It goes up from a 2 to 2.25 just for the last page. I hate when books are boring all throughout then have one big reveal at the end that makes you feel like you have to continue the series. I was totally prepared to DNF this series after this one. NOTHING HAPPENED in this entire book. If I have to read the same conversation one more time…. I will go crazy. Just don’t get into this series because it will just frustrate you, and go read Red Queen instead, it’s basically the OG Powerless 

Honestly the majority of the book was ok, but 75% was redundant.

We spend basically the first 75% flipping between Paedyn being the captive and Kai being the captive.

As such the plot never seems to progress. Especially since all this happens in basically the same setting. Basically nothing happens in the first 75% of the book which is too long. There’s also the matter of the weird data dump that is clearly because the author got a lot of criticism on book 1 for missing motivations. I think this book had a lot of potential it just missed the mark. 

Maybe it's because the first book was extremely disappointing so I was expecting to hate this book so I was surprised I didn't, bit I found that I enjoyed this book far more than Powerless. Does this book suffer from some of the same annoying things Powerless did? Yes. But it was still an improvement.

Here's what I did like:

1. There was much less use of the word 'laugh' or 'laughter' or 'huffed out a laugh' in this book. Because in Powerless I'm certain it was on almost every page with Paedyn and Kai interacting. There was still way too much use of those words (we need to get Roberts a thesaurus or something) but it was used much less this time around and I'll take whatever win I can get.

2. Also I feel like the stakes felt higher and since there weren't a ton of side characters sprinkled in, we had more time with our main characters. Which was both good and bad. Because I liked Paedyn for the most part in this book. She didn't feel bad for what she did in Powerless when she killed the king, but she also had a lot of trauma from losing those she cared about.

3. The action scenes were pretty good. I think they were well written and I liked how Paedyn wasn't constantly relying on Kai to use his magic to save her (which happened a lot in the first book).

4. The fact that this book was shorter that the first book so I didn't feel like I was walking through molasses trying to read through it. 



Now onto the nitpicky and not-nitpicky things I didn't like about this book.

1. There were a lot of things that were repeated way too many times, to the point that it felt like I was being hit over the head with it. Examples being

Pae and Kai saying "Pretend" every page, or Paedyn constantly telling Kai she couldn't kill him because he would be "deadweight." or how Kitt's chapters always had the "maybe I am going mad" and "they think I'm mad" or some variation that was supposed to make us think he might be losing it even though it was so obvious that we all kind of knew he wasn't.

2. The fact that the narrative tried to make Kai's and Paedyn's actions seem similar, particularly with how they killed each other's fathers. Paedyn killing Kai's dad was literally her killing a power-hungry king who orchestrated mass genocide of a group of people who he deemed weak because they didn't have powers, and she killed him because he was trying to kill her first! Kai killing Paedyn's dad was him killing a Healer who wasn't a classist and couldn't be bought like all the other Healers, and he did so because Kai's dad, the power-hungry king, told him too. Like Kai is a victim but trying to act like those two deaths were the same just wasn't it.

I mostly say this because of the scene where Kai tells Payden "I didn't want to! I wasn't going to! He (her dad) was asleep, but then he woke up and I panicked and stabbed him and I was so disgusted with myself I threw up afterward." Like... okay? You felt guilty for killing an innocent man... as you should. He may not have had a choice, but his situation would cause different emotions (including guilt even though the guilt wasn't really his). In contrast, Paedyn killed a guy who straight-up orchestrated mass genocide... so I don't think she needs to be feeling too bad about that.

3. Kai's weird back and forth in this book. He flirted with her, true, but he also kept being like "I have a duty" as if that would make him blameless for his decisions to bring Paedyn in to presumably be imprisoned or executed. It was weird because it felt like he wanted to push Paedyn away and act like he didn't care, but then he'd flirt with her and try to get her to admit she cared for him. And normally I wouldn't mind that but the book never seems to mention how back and forth he is. 

4. This is Kai-related, but the epilogue and how Kai acted in it.

The epilogue pissed me off and made me dislike Kai because he went on and on about how much he cared for Paedyn but he doesn't seem ready to do anything about it. He's just accepting that his brother, who he doesn't think is mentally stable at the moment, wants to marry the woman he's head over heels for. And he's just like "I'll love her from afar because the beast doesn't get the beauty boohoo I'm so sad waahhh." Like stop being emo for two seconds and try to find out what's going on instead of stepping away! Like you told Paedyn you would work together and then you just take a step back when you get some shocking news? What?!

Overall I can't say this book was great or anything. I don't even know if I'll call it good, but it wasn't as bad as the first book, so that's a win. Do I care enough to continue to the third book? Meh. Not really. But I might just to see what happens.  

Okay so let me preface this by saying that even though there is a LOT that an editor could have helped with and there isn’t a single original idea in the whole series, I was still absolutely hooked. 
But really, the typos and plot holes were KILLING me. 

“WRAPPED on the door”, “I trace the GROVES in the wood”, “before I’ve even CHOCKED down air for my burning lungs”. Also, what is a “glasslike gaze”?  WHAT does “she’s already accepted a fate of her deciding” mean?? Lauren! Girl!
The other beef I had that felt like a pretty big over look is that the chain they’re linked together with is “three feet long”. Three feet is NOT very long at all, especially not when you take into account that Paedyn is 5’6” and Kai has to be somewhere around 6’. Exactly how are they climbing through windows and up ladders and rock faces and mounting horses while connected with a chain less than a body length?

I thought that this book what pretty good, but not as well written as the first, though it is better than most other books I've read.

I just have so many questions. Like what is Callum doing? WHY WOULD HE TELL KITT TO MARRY PAEDYN? How will the court react? How will PAEDYN react? She can't say no, or it's her head, which to be honest, she might prefer.

I can't wait for April 2025!