Book Review: Powerless

Powerless by Lauren Roberts is the first in a YA romantasy trilogy. I've seen it everywhere. It was a nominee for best YA fantasy on Goodreads in 2023 and a winner of Barnes and Noble Book Award for YA in 2024. I'm not much for YA anymore, but I do love romantasy, and since I'm writing one I wanted to know what made this book so popular. 

Powerless follows Paedyn, an orphaned teen who must pretend to have special powers (she poses as a Psychic) because in her kingdom, anyone without powers is killed or banished to the desert to die. There's also an elite competition every so often where powerful teens fight (sometimes to the death) for glory. After Paedyn saves the prince in disguise, she's chosen for the competition. But as the deadly trials progress, so do her feelings for the prince.... or really the princes if we're being honest.

I can easily see the pitch for this book. Hunger Games turned fantasy meets Reign. I get why it sold as a traditionally published book, it seems like it has everything you need for success. And unfortunately, that's all my praise paragraph can say.

On the downside, the male leads were so blah that I can remember nothing about them, not even their names. The plot was predictable, including the "twist" which I thought until that point was an assumed fact, so the real twist was that none of the characters had put two and two together. In fact at one point I came up with a theory about what could happen as a real twist, but when the more obvious thing happened instead, I was so disappointed. The world was frustratingly vague, from the magic system to the culture to what the tech level was supposed to be. It was uncanny reading a book that should have worked and should have been good and it just kept missing the mark. I also struggled with what must have been an editorial choice: action beats kept being in the same paragraph as dialog but the speaker and the actor were two different characters. It made it seem like the wrong person was speaking, which was SO distracting.

This book may be for you if you're a YA lover, have not heavily read romantasy and therefore might be more surprised by the plot, and if you're a fan of competition-set stories. It's not for you if you've read a lot of romantasy before, if you're looking a memorable male lead, or if you're looking for unique world building.


Overall, not a series I'll continue. But hey, just because it wasn't for me, doesn't mean it doesn't have an audience. It's still popular! So, are you a Powerless lover? Make your case in the comments!