Powerless

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Powerless takes place in the kingdom of Ilya where The Plague raged, killing thousands. But the ones that survived were awarded special colorful hair and powers. Not everyone received these benefits though, and that led to the separation of the kingdom. The Elites and the Ordinary. The book is needlessly long, with self indulgent scene after scene that served little purpose to the plot or to further character growth. Yes, I know they're fun to write. But it became very repetitive and very boring very fast. The tropes are fun, knife to throat and whatever etc etc, but I have to wonder why there are like 4 different instances of it and why they're almost identical in purpose and tone. And, what's worse, they're very telling rather than showing. The author needed to kill some darlings, kill MANY darlings.

Lauren Roberts | Official Publisher Page Reckless | Book by Lauren Roberts | Official Publisher Page

And this we can see in how the whole plot is based on The Hunger Games. The Trials are the Games, the Elites are the Capitol, we even have the interviews and sponsors. Paedyn is clearly a Katniss variant and Adeana is a combination of Prim and Cinna. These similarities are unabashedly thrown at the reader’s face. The host of the interviews even has bright blue hair, I’m not joking. kai azer is my new favorite book boyfriend. he gives off such a tristan dugray vibes ( if you know you know :)) and i’m literally living for it. i’m just so in love with confident, flirty and effortlessly funny men who are not scared to show interest. and he was it all. literally he is THE standard. I’d love to talk about Paedyn, but she has no flaws. She’s perfect. No weakness whatsoever. Her only weakness is the people she loves, meaning she herself holds no imperfection. In other words, Paedyn might as well be a deity because Roberts does not bother to portray her as human. Please be aware that the delivery time frame may vary according to the area of delivery - the approximate delivery time is usually between 1-2 business days. Ironic that her bright teal hair matches her name. I’d never seen the young women who conducted the interviews for the previous Trials, but I’ve heard enough about her unique appearance to identify her.”I grew up reading Wattpad, and a metric shit ton of it. So, I'm very familiar with amateur writing, unpolished writing, and writing for fun, for the sake of writing. I do think writers should be compensated for their work, I can't expect everyone who's just writing what they love to do it for free, but like... there should be standards for a published novel that elevate it above something you can access for free on Wattpad (IN MY OPINION). 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 | Book by Lauren Roberts | Official Publisher Page

and the trial scenes👹👹 you know in the hunger games where they tend to each other's wounds?? MAYHAPS IT IS IN HERE TOO This sparkling edition will include a special case stamping, bonus content, and a teaser to book two in this heart-pounding series!

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Paedyn is an intelligent, strong main character who I was rooting for from the beginning. She is calculating, perceptive and stubborn - a perfect match for the other half of this book's perspective, Kai. The slow burn is EVERYTHING, and their banter/dynamic made me fall in love with this book. The worse of it all is that Prince Kai—the male lead—claims to be a monster (because it’s a first-person narration) to then spare the life of a little girl because ‘he doesn’t kill children’. I love the morally gray trope as much as the next reader, but these days this trope is approached on tiptoes. Roberts wants her characters to appear darker, but she never commits to said darkness. She just tells us that he’s a monster and calls it a day. Powerless is set in the kingdom of Ilya, where there are Elites and Ordinaries- the Elites possess incredible powers and seek to get rid of the Ordinaries, as they believe them to corrupt society. Paedyn Gray is an Ordinary posing as an Elite to prevent her being hunted by the Elites. When she meets Kai Azer, one of Ilya's princes, sparks fly- and then they both end up in the Purging Trials, a brutal competition where the most talented Elites display their powers. But without a power, Paedyn must fight to survive the trials- and protect her heart from Kai, who she knows she shouldn't fall for... this one was truly meant for those who love romantic fantasy, it had every element that you yearn for! I am a die hard fan of the forbidden love trope & this one definitely hit the mark. Pae & Kai were to die for. I was unbelievably obsessed with every interaction between them, the tension & banter was so fulfilling and perfect for those that love rivals to lovers & emily henry banter!

Powerless by Lauren Roberts | Waterstones

Remind me to to make you smile like that again, when you aren't dying, and I have all the time in the world to memorise it.” ~ THIS MANNThe thing about building a book around tropes is that tropes are not meant to be the foundation of a book. Tropes are simply things that should come natural to the characters, things that enrich the reading process. A book based on tropes is a book with weak planning. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, this young adult fantasy follows the forbidden romance between a powerful prince and an ordinary girl as they try to survive their kingdom’s grueling laws pitting them against each other.

Powerless By Roberts Lauren |The Works

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.

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But the best part of this book was definitelyyy the ROMANCE 🤭🤭🤭 I love a tension-filled romance in fantasies and when i tell this one had tension, it had TENSIONNN 😩😩🦋🦋 The chemistry was insanee and i was eating up their scenes like a starved man 🤌🤌 Kai was literally so obsessed with her and we love to see it. It also had all the good tropes- knife to the throat? Tending to their wounds? Who did this to you? Training scenes? Literally all in here ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 Kai and Paedyn are such a good couple 🥺🥺