had his moments. And honestly? Fantasy men really do it better.

"This girl might be the death of me. Literally."

╰┈➤ PAEDYN GRAY

"And when his eyes lock with mine, I wonder why I ever bother looking at anyone else."

THIS This is exactly the kind of FMC I need in books. Not some helpless, spineless doormat, but a woman who knows her worth and stands her ground. And Pae? Oh, she was that girl. Strong? Absolutely. But what made her even better was that she was also smart and witty. And let’s be honest, a funny heroine? We love to see it.

No matter what happened, she always fought for herself, never backing down, and I loved that about her. But what really stole my heart was her relationship with Adeena. Their bond was so beautifully written, heartwarming, genuine, and full of love. It’s rare to see such a strong, supportive female friendship in books, and it made their moments together so special. Adeena was, without a doubt, my absolute favorite character in this entire series, and I will never forgive Lauren for what she did to her. NEVER!! Like, why would you do that to us?!

That said, I did kind of expect the king to use Adeena against Pae. I mean, let’s be real, there was no way he was just going to let an ordinary win the trials. It was such a twisted move, but honestly, what else do you expect from a man who ruined his own son’s life??

At the end of the day, Pae was everything. She was the reason I kept going, the reason I stayed invested, the reason this book worked for me. She was the heart of this story, and I adored every part of her.

"I’m tougher than I look, I assure you. The strongest weapon a woman has at her disposal is that she is often underestimated"

➳ FINAL THOUGHTS

“Mark my words, prince, I will be your undoing.”
“Oh, darling, I look forward to it.

• Honestly, this book was just… fine. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing awful, just somewhere in the middle. I can definitely see why some people loved it, but for me, the biggest win was that it finally got me out of my worst fantasy slump. I hadn't picked up a fantasy book in months, and I was desperate for something to pull me out of it. And, well, this did the job. If nothing else, at least it had that going for it. Perks of being a mood reader, I guess.

• Now, I know a lot of people have compared this book to other fantasy books, but I can’t really say much about that because, well… I haven’t read the books it’s being compared to. So, would it be fair for me to make comparisons? Absolutely not.

• That said, one thing that really bugged me was the lack of world-building. Like, you're telling me this is a fantasy book, yet there’s barely any effort put into actually building the world? Make it make sense! The story could have been so much stronger if the world had been fleshed out more.

• And don’t even get me started on the whole love triangle situation. I already hate love triangles, so why would you make me hate them even more? Some things should just not be forced into a story, and this was one of them.

• Oh, and let’s talk about the trope overload. This book threw in so many tropes that it just felt… excessive. Enemies to lovers, then enemies again, a love triangle, the whole "boy obsessed" thing—so many tropes packed into one book that it actually became overwhelming. It was just too much, and honestly, it made me enjoy the book a little less.

⚘ "Overall, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing either. It had its moments, but it also had its fair share of why-would-you-do-this moments. Would I recommend it? Maybe. But only if you're in a slump and just need something easy to get through." 💌

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

୨ৎ pre-read:
⤿ started - february 15, 2025

picking up a romantasy after ages, istg if this disappoints im gonna throw hands 🔪🔪

[brooke (hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

➸ 4 stars

”if i am to be her enemy, i want it to be because she loathes herself for wanting me.”

➷ powerless follows paedyn, a cunning and sassy street thief from the slums trying to make ends meet with her best friend. this is set in a world that went through a great plague — the majority of people who survived (the elites) were graciously gifted powers to them by the plague and those who didn’t (the ordinaries) were banished or killed. in pae’s kingdom, ordinaries are inferior to elites, and the king ordered for all ordinaries to be eliminated to preserve his elite society. paedyn is an ordinary who pretends to be an elite and poses as a psychic so that her true identity is not exposed. but when paedyn saves prince kai she finds herself thrown into the purging trials, a deadly competition held to showcase the elites’ powers — the one thing paedyn lacks.

i know this book is heavily compared to Red Queen and The Hunger Games, but as i haven’t read neither of those books i can’t make any comments on that.

— there is no better feeling than when a book is so good you simply can’t put it down and you end up staying up late reading it. this book had my attention gripped, especially the last 100 pages!! 1 more page turned into me finishing the whole book at 2am. i needed a fun, light, banter filled romantasy to help with my slump and this is exactly what this book delivered, both of the main characters had me in the biggest chokehold. yes this book was very tropey but it didn’t ruin my reading experience as the author cleverly wove in the tropes into this story without it feeling like she was shoving them down your throat. she did also mention that she wanted all of her favourite tropes incorporated into this book.

“she’s so stunning, yet so stubbornly oblivious to how the sunset behind dulls in comparison to the vibrance that is her.”

➳ paedyn: right off the bat i absolutely loved pae, her sharp tongue and her even sharper mind - i was rooting for her so hard. it was refreshing to see a fmc that didn’t have magic or special powers and had to rely on her wits to stay alive. she was an incredibly written character — the overlooked girl who constantly had to fight for what she has. her strength, wit, determination and preservation was just so admirable. getting to see her development and overcome so many obstacles was so lovely to read about. she is one of the best fmcs i have read about in a while!! she is the embodiment of “don’t underestimate the underdog.” watching her prove everyone wrong was so fun to read about, she always found a way to conquer a situation and be powerful in her own way. but girly was way stronger than me. constantly pulling away from someone you want is baffling to me, especially since it’s kai like girl that man is obsessed with you!!

➳ kai: the prince of Ilya and the king’s future enforcer hunts those like paedyn and kills them, yet pae somehow convinces him she’s a mundane, an elite who has a lesser power. kai has the ability to sense and use other elites powers and though he can’t sense pae’s “psychic” ability he goes along with it. from there we get to witness their palpable chemistry and snarky banter. aaa he is everything n more, i can’t get over him. this man just has a way with words. the way i was giggling like a little girl, blushing, twirling my hair and kicking my feet every time he spoke. kai was a complex character, and his struggle for redemption was interesting to read about despite who he had become. but he was just so sweet, charming, tortured, swoony, witty and perfect. when he braided her hair and called her “my pretty pae” I COMPLETELY LOST IT. I NEED HIM BIBLICALLY. the way he was so down bad for pae?? he was smitten with her from the very beginning — for him, she is the only girl in the room. the fact that he knew her capabilities and gave ‘that’s my girl’ vibes rather than forcing her into protection and hiding her away from the world. seriously, how can you not love him!!

— what was the authors fascination with the characters fkn eye colour. like seriously take a shot every time you read “ocean eyes” and “grey eyes” (spoiler you will probably die from alcohol poisoning) like pls stfu about his grey eyes and her ocean eyes, i got it the first 10 times you said it and also pae constantly going on about kitt’s green eyes omg pls free me, enough is enough!! 😭

➷ the slow burn is absolutely top tier, it worked so perfectly for the setting and the plot. how the author built up this fiery and heated chemistry between the mcs despite them not even sharing a single kiss was just so immaculate 😮‍💨 the banter and the tension was incredible, i just love the combination of a “who did this to you” boy meets “i will stab you” / “why do you care” girl. the banter and tension was good but their sweet and vulnerable moments together were even better. seriously the romance is just incredible, the way both characters navigate their own storyline but are so heavily intertwined at the same time, it was all consuming in the best possible way. the tension, knife to throat scenes, the longing stares, the lingering touches, the dance scenes, the yearning, the banter & flirty conversations is etched into my memory!!

”mark my words, prince, i will be your undoing.” i lean in, ignoring the knife against my throat as i murmur, “oh, darling, i look forward to it.”

— this book is marketed as “enemies to lovers” but it’s definitely more of an instant attraction as they were both captivated with one another from the very beginning. kitt (kai’s brother) and pae would be a true enemies to lovers since she didn’t like him bc of who he constantly reminded her of.

— the world-building wasn’t the best and very much lacking as there wasn’t much description and depth and there was many repetitive phrases throughout this book but as this was a debut novel i’m not going to make any judgements on that as i didn’t mind and i didn’t expect this book to be perfect.

this book was very fast paced which i appreciated since a lot of fantasy books tend to be slow at times. the world is easy to understand so this book is great for those who are new to fantasy books. the beginning was rocky for me but once i was into it i was really into it - you do get easily engaged and immersed, mainly because the romance is worth it. i felt so much devastation as i was reading the last few chapters. there was so much action, so much emotion and so many reveals. the author done an amazing job setting up book two because there is still so much left unsaid — I SERIOUSLY NEED THAT BOOK RN!!

[Ericka Rheanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

What in the-Red-Queen-Hunger-Games-Divergent-Serpent-and-the-Wings-of-Night-Throne-of-Glass-Young-Elites-Shatter-Me fandom mash-up is this?

Disclaimer: I know nothing of the author and don’t keep up with BookTok books, so this review is unbiased in every possible way. Even in moments where I may diss the book, I have absolutely nothing against the author and am open to reading her future releases.

That being said, I have lost faith in humanity.

I truly do not understand the hype for this. At all. There are so many other, better written fantasy romance novels out there. It wasn’t just that this was unoriginal and bad writing, but the romance was awful, the characters bland, the plot pacing so damn slow with so many pointless scenes, and every plot aspect was absolutely RIDDLED with logistic issues. If you take the time to look at things for half a second, the whole thing falls apart irrevocably. This whole thing hinges upon tropes and other peoples’ nostalgia and love for to all the books I just listed above.

People are actually recommending this to fans of The Hunger Games. For the love of God, if you are a true fan of The Hunger Games, DO. NOT. pick this up. This is SO bad that to compare it to that is to make a mockery of the franchise.

The concept of The Hunger Games has a sick sort of logic to it that makes sense. This, whatever trials were in Powerless, did not make sense. So the whole conflict in this world is that the king basically kills all the powerless, called Ordinaries, and the Fatals, which are the those who have powers so strong they are a threat to everyone, Ordinary or Elite. He does this to keep the Elites strong and him in power, believing that reproducing with Ordinaries will deplete the Elite’s power overtime.

Okay. Fine. But then why would you host the Purging Trials where many of your treasured elites might die?? Not only that, but to contradict again, it’s literally said multiple times that the trials are meant to showcase powers, not to kill other contestants. But with a name like the PURGING trials, what else do you think the contestants are going to do? Come on. Also, most of the contestants are literally childhood friends or acquaintances, and you’re telling me they’re nonchalantly killing them off, when it’s not even required to win the trials? I’m sorry, but I’m not rooting for or sympathizing with ANY of these sadistic characters. This isn’t morally grey, this is pure evil.

Building upon the issues I’ve already brought up and my many questions that remain unanswered, the novel is a mess of plot holes.

I’m sure most of this is due to the fact that the plot was not born from an idea—whether it be world, character, or plot based. It’s built from a trope, which is never a solid foundation for a book.

I am so tired of this new trend of trope-dumping. Sure, tropes are nice, even amazing, in extreme moderation. And even then, the tropes should not be the driving force in a novel or even in plot progression. These are like literary devices, used to elicit a certain atmosphere or feeling, whether in the story or readers. Tropes do not a plot make. They are not a substitute, they are not character building, they are not even effective romance development techniques. So please, for all of our sake, let's move on!

There are many more plot holes, but at this point my frustration over it all, while writing this, is becoming unhealthy so I’ll just stop while I’m ahead.

There is nothing of substance to the characters. Nothing to differentiate them from one another and nothing to make them anything but the basic stereotypes of whatever role they’re intended to fulfill.

Prince Kai is the worst of them all. He’s supposed to be some badass, monstrous assassin for the king. But nothing ever backs up these claims. In fact, Roberts goes so overboard on his charming nature (which is more cringeworthy than actually charming) and his romantic feelings for the FMC that he’s honestly softer than every other character in the novel. Result the exact opposite of the intention, I’m sure.

Paedyn has the most pick-me energy that I’ve had the displeasure of reading in recent memory. She screams Wattpad fanfic on the basis of she has no flaws, her only weakness being her supposed love for others and her unparalleled heroism.

The dialogue between characters is the worst. I could not keep my face straight when I read it; the secondhand embarrassment was worse than the experience of watching DUFF or Awkward. (Y’all know what I’m talking about, I know you do).

The romance is terrible. I tried to think of a better way to put it, but I could not without altering the truth of the matter.

Why, why, why do we follow this ridiculous love triangle between Paedyn and the two royal brothers, Kai and Kitt? For one, this screams heavily influenced by Red Queen. For another, the novel is literally a fantasy romance told from the perspectives of Paedyn and Kai. We know it’ll be their romance in the end, because Kitt’s POV is not included. So why waste our time? It literally adds nothing to the story.

Onto the actual romance at the forefront of the novel, this is as insta-love as it can possibly get, folks. Sometimes, insta-love is called for, most of the time it’s not. Have I ever liked it either way? Absolutely the fuck not, there’s the door.🚪

Kai and Paedyn have no chemistry. How could they when they’re lusting over one another from the moment they lay eyes on each other? Their romance goes from 0-100 REAL QUICK, and I’m talking 30% of the way in. Then, as if the author remembers that, actually, we need to slip the “slow burn” trope in, she decides the characters need to blatantly fawn over one another for damn near the rest of the book but do nothing about it. Literally, what is the purpose? The slow burn doesn’t hit the same if you’ve already solidified the romance in the first 100 pages.

Anyway, I did not like this. Pick up some Carissa Broadbent instead, okay folks?

[Supreme Commander of South America · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know this is a debut novel so I’m gonna be mad at the publishers and people who recommend this saying this was a masterpiece with so much tension💀
(Did somebody even edited this before publishing it?
I found 5 errors of editing. I haven’t checked for more)

Idk where to start so let’s just dive in:)
❗️(This review contains spoilers for both RED QUEEN and POWERLESS and it’s a very direct review so if you can’t stand that or loved this book, don’t read it please. Thank you🥰)❗️


•It was a Red queen fan fiction.
•Zero original ideas.
•The last 40 pages were the only interesting and unique plot from the author (I think someone mentioned it was also stolen from another fantasy book🥲)
•Long boring (bad structured) paragraphs
•Wattpad diologue.
•Lazy writing.
•The Characters reactions made no sense.
•Enemies to lovers? More like: forced and lazy interactions to enemies (ig)
•Quotes that felt repetitive or were directly written many times in the same page or chapter.


⚔️ “Inspired by Red queen and The hunger games” = excuse to not say she copied everything about those two series and changed some aspects or characters in the most lazy way. Example:
The cream that cures Katniss and it’s sent from Haymitch is changed into: Kai finding a remedy to cure Paedyn because it might’ve fallen from another person’s pocket. LIKE WHAT?

⚔️Everything about the trials was boring and didn’t make any sense. When it first started I was like: Finally! 200 pages of nothing, maybe it gets better and then boom IT NEVER DID.

⚔️Paedyn and Kitt had more chemistry than Paedyn and Kai (it felt so forced). They were ALWAYS finding each other (also another way to never develop the other characters that had a lot of potential since they all had different and interesting powers). The “I hate you” but I have no idea why was SO HARD IN THIS BOOK.

⚔️When I got to Kai’s POV, he was always saying that she wanted to be enemies but in reality they were always flirting and touching each other because they have to have “quemistry” but apparently you also have to force an enemies to lovers trope because what is revealed at the end has to make sense but it never does. It’s very clear that there is NO reason for you to hate Kai because of his “beauty” and the fact that he reminds you of his father. Which also leads me to talk about the king and queen:

⚔️THE QUEEN was never there, she loved Kai but never did anything for him. Why? We are given a poor excuse that that was correct for him and he was always destined to become the enforcer and suffer.

⚔️THE KING and his personality that didn’t make sense, bother me SO MUCH and let’s not talk about his poor dialogues. He was the reason of all the tragedies and traumas but he was even sharing dinner in the same table with everyone acting all cute!!!😁
You can do that, yes! My problem is that he doesn’t have a well developed personality leading his character to become ridiculous in the eyes of the reader.

⚔️And I say instead of forcing Kai and Paedyn to find each other ALL THE TIME use all those pages to make her interact with the other characters like Lenny: cuz wdym he calls you princess and likes you out of nowhere (if you’re writing a book you are telling the story to the readers not to you! So even if it looks “obvious” you have to develop that relationship and write it directly)

⚔️Also, let’s not talk about the amount of ridiculous nicknames🙄🙄🙄

⚔️Adena was there at the beginning and at the end, leaving me like: ok you love her so much but she’s barely mentioned throughout the book.

⚔️The father taught her how to fight and he was a healer 💀

The characters had NO personality, only plain mid and typical backstories.

⚔️If you haven’t read Red Queen then you probably are not going to understand why I said this book is a Red Queen fan fiction:

•Adena: Mare’s sister. They both design clothes. Get injured and stop working.
•Kai: Cal but with a flirting personality (oh but let’s not forget that we have to force him into a dark “I don’t share my feelings cuz I’m a monster” character.) Also, what’s with Paedyn describing him as a cocky bastard and two pages latter saying that he was this mysterious guy 🧍🏻‍♀️.
•Kitt: Naive prince who’s clearly becoming the villain at the end: Maven.

⚔️And I could go on and on but honestly it bores me to tears to remember all of the characters because that’s what the story was: plain and boring(unnecessarily long).

⚔️Like I said: a Fan fiction (dare I say that Red queen was at least more unique) and it felt as if the author wrote this and never check it before publishing it. It was like: here🤲🏻 there’s this book that feels incredibly overwhelming and it has a lot of tropes that are a favorite on booktok but I didn’t develop them well.

⚔️I’ve said this before. There is one book on Wattpad that includes royals and everything and it was 100% better than this “book”. So if you read books in Spanish you should definitely give it a try!!! It’s called EL PERFUME DEL REY. (And yes I read this recently so there is no: I read this in 2015 you’ll probably not like it now) The book is also in a physical copy!!! And has illustrations😍

⚔️People recommend this saying that is very cheesy and it’s for a younger audience, when in reality there are BETTER books with VERY YA scenes like: Once upon a broken heart that were actually good (I’m 18)


⚔️Anyway. I say, read this if you want to but I still think it’s not fair that you have to pay 20$ for something that copied basically everything from other popular books and everyone on booktok is hyping it knowing damn well this has a poor plot and it should be on Wattpad.

⚔️I paid for this book and I feel like at least I deserve to give my opinion on it and WHY I didn’t like it.
I gave it 1⭐️ because Ik there could be more improvement and it’s also very impressive that somebody wrote 500 pages at 18!

[annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

'Who did this to you' BOY 'why do you care' GIRL.

This book is literally a romcom with action scenes in it! It was not screaming FANTASY much, but I still enjoyed it a lot! This story was quite interesting, and I can't compare it with Hunger Games because I haven't read that series, but it gave me Shatter Me vibes (as in powers and some scenes).

• Kingdom of Ilya is divided into two types of groups, ELITES (with powers) and ORDINARIES (powerless). Elites were gifted with different powers because of a PLAGUE, and the ordinaries were banished from the Kingdom because they're rumored to lessen the powers of the elites!

The plot was plotting and IT WAS SO GOOD 😌 though, this book had a lot of repetition (flirting and banter), and was def tropey, it is still SO CUTE! The ending was so angsty, and I DAMN WELL KNOW THAT THE NEXT BOOK IS GONNA BE FULL OF ANGST!😭

Kai Azer — PRINCE WHO KILLS PEOPLE WITH NO POWER, BUT IS OBSESSED WITH THE GIRL WHO'S POWERLESS!!!!! What else do you want??? He's so hot for fuck's sake! 😭

Dark hairs, Gray eyes with loose black shirts, cocky smirk AND DIMPLES. 😮‍💨

The reason this was more rom-com type to me because he was so flirty! He was so gentle and sweet with her. He so selflessly helped her so many times without caring about himself and constantly teased and had fun with her. like letting her pin him with a dagger to the throat, silently asking permission to touch her, braiding her hair, dancing with her, doing anything to protect her life, counting her freckles, stayed awake whole night just to watch her and being affected with just her putting her finger on him! jakshsjssb 😭😭 and...... HE WROTE ON HIS HAND "she said I can touch her when I'm sober" WHEN HE WAS DRUNK 😭🧎‍♀️

His character was kinda giving Aaron Warner vibes because HE'S A FREAKING WIELDER (he can wield anyone's power if they are near) also MAJOR DADDY ISSUES 👺

Paedyn Gray — I'm sorry but EW NAME 💀 She was cool, the way her fighting is described is amazing, and it was easy to imagine! How she fought and no doubt she was pretty strong and amazing on the fighting aspect and how she was trained so perfectly. Her backstory and all didn't quite hit me much just like Kai's.

❝Promise me you’ll stay alive long enough to stab me in the back?❞ yes she will LITERALLY and FIGURATIVELY! 👺

She has both the prince (Kai and his brother - kitt) wrapped around her finger. THEY BOTH ARE SO SMITTEN 😭, and she was also trying to make Kai her enemy in the start, and ngl prettyyy forced, but glad they lost sight of that lol! I'm so glad she wasn't horny and was pretty annoyed with Kai and wanted nothing with him! Her being attracted to him didn't happen quickly, rather it developed slowly but nicely.

I won't say that her wearing a different color to a ball (where everyone wore green) was pick me Hermione Granger vibes lol, but it was definitely cool of her though! Also, SHE'S THE MAIN CHARACTER SO LET HER SHINE!

Her saying 'Gonna stab you in the heart' was literally the 288262th time. She's Vicious little thing as he called her. (reminded me of Violet)

❝They chose me to die. And all because I saved that prick of a prince.❞

• Pae is a thief, and she robbed Kai when he visited the town, and Kai was drawn to her because of the fact that he couldn't sense any power from her. Then she saved Kai from a Silencer (one who diminishes power), She caught the eye of everyone as the silver savior, and got selected for Purging Trials — where different trials are taken place for an elite to win. And this year, Kai is a part of them! Now she has to figure out how to SURVIVE because she's without power.

The whole trials plot was good, but everything was a bit descriptive, and the story was falling into repetition (flirting, banter, and fluff only), and the trials were interesting, but the pace of each of them was different. One taking a lot of chapters, and the other ending in just 3.

Many errors in it so the author should def change her editor otherwise everything was fine. This series has a lot of potential!

I can't wait for book 2 ughhhh 😭 I. WANT. THAT. BOOK. (because it's gonna get super angsty and Kai is out for blood).🩸🗡


⤷ CUTEST SCENES .𖥔 ݁ ˖

• "What do you want to call me?”
“I want to call you mine.”

• "So, you just want someone to keep you company?”
“Not someone. You.”

• "Kai, I’m not leaving.”
“Then don’t think I won’t throw you over my damn shoulder and carry you out of here myself. Is that what you want?”

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

• "I wouldn’t want to mess up that pretty face of yours, darling.”
“That’s funny because I won’t hesitate to mess up your pretty face.”
"I knew you thought I was pretty.”

• "So, you’re admitting that I’m a threat to you?”
“I never said that.”
“But you implied it.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”

• “Is it the dress?” he asks as he sits up and begins shrugging off his suit coat. When it’s slid off his shoulders, he lays it on the ground beside him.
“There, now you won’t get all dirty.”

• "How very gentlemanly of you, but that coat is not nearly big enough to save my dress from getting dirty.”
“I can take off my shirt and lay that down for you as well if you like,”


⤷ ratings .𖥔 ݁ ˖

• Reckless – 3 stars
• Fearless – 2.5 stars

[SK · Rating 4 out of 5]

UPDATE- IT'S BEING ADAPTED INTO TV SERIES?! OH MY GOSH

~•~•~
That ending hurt. A lot.
*deep breath* Okay let's get started with the review.

I absolutely adored this book. The world created is so mesmerizing. The characters and storyline are so compelling. Both the leads- Paedyn and Kai are lovable. I'll be honest, this book is not perfect but I enjoyed it regardless.

✔️ Magic system
✔️ Forbidden romance
✔️ Angsty slow burn
✔️ Mutual pining
✔️ Knife to the throat
✔️ Tending to scars
✔️ "Who did this to you?"
✔️ He kills for her

The book imo starts off a tad slow but it's completely understandable as we are getting to know the world, the fantasy elements and the characters. It picks up pace towards the middle and stays consistent.

An issue I had with this book and which is why it wasn't a perfect read for me is the fact that it reminded me TOO MUCH of The Hunger Games. I appreciate when authors take inspiration from a book and make something new with it but the first half of this book was a bit too much replication. This is not to damper anyone's expectations but rather give a realistic approach. I still enjoyed it quite a lot which you can see from my updates but it would have been perfect had this issue not existed.

I absolutely LOVED the characters and the complexities that came with them. Kai and Paedyn were imperfectly perfect. They have so much depth and life to them, it was hard to resist them.

Kai is going straight to my book boyfriends list. The man is capable of making me swoon and feel things by merely saying a few words and they don't even have to be romantic. He radiates such energy, charisma, and obviously his powers intrigues me a lot. The way he is so smitten with Pae is everything. For him, she is the only girl in the room. For him, she is his and he'll do anything to keep her alive and safe.

Paedyn is no less. She is fierce, equally charismatic and full of zeal and the woman knows how much power she holds in her flirtations, touches over Kai. Her confidence and the ability to stay strong is so impressive. I loved how she holds her own. She tried so hard to resist the charms of the prince and yet found herself wanting him more and I absolutely loved it.

The romance is deliciously angsty and slow burning. I get some people are on the surface cause it's YA and don't really want to give it a go cause of that but believe me you're gonna be missing out on the beauty of these two and their intense chemistry. I didn't find myself yearning for spice, everything about these two hit perfectly and I wouldn't change a thing about it at all.

The side characters, Kitt in particular, are deeply complex. I saw him destined to become the king that he did at the end, from the beginning. It didn't come as a surprise. I found myself sympathizing with him and Kai more so for Pae. I don't mind Kitt becoming someone he wasn't meant to be, it's going to make things immensely interesting. Jax and A were my other favourites.

The ending was predictable imo. I saw it coming ages ago so although I wasn't completely shocked, it was still impactful and made me excited to read the next one.

Overall, an enjoyable read and one I absolutely love. It has the potential of becoming my favorite series but will see how the next books go 😉 What y'all waiting for? Give it a read!!

Like Powerless? Read these-
1. The Hunger Games
2. Spark of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse)
3. The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia)

~•~•~
IT'S TIME Y'ALL! LET'S GOOO

[Lilyya ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf p.308

do you ever have the feeling while reading that a book is trying too hard to be something it isn’t?

to phrase it simply 'powerless' has zero originally in it. the book is a replica of many popular books, such as The Hunger Games, but make it a cheap and bland AliExpress version. it consisted of recycled scenes jam-packed with tropes that the author was unable to mold to enhance and improve the storyline with. In the end, it appeared that she desperately attempted to sew and combine multiple clichéd scenes to force the protagonists to be in a sort of forced proximity. & it simply did not blend well because the final patchwork felt everything but spontaneous.

while the intrigue was compelling enough to dive into the book at first, the unclear and blurry world building made it quite boring after a few chapters. I was under the impression that the author would simplify and distill explanations throughout the story. (how many powers there’s in the wild, for exemple.) but the main question that puzzled the entirety of the book was 'why the trials?'. i believed it was ancestral, but it wasn't. we were not given a concret clarification of why they had to go through them. (solely for the sake of money? sure.)

the writing was mediocre to say the least, with an abondance of ”blue eyes" not very well dispatched in the narrative. repetitive expressions that clearly underline that the author needs to urgently change editors. the predictability in the dialogues was a major issue for me. It appeared that Kai and Pae were constantly attempting to make the most stereotypical comments. even the king's speeches were not as majestic as they should have been.

the lack of depth in the characters was the primary reason for my difficulty in going through these 500 pages. why didn't the author incorporate any other colors into Pae's character other than her still mourning her deceased father? or to Kai to aspire to be more than the future enforcer ? all he does is complain and mop about his obligation to kill people and his brother's inability to handle it if the roles where inversed. instead of it being a well depicted enemies to lovers with good character’s wisdom and portrayal it just wavered into them already thinking about each other in a romantic way. all that because the narrative forced them to spend a lot of time with each other. how do you persuade readers to want to continue a trilogy when they aren't that attached to the protagonists in the first place?


⚠️⚠️⚠️

spoilers
i did not sign for a love triangle.
the way pae inlassably brought up her father’s death and how Kai made strange comments about his first murder seemed like he killed her father not the king.


——-
here we go..

[lexi (aka newlynova) · Rating 2 out of 5]

you should know i’m honest to my core when i tell you that i love the author - i think she is an angel of a human being - but i really did not love her book. tragic considering i went in expecting to enjoy it. one day i will stop getting bamboozled by this exact variety of tiktok hype but that day is apparently not today!!!

similar to the hunger games i guess if you are ok with nothing making in-universe sense and the reasoning behind it all being “🤷‍♀️ i dunno, vibes?” instead of a thoughtful critique of capitalism, commodification, and spectacle.

i think i could have gotten past that though (not everything has to be that serious lmfao i am an ali hazelwood fan…i would be throwing stones from a GLASS HOUSE) but the writing was just so over the top and longwinded-but-also-average-fanfiction-vibes in a way that is difficult to capture in a review but that you’d get right away reading the book. it is this very specific style where the author says something, and then says it again but with other words that start with the same letters, and then the sentence has ~parallelism~ but also it is so obviously baked in that it loses any impact. like: "she was Bold and Beautiful and Beyond my Bountiful expectations." but x1000 all throughout the book. i found it pretty hard to get through by the end.

with that said - i am but one (1) girl, this is a minority opinion. most people i trust online like this book. i think if the writing style doesn’t bother you this could be mindlessly fun a la fourth wing. it doesn't take itself particularly seriously. the central relationship is very slow burn and has ample yearning/a decent foundation - though it is quite instalove in terms of their individual feelings, NOT legitimate enemies to lovers (they like each other lmao) and the banter (much like the writing) is often over the top. the story has a mountain of cliches - but they are cliches for a reason. sometimes you just want something silly that is full of all of your guilty pleasure tropes. this was not my experience. but it could be yours, and i hope lauren keeps writing!!!

[chloé ✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

it’s time to be honest.

let me start by saying that i didn’t (and still don’t) know who lauren is on booktok. so this review is unbiased as possible. 🫶🏻 (please don’t forget that a 3 stars isn’t a bad rating either.)

the first half of this book was nearly a copy and paste of the hunger games. while some readers probably want that, it took away from originality for me. i could NOT stop comparing for storyline. (i have not read red queen, so i can’t compare to that one.)

powerless has every popular romantasy trope possible. you may love that and feel fulfilled by that. i do enjoy certain tropes, but relying on tropes leaves a lot of world-building and natural character development to be desired.

the writing wasn’t bad, but the typos were. though they don’t detract directly from the storyline, noticing one always pulls me out of a book a bit. hire a new editor lauren, you deserve better!!! 🩶

there was so. much. tension. if men said the things in real life that kai says to paedyn, we would have no need for romance books. however, there was so much tension and banter to the point of becoming repetitive and literally putting me into a reading slump. (kind of a me problem, too, but i’m going to put a little blame on the book.)

i think lauren has a lot of growth ahead as an author and i mean that as a compliment. i do look forward to the next book and really hope for a more natural story (not too trope-y) with more original development in the storyline. there is SO MUCH potential here.

(last, sara carrolli and haley pham both liked this book… so how could you not want to read it?🤭)

[jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

did i honestly read the same book as everyone else?!? because i seriously doubt it. nor do i think an editor did.

there is just no way i can give this 5 stars, like it seems to be getting left and right. and heres why.

the lack of editing is seriously criminal for a big publisher like simon and schuster. so many continuity errors, so many grammar mistakes, so much awkward and unrealistic/unnatural dialogue from page 1, so many odd skips and jumps in the narrative. this honestly reads like a wattpad story that was hastily written and posted at 2am without a second thought.

heres the thing though. these kinds of these can be overlooked and not take the reader out of the story IF the reader is thoroughly engaged. and i just wasnt. its not original by any means. ive read this kind of plot so many times before, it has so many overused tropes, and i could predict any sort of plot twist from the very beginning.

so, because of my lack of interest in the story, the editing mistakes were the nail on the coffin that made me just not want to deal with this story any more. i didnt hate it, but its just not a book i would personally consider good or enjoyable.

not for me at all, but im happy so many people could overlook the writing issues and get hooked on the story!

↠ 1 star

[Marianna Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ Kai. Fucking. Azer. DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THIS MAN. Every time he opens his mouth I’m sat. I’m ready

“I’ve never seen something so beautiful, so bold, so blatantly wrong for me.
She is a devil. She is a deity.
She is a man’s downfall in human form. She is my downfall.”

“And what else are you when you’re around me.”
“I’m a fool.”
“Only when you’re around me?”
“Only for you.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a more beautiful moment. My pretty Pae, what have you done to me?”

“Pae, when I look at you… I’m devastated. I’m drowning. I’m dying to catch my breath.”

I rest my case.

I loved Pae and Kai’s relationship!! The banter and the tension were scrumptious though a bit much at times…

This book is definitely more kind of friends to almost lovers to enemies, I definitely wouldn’t say it’s enemies to lovers by any means. It’s also trope HEAVY, which I am so here for, but if you don’t like that this book probably isn’t for you. Was the writing the best? No. Was it predictable? Yes. Do I give a damn?? Absolutely not because I had a good time and the vibes were high. But I also can see why people hate this book… book two will be a hit or miss for me I fear.

[Emelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Updated Review:
Wow. I just want to say that I have been with Lauren since the beginning of her TikTok. I watched almost every live and I remember the day she said, “I’m gonna write a book.” It’s truly inspiring to see her hard work and creativity pay off.

A decent debut in my opinion. For this being Lauren’s first book, I was impressed. It has a solid storyline and great characters. Overall, I didn’t hate it and can’t wait to see how the story will continue.
I will say I wish the world building was more in depth and expanded, along with the characters. This story felt a lot like the Red Queen in terms of general plot but I did like her personal touch, however it was on the borderline of copying rather than “inspired by” if you know what I’m saying. I believe that this book and this world that Lauren has created has so much potential and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

[Ayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

slow burn romantic fantasies only done like this please!

can we talk about the drama this book has?? from the banter, pining, dancing, betrayal, and everything else… bruh i was on the edge of my bed. paedyn and kai are just that OTP!🖐🏽

what gags me is the way kai is so utterly down bad for pae. like this dude can’t even function without her presence. and don’t even get me started on that nightmare scene!! “stay” girl i was about to summon the ancestral powers to get to him! 🫰🏽

i’d internally scream whenever their romantic moments were interrupted. im glad their romance is being dragged out so that means book 2 is gonna fucking HIT me in the face!

the side characters, the resistance, the relationship with Adene and Paedyn. ate, ate, ate! reading this book felt like hitting the pentagon and i loved it !!🫦💋

[Annabel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing. More than disappointing. The hype for this book infuriates me because if this is the standard, the standard is in hell. It was basically just an amalgamation of popular tropes, and the main character was a carbon copy of every other generic YA lead to exist, lacking any flaws whatsoever. Where’s the originality? The world building? The character development? A good romance requires more than a few tropes and loads of cringey banter. Further, the writing was ridiculously poor and underedited.

[Ali Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

IT WAS SO GOOD! The romance was suchhhh a slow burn and had sooo much tension. I'm obsessed. And the way its sooo forbidden romance😍

And I think the fantasy world is really interesting. The book is super fast paced. And the trials were giving me the hunger games in the best way. AND THE WAY THE BOOK ENDED! I need to read book 2 asap. and i just KNOW the wait for book 3 is going to be torture.

[Nicole Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

EDIT- 3.5 ⭐️ ok upon a reread I’m thinking it was more like wrong book wrong time, still didn’t love it like the majority though

If I wanted to read the hunger games I would have just picked that up instead

[Sara Carrolli · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like The Hunger Games and SO MUCH TENSION (!!!!!) you will love this. Give me the second one NOW!

[Haley pham]

Such an incredible and impressive debut novel!!! I need the second book now.

[Sophie Jayne Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to need 5-7 business days to digest that ending

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished it. That's the nicest thing I can say about this book.

[Alexa Raye · Rating 5 out of 5]

∞ ⭐️ I will never recover. My favorite read of 2023 (aside from divine rivals 🤭) The tension between Pae & Kai??? 🥵 & now you’re telling me I have to wait until July for the next one??? Unwell.

[luqman (INACTIVE) · Rating 1 out of 5]

i've read fanfictions written by 12 year olds on wattpad with better plot than this

[Sloan MacDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE BANTER. THE TENSION. NOT ONE KISS !!!! THE EPILOGUE.

[Larissa Cambusano · Rating 4 out of 5]

THAT ENDING!!!!!!


4.5 (even better the second time)

[Mel]

DNF @ 51%

if this boy says “vicious little thing” one more time, i shall meet my end. i can’t do it anymore😭

[manas (NEW YEAR) · Rating 2 out of 5]

powerless—a novel by suzanne collins, tahereh mafi, sarah j. maas, victoria aveyard, and mary e. pearson.

[Heather Mclarry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tension!!! The angst!!! Honestly I really enjoyed this book and had so much fun reading it. This is definitely not high fantasy (which I can’t do anyways 😅). Very much had a simple plot, was simple to understand and fun plot twist at the end!

[sama ୨୧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars ˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚
⟶ my new favourite fantasy book <3

💗“But I’m never sober around you, Pae. Never not drunk on every detail that is you.”💗

*loud thud*
you hear that? that’s the sound of me jumping off the nearest cliff bc life simply isn’t worth living when kai azer is not in it.

🌸 dedication to my loves 🌸

i wanna start this review by thanking my (irl) best friend ever, raya, for forcing asking me to read this book <3
if she didn’t basically shove this down my throat, i fear i never would’ve met the love of my life. and thank you, for listening to my endless rants, and responding everytime i spammed you at any and everything that happened. ilysm 😽🎀

also this was a br with anna, who i love and adore so so much hehehe ty for reading this with me pookie. GIGGLING WITH YOU ABOUT KAI WAS THE MOST FUN THING EVER 😩 he’s just too perfect i’m glad we could admire him and enjoy this book together 🙁🫶🏼

🪻plot 🪻

this book follows our favourite girly, paedyn, who is an ordinary. she is, as the title says, powerless. in this world, there are elites, who possess all kinds of abilities. and ordinaries, well, they’re left to die. the elites compete in these yearly competitions called “the trials.” where they take part in different challenges, battling eachother, until one winner remains. but when paedyn, an ordinary, saves the prince’s life, she is selected to go on the trials and must pretend to be a psychic (as her power) to not be killed.

💐 my thoughts 💐

🎙️rant: at firstI didn’t wanna read this was bc i expected it to be like fourth wing. thankfully, it was not. think tbh the reason i loved this so so much is the nice balance between fantasy and romance. I don’t read much fantasy because im a romance girly but this satisfied me so much. not to mention i was helplessly in love with kai the whole entire time, so that introduced a little bias heheh.

🌏 the world building: it wasn’t confusing at all, for once I actually understood what was going on instead of them having the most twisted storyline with the craziest names that you can’t even pronounce. I definitely think this is a good book to get into fantasy, and if you actually wanna see romance and not just crumbs

🫂 romanceeee 🫂

yall I guarantee you this will be the best banter you ever, ever read. it’s too good. they bounce off eachother so well, they flirt SHAMELESSLY and we love to see it hehe.

“Promise me you’ll stay alive long enough to stab me in the back?” I laugh loudly. “That’s been my goal all along, prince.”

lets ignore the fact that she does stab him in the back.. and think about how cute these two are 🤭🤭 seriously one of my new fav couples, the most chemistry ive seen in agess. if this book wasn’t so damn stressful, I’d reread this book until I have it memorised, but I think I’ll just go back and read my fav scenes.

🩶 kai azer 🩶

i think i read like 10 chapters, and then immediately ran to put him in my book husbands shelf. I was that confident he was gonna eat, and tbh, without him this is just a mediocre book.

“Mark my words, prince, I will be your undoing.” I lean in, ignoring the knife against my throat as murmur, “Oh, darling, I look forward to it.”

like come on, how do you not fall in love right after that? if it were me, i’d fold the minute he called me darling. but hey, pae is strong, and we love that. she literally beat all the elites without any powers? that’s just embarrassing for them. i would crumble after task 1. not even after, like five minutes in.

🗡️ paedyn gray 🗡️

she’s my fav kind of fmc. so strong, but also super funny? and has a backbone which we love.

only thing I didn’t love is how badly she treated kitt. believe it or not, I actually liked him. he was kind, he was sweet, he just wanted his father to love him which like who doesn’t you can’t blame him for that. I hope he gets a good ending, maybe not with pae BECAUSE KAIPAE FORVER!! but like in general I don’t want him to die or anything. I get that she didn’t like that he looked too much like the king or whatever but they’re literally so different I think she should’ve given him a little more credit <3

🧸 adena 🧸

my precious girl. I love her so much. she was so kind and sweet, so caring for paedyn, and the way pae actually forgot about her kinda broke my heart. I don’t think I’ll have it in me to read her novella tbh it’ll hurt too much. but I adore her, and I wish I had a friend as compassionate and amazing as her 😭🫶🏼

💌 quotes 💌

°˖➴ “You don’t really want to do this and neither do I. Especially because I wouldn’t want to mess up that pretty face of yours, darling.” She all but rolls her eyes at me. “That’s funny because I won’t hesitate to mess up your pretty face.” I smirk. “I knew you thought I was pretty.”

°˖➴ She is the embodiment of a bad decision. The twin of danger and desire. The fine line between deadly and divine.

°˖➴ I’d never thought about what my favorite color was before. It never seemed important.
Not until I looked into a pair of ocean blue eyes and realized that perhaps drowning was a beautiful thing.

°˖➴ She’s a flame, and I’m going to get burned. An ocean and I’m going to drown.

°˖➴ Why did I ever think I could have her, ever think she would have me? Because beasts don’t get the beauty.

🪷 bottom line 🪷

you must go read this!! if this review didn’t convince you, idk what will. i’ve seen loads of people say this is just a copy paste of red queen and hunger games, but unfortunately i haven’t read them to confirm. but maybe if you like those you’ll enjoy this too? or hate it bc it’s basically the same thing LMAOO

I love kai and paedyn, and although july is so far away, it’s also very close! so it’s nice knowing I have something to look forward to when I finish hiatus <3

happy reading pookies 😽🫶🏼
MWAH ILY

….
i feel like crying. and screaming in frustration. bc that ending hurt and suddenly july feels way too far. im going to need the most cutesy, happy, feel-good romcom to help me heal from the insane amount of anxiety i had reading this ❤️‍🩹 5 stars. rtc <3

[Autum · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Hunger Games did it better
Red Queen even did it better
This author does not have a single original thought in her head

DISCLAIMER: 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸, 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲. 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹.

♥ Sorry, but I'm not sorry. ♥

Why did I let everyone convince me to buy and read this? I understand the appeal, I do, and we also all know I cannot write a comprehensive, structured review to save my life-- so here is this majorly unhinged and scattered rant.

LET ME JUST START FROM THE BEGINNING. I am so sick of the thief trope. I feel like every single story like this follows the EXACT same stereotype. Let me just back up and rephrase... I love the thief trope. . .WHEN IT'S DONE WELL. When the female thief or male thief is ACTUALLY cutthroat and ACTUALLY good at their job and everyone around them isn't just really fucking stupid.

First of all, you're telling me that she robs some dude and immediately finds a secret pocket inside of his pocket? In the span of a couple seconds? So she just like...takes this secret note? What a great way to get caught. ALSOOOOOOOOOO how are we gonna stay noticed with SILVER FUCKING HAIR and we're like the only person with silver hair??? Idgaf about your beanie or whateva you barely had it on the entire book. Not to mention how easy it is to lose a hair cover in the career that she is pursuing. ALSO you're telling me that the prince, who is OH SO TRAINED AND LETHAL literally can get robbed like that? AND NOT NOTICE LIKE RIGHT THEN AND THERE BECAUSE HE'S JUST SO DISTRACTED BY HER AND HER BEAUTY AND WOE IS HIM AND THEY'RE LITERALLY NEVER EVEN ENEMIES THEY'RE FLIRTING ALREADY IN THE FIRST 30 PAGES BE SO FORREAL WITH ME?

So, let's get this straight. She robs the prince--because she JuSt cAnT HeLP iT. Be fr with me sis, if someone had a pouch of coins hanging off their belt loop in the slums my brain would be like oh they're probably important MAYBE THAT'S BAIT AND I COULD GET CAUGHT SINCE YOU KNOW THOSE 2 GUARDS ARE MISSING BUT NO. Just can't help myself let me just snatch up a couple coins real fast and then bat my eyelashes like nothing happened even though I am literally SO EASILY IDENTIFIABLE WITH SILVER HAIR. You're joking.

ShEs nOt LiKe OtHeR GiRlS.

Also, how dumb is the prince just walking into the slums with a pouch on his waist like that? What a fucking idiot? Highly trained my ass you think he would've been trained on how to handle ONE SINGLE SILENCER who can literally just take down who is supposed to be one of the most powerful people? OH AND SHE JUST SAVES HIM CUZ SHE JuSt CaNT HeLp IT. Stfu. She's literally the most wannabe Aelin annoying ass character I have ever met.

Not to mention, it's already hot and steamy ish immediately after this scene. IF I WAS A TRAINED THIEF AND FIGHTER I WOULD NEVER GET PINNED SO FUCKIGN EASILY OR EVEN LET A MAN TOUCH ME AND LATER SHE LITERALLY LETS HIM BRAID HER HAIR. She's a softie she's not a fucking cutthroat she's hopeless. Because she gets distracted SO OFTEN. Like SO OFTEN there's no way she's trained.

Also, the Red Queen coded love triangle? Made absolutely no sense. Like why does Kitt even like her? Why does Kai? Genuinely... it was just there to be there. If they were so close then why did this even happen in the first place. Also she's just really not that great so how she seduced two princes by "playing the game" is beyond fucking me.

ALSO THE RED QUEEN CODED CLOTH AND LINEN STEALING SO THE PERSON THEY ARE TAKING CARE OF CAN SEW? STFU. ReD QuEEN inspo? More like copy paste.

DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE HUNGER GAMES COPY PASTE.
-The scene where she finds out she's going into these trials and then she promises the younger girl she will try to win for her
-The scene where they are riding to the capital and everyone is cheering
-Her just coming from the slums with like no possible chance at winning
-Her being able to live in all these luxuries and it really being stressed
-The interviews where they're looking for sponsors is STRAIGHHHHTTT OUT OF THE HUNGER GAMES
-Did anyone else think the scene where they jumped through the hole for like 2 minutes for the crowd to file in was so fucking stupid and kind of Divergent coded?
-The training room scene?????????? Literally straight out of The Hunger Games.

Girl you're telling me you're so infatuated with the prince you let that other girl who's also pining after the two princes (classic drama plot charicature) throw a knife and literally cut you? And you're surprised. Deadass you should've fr died as soon as you stepped in cuz hun you were SO underprepared.

Loot alley? I'm sorry that sounds straight out of Descendants.

Them bonding in the games and not actually competing against each other fr? PEETA AND KATNISS?

WHERE IS MY ENEMIES TO LOVERS?

I genuinely hated every moment where she was like "oh i should really keep my mouth shut" then would say something completely out of pocket that should really get her killed or at least put her on someones shit list and then she would be like "ohpp tee hee i forgot i have to play the game" and then two lines later forgets and says something out of pocket again because she has the attention span of a goldfish? Or shorter????

AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT NOBODY HAS EVER MET A PSYCHIC?????? THE PRINCE JUST LETS HIMSELF BE BAMBOOZLED AND IS JUST LIKE YEAH THAT SOUNDS RIGHT IDK I'VE NEVER EVEN STUDIED PSYCHICS? WHAT A FUCKING IDIOT? like the 14 yr old prince would be a better enforcer be fr.

Where were my cuthroat lethal characters?
Where were my deadly games?
Where was my enemies to lovers?
Where is the money I paid for my hardcover?
Where is the plot editor?
Where is my sanity?

The MC is an unskilled, annoying, Aelin, Katniss, Mare mashup wannabe. This author did not take "inspo" from these books she stole from them. Idek how this got published.

Anyway, onto the next one!

--I can see the appeal of this book, and I think if you haven't read any of the other books I mentioned, you might like this one! And if you did enjoy it, more power to you! I'm glad <3