I recently read this book in the span of like one day, and honestly…I don’t get the hype. Let me explain.

I first heard about the book from Instagram and YouTube because everyone was fawning over Kai Azer. Reading the synopsis on Goodreads, I was intrigued enough to download the book and start reading it.

For all of you who haven’t heard of the book - here’s a brief overview:

To set the scene - years ago a great Plague swept the land, killing most in its wake. Of those who survived, most gained special powers. Those with powers are called Elites. Each Elite has one power, and there exist a variety of powers- some people can control fire and water, others can teleport, some have extreme strength, etc. However, some people survived without gaining powers, and these people are called Ordinaries. The power-hungry king convinced the people that Ordinaries are responsible for disease and drain the Elites of their power, and has ruled that Ordinaries within the kingdom are to be killed.

Meet our main character, Paedyn Gray. She’s **gasp** an Ordinary thief living in the slums who steals to survive. Her father has taught her how to profile people extremely well, allowing her to pretend that she is an Elite with Psychic abilities. And, like most romantasy FMCs, she’s been trained to fight and is pretty strong despite being poor and malnourished. One day, she robs a wealthy handsome stranger and then later saves him from being killed by fighting the stranger’s attacker. However, as she defeats this attacker she brings a lot of attention to herself, and she soon realizes that the handsome stranger whose life she just saved is none other than Prince Kai Azer. She soon becomes known as the “Silver Savior” due to her silver hair and her act of heroism that saved the Prince. 

We now introduce our MMC, Kai Azer. Like most romantasy male leads, he’s morally grey. He’s broody and smirks a lot. He’s got enticing eyes and is a skilled fighter. Kai has a unique power - when another Elite gets close to him, he can both sense and take on their power. Paedyn is able to convince him that he can’t sense her powers because her Psychic abilities are weak and difficult to control. As the King’s second son, Kai has been trained to be the future Enforcer (meaning that he does all the King’s dirty work such as executions, torture, etc). While Kai doesn’t agree with his father’s harsh methods of teaching and with the strict laws he’s made to enforce, he accepts his duty and tries to save those that he can. Kai is quite close with his older brother Kitt, who’s been trained to be the future King.

Then comes the Purging Trials, a Hunger Games-esque series of trials honoring the initial Purging (killing) of the Ordinaries in which only the most worthy teenage Elites are selected to compete for glory and honor. And due to Paedyn’s act of heroism, she’s chosen to compete in the Purging Trials - as an Ordinary with no powers.

Thus begins the book.

Just considering the plot, I think this book had a lot of potential. You’ve got powers, a cutthroat competition, an unequal society - the building blocks are all there. If I were just judging this book by plot alone, I would have given it 4 out of 5 stars. Unfortunately, I feel that the plot could have been better executed, and there wasn’t something unique enough about the plot to differentiate it from the many other romantasy books out there. 

My main complaint about the book was that the characters were not very well developed - everyone felt like caricatures of the most basic romantasy tropes of all time. We have our bada** warrior FMC, viewed as weak by society but with enough determination to squash anything in her way. We have our broody MMC with daddy issues that’s forced to kill and hunt, but has a caring heart deep underneath all that moodiness. I just couldn’t find anything within Paedyn or Kai that felt relatable or like a normal human. They didn’t have much depth or growth over the whole novel, and instead simply felt like cookie cutter characters. 

I have mixed feelings about the romance between Paedyn and Kai. On one hand, I liked their conversations and they had a pretty good meet cute. They relate to each other about deeper issues and discuss their struggles, and they have a pretty strong understanding of each other, which I appreciated. Their banter was okay - it wasn’t as witty as I would have liked, but it did the trick of highlighting the tension they feel as competitors in the Trials while they try to fight the physical attraction they feel for each other. I personally felt that the physical aspects of the romance were extremely awkward. As Paedyn and Kai train, they engage in some serious combat - often drawing blood, putting daggers at each other’s throats, punching each other, etc. Yet they remark that they feel a “spark” or “heat” whenever they touch. Like, can I roll my eyes any harder? It also just feels weird for them to be feeling such strong physical attraction while literally fighting each other. I will admit that I do appreciate that the romance isn’t rushed. However, I still don’t see why the internet is fawning over Kai Azer - maybe this comes out more in the second book? The romance is kind of a slow burn….

This book also features one of my least favorite tropes of all time - the sibling love triangle. Because of course it isn’t enough for the author to have Paedyn to catch the eye of one prince - she has to ensure that Paedyn gets the interest of both the future King and the future Enforcer. BARF. Kitt asks Paedyn to the first ball, and they end up becoming good friends. Kitt expresses his feelings about the trials and his future as King, and Paedyn convinces him to search beyond the walls of the palace to understand the problems his people are facing. I really liked their friendship and I feel like they taught each other some valuable lessons, but I hated that they had romantic tension the entire time. Ugh. Honestly though - Kitt’s a total sweetheart. He’s the opposite of his broody younger brother, probably because he wasn’t trained by his father to be a killer. What makes the sibling love triangle worse is that Kitt and Kai are extremely close, so watching them both fall for the same girl makes me feel nauseous. 

Don’t get me wrong - there were some aspects of the book that I enjoyed. The style of writing wasn’t bad, it read like most popular novels in the genre. While basic and very similar to many other dystopian novels, I really enjoyed the aspect of the Purging Trials. When reading about the first trial, I remember thinking “Oooh, this is like a mini Hunger Games!”. I liked the different scenarios the competitors found themselves in and how they fought to survive and win each trial. There are three trials, and before each trial, the palace hosts a ball for all the competitors and other fancy guests. I honestly really loved the balls too! They were some of my favorite parts of the whole book. I know it's so cliche for a romantasy FMC to wear a fancy ballgown at a dance with a dagger strapped to her thigh, but it’s a cliche for a reason, and I will never not be there for it. 

Overall, I gave this book three stars. I don’t regret reading it, but I also don’t feel the need to read any of the other books in the series. If the characters were more developed, I think I would have kept reading it and given it 4 stars. But Powerless just read like one of the many mediocre romantasy books that have been growing in popularity recently - there wasn’t anything about it that made it unique in my eyes and I wasn’t so drawn to the book that I felt I couldn’t put it down. Hence the three star rating - it was an okay and entertaining read at times, but I wouldn’t really recommend it to others.