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Powerless By Lauren Roberts | Book Review
2/5 Stars. I have so many complaints about this book! TLDR The characters’ personalities contradict themselves and the setting isn’t explained.
First, I liked the premise! That’s why I picked up the book. The powerless person in a superhero world premise has potential and a great message. I think Roberts missed an opportunity to convey that the powerless can still be powerful.
Plot:
This story is a plot-driven narrative — the characters go from Scene A to Scene B to Scene C, etc. It’s hard to do well because the plot comes before the characters’ personalities. They end up being one-dimensional and molded to fit the plot when it should be the other way around. That’s the case in Powerless.
Characters:
The characters in Powerless have the same voice so every interaction between them is like someone talking to themselves. What’s worse is it felt like every interaction was flirtation. Even in the first two chapters where we are introduced to Paedyn and Kai, I thought they were flirting with Adena and Kitt. I was so confused! None of the relationships are believable, because the princes are flirting with each other or with the cook; Paedyn is flirting with the Imperial Guard who is part of the Resistance. And if the characters aren’t flirting with each other, they are just mad at each other. Those are the only two moods — flirtation or anger.
Paedyn, the main character and a powerless person, doesn’t do anything to save herself. She is supposed to be super smart and observant but that never comes into play when she is fighting a person with powers. If you have ever seen Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr., that “power” can be super exciting, interesting, and fun to watch. I’m super disappointed it wasn’t utilized. Paedyn never “reads” her opponents to win a fight, but only relies on her physical prowess and is often saved by someone with powers.
I think this is the main reason why Roberts missed the message: you can be powerful even without powers. If Paedyn used her powers of observation well throughout the book and won conflicts because of it, the message would be conveyed loud and clear. Instead, I left the book feeling like I needed a power to exist in this universe she created.
