Overall Opinion: ★★★☆☆
The book was good. Not great, not my favorite, but not bad either. I just feel like I have experienced everything written in the book before. With themes and tones from: Hunger Games, Throne of Glass and Red Queen, it was a little predictable. The banter between the main characters was my favorite part about the book. Paedyn is a good character, but Kai really steals the show. He is just the right amount of sweet and protective offset the grimness of his profession and grey morals taught from his father. The ending was as stated, mostly predictable. I am curious to see which way the author goes with the storyline with Kitt. Will he follow in his father's footsteps or carve a new path for himself? Despite the change of heart at the end. I feel like the other characters in the book were underdeveloped but likable for what we got of them.
Overall, I would give this book a 3 out of 5 rating. I will continue with the next book, as I heard there is a twist at the end that I would like to know what happens.
If you would like to read on... below is a synopsis of my reading chunks as I read through. I try to keep is spoiler free but you may be able to gather information between the lines. So read on with caution.
Other books I have read and wrote about:
Of Flames and Fallacies - Courtney Whims
Plated Prisoner Series (Gild)- Raven Kennedy
This month's book club read is Powerless by Lauren Roberts. As well as the rest of the series. HOWEVER, I did not plan very well and started 2 new series recently (Trial of the Sun Queen and the Gild Series) and did not start Powerless until a few days ago....
Book Club meeting is on May 30th. (It is currently May 18th 🙈) Needless to say, I probably won't finish the series before then. BUT I do want to try to get as far as I can.
So here it goes,
Pages 1- 17
Intro of characters and place...
Paedyn is our female main character with Kai and Kitt ( half brothers) as our main male characters.
Background:
There was a plague that caused some that survived to develop powers while others stayed "Ordinary". Paedyn is Powerless 😏(hence the name of the book). The king, Kitt and Kai's father, ordered the Ordinary to execution. He also killed Paedyn's father for reasons unknown at the moment. So hatred toward the royalty from our FMC.
Paedyn has survived this long because she very convincingly pretends to have a certain power that is hard for others to accuse her of lying.
Kai and Kitt, being royalty, have powers. Kai has the ability to take on the abilities of those near him and Kitt can manipulate fire and water.
The "Trials" are introduced pretty quickly. They sound very reminiscent of the Hunger Games, where a person is chosen from various sections of the kingdom to compete sometimes to the death for a prize.
Pages 17- 66
In these pages, it mostly describes Kai's job as an enforcer and what he is expected to do. It shows him as flawed but also gives him a softer, more reasonable side that makes the reader endeared to him.
This is also where Paedyn and him first meet. Already off the bat the banter and back and forth dialog is pretty great. I love a good banter between our main characters!
Paedyn shows her skills for fighting and survival in these chapters and also saves Kai's life which leads to, you guessed it, her being chosen for the Trials. Which is where the meat of the story starts.
66-142
These chapters were GREAT for banter between Paedyn and Kai! We meet the other competitors of the Trials, get to know their powers, and a little bit of their personalities. We read about the first Trial interviews and how Paedyn fools everyone to thinking she has a power (reminds me of Psych the TV show, which makes me enjoy this even more).
We read about many training sessions and an upcoming ball that the competitors will need to pair off. My guess is either 1. Kai will jump to ask Paedyn to be his ball partner OR 2. Blair ( who is another competitor) will take him and leave Paedyn to go with Kitt.
Here are some awesome quotes that made me smile:
" I'm sure whatever I called you was warranted, accurate and deserved" ( she called him a cocky bastard)
" Too stubborn to ask for help, Gray?"... " No, too strong to need it"
" I'm more than willing to rip your dresses for you, Gray. To help, of course. You only need to ask"
" What if I didn't duck Gray?"... " I knew you'd duck Azer" ( after he said those same words to here earlier in the chapter)
" That's funny because I won't hesitate to mess up your pretty face"... " I knew you thought I was pretty"
" Oh darling, as long as you still think I'm pretty, I don't give a damn what I look like"
Pages 142- 288
These chapters are about the 1st ball and trial. The first trial is giving very Hunger Games vibes.
During the first ball you find out more about the Resistance.
You get a dichotomy of preferring Kitt or Kai?? Definitely like the relationship between Kai and Paedyn much more. Kitt is very sweet though.
In the first trial 2 of our contestants bite the dust with a 3rd close call that had you on the edge of your seat.
The author gives you another "villain" contestant to hate and want revenge on.
Pages 288 - 429
I have read through to the final trial and ball. I stopped reading briefly to the beginning of the 3rd and final trial. I only stopped because I would like to have uninterrupted time to finish it.
The book is good, the tension between Paedyn and Kai is amazing. You find out more about the resistance and their purpose and goals. Honestly, I don't trust it. I'm predicting now that some double cross is going to happen with Paedyn and the Resistance.
Paedyn struggles with a moral dilemma between the Resistance and friendship with the princes and Kitt starts to see the reality of his Kingdom and MAYBE his father doesn't always know best.
I am hopefully going to finish this book and move on to the next tomorrow (maybe tonight). But I for sure will not finish the series by Friday (today is Wednesday 😬)
My thought is to put my overall opinion on the book at the top of this page and then if anyone wants to read about some of the specifics of the book they can read on. Assuming that anyone else reads this besides me 😁.
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