Powerless by Lauren Roberts

 Powerless by Lauren Roberts is a powerful beginning to the powerless trilogy. In this dystopian world, the protagonist is tested with challenges harder than ever; surviving, keeping a dark secret (that could get her killed,) and witnessing the deaths of others. 

Here is a short summary of the beginning of the novel: Paedyn Gray was born as an ordinary in the kingdom of elites, Ilya. King Edric, holds a grudge towards the ordinary, believing they are a weakness to the Ilya. This ultimately leads to orders given to the future enforcer, Prince Kai, to rid all ordinaries and to banish any elites harboring ordinaries. One day at Loot Alley, Prince Kai and Paedyn stumble (quite literally) into each other’s paths. This leads to the ultimate main character meeting; Paedyn stealing from Prince Kai. Later on, Prince Kai finds himself with thieves, attempting to steal his gold. In his hopeless state, Paedyn manages to save him, earning the nickname, Silver Savior. After earning this nickname, Paedyn finds herself on the list of those entering the trial; a trial meant to test the powers of the most powerful elites, even ending with the passing of some contestants. With no escape possible, she finds herself counting on her fake elite powers more than ever; to survive, or maybe even win.

Out of many strengths, here are a couple that I enjoyed the most. For one, I really enjoy how the book was written, having chapters from both the perspective of Paedyn and Kai. This element really strengthened the writing and helped me understand the plot better, having thoughts from both sides. Secondly, I personally really enjoy the characteristics of Paedyn. The internal struggles she faces (SPOILER: specifically of her feelings toward Kai,) with arguments going on in her head is something that I find makes her so human.

SPOILERS: On the opposite side, there is one thing that I personally disliked with the book. When Paedyn finds out about the resistance, a group of people fighting for rights of ordinaries, she decides to join them. However, joining them meant betraying Prince Kitt, the heir to the throne. Eventually, Paedyn led the resistance into the bowl, where the final trial was taking place, through a secret tunnel Kitt had told her. Paedyn manages to escape to the castle, with only Kitt knowing that she had betrayed them. When she exits, she comes face to face with the king, who had found out her secret, her being an ordinary. She gets into a fight with the king, ending when the king passes away. This scene was not something that I personally liked specifically because of her betraying Kitt, who became a close friend to her, and really trusted her. Although I understand this is a critical part of the plot especially for the rest of the series, this scene was just a bit of a disappointment to me.

Overall, I would recommend it to anyone who likes dystopian and romance novels.

- Hyelynn