Book Nook: "Powerless"

"Powerless.” A book that has gained an almost cult-like following and sold over one million copies worldwide. Of course I had to read it. Buckle your seat belts and hold on to your hats everyone ‘cause I have opinions.

“Powerless” is the first book in Lauren Roberts’ young adult fantasy series that was released in 2023. This book has been compared to Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” and “Red Queen” by Alexandra Bracken.

“Powerless” is about Paedyn Grey, a seventeen-year-old girl who lives in the kingdom of Ilya. In this world, there are people with power, the Elites, and those without, the Ordinaries. Those who are born Ordinary are banished from the kingdom. Paedyn Gray is an Ordinary, but she has survived by posing as a Psychic. After unknowingly saving one of the princes of Ilya and future enforcer, Kai Azer, Paedyn is picked to go through the Purging Trials. Through the trials, Kai and Paedyn start to form a relationship, but she has to hide the fact that she is indeed Ordinary.

There were a plethora of problems in this novel, from the plot to the world to the writing. But I’ll try to keep it short and simple. Maybe.

Since this book is already compared to “The Hunger Games” I am going to keep up with this theme. Both of these novels feature a tournament of some sort that the main characters are put in. In “The Hunger Games” there is the Hunger Games; a death tournament a group of children are forced to participate in where the children have to kill each other until only one survives. In “Powerless,” there are the Purging Trials, a game put on by the king every couple of years where a group of young elites are picked to complete a series of trials for status and bragging rights. The trials were my main gripe with this book. The main reason is that there is no real reason or need for these trials. It is simply used as a plot tool to bring Paedyn and Kai together. Since everyone in these games are already from noble families and have powerful abilities, except for Paedyn, it doesn’t have the same impact as a group of children killing each other to survive. I mean in one of these trials, Kai and Paedyn had to collect bracelets. And sure, some people did die, but unlike “The Hunger Games” that’s not the point. If a book is going to feature a trial or game, there needs to be a good reason behind it and real stakes. The way it is done in the book seems so surface level and only used to get the main characters to interact.

The characters were the only halfway decent thing. Kai and Paedyn are typical young adult protagonists with some annoying tendencies. Paedyn, as I previously mentioned, is an Ordinary; she has no power, and if she was found out, she would be banished or executed. That being said, you would think she would keep her head down and try not to bring attention to herself. Nope. She was so “not like other girls” that, not only did she get the attention of both princes, but also the king. And of course she always had a dagger strapped to her thigh and don’t you forget it because you will be reminded every ten pages. All that aside, she does have some good qualities. She is brave and showed she was intelligent throughout the book. Now Kai is the embodiment of tall, dark, and handsome but I also found him to be a surprisingly complex character. All his life he has been trained to be the enforcer. The enforcer is the per - son in charge of banishing and killing the Ordinaries found in the kingdom. That being said, he was raised by his father to be ruthless, stoic, and somewhat cruel. And he definitely could be but he didn’t necessarily want to be. He spent the entire book in an internal conflict to fight against these ingrained characteristics.

Problems aside, I honestly enjoyed this book, and no one is more embarrassed to admit that than me. It may have been the influenza induced fever or the nostalgia I felt while reading, but this book was fun. But it is definitely the type of book that you can’t enjoy unless you throw logic out the window. Do not confuse my weird love for this book as it being of quality. This book is terrible. Just read “The Hunger Games.” 4/10