“For the reckless souls who dare to love and be loved”

I never want to read the words pretend or darling ever again. :)

Powerless wasn't great, but I still saw why people enjoyed it and thought it served as a good introduction to fantasy - due to how recognizably influenced by popular YA fantasy books it was. I also think I gave it a bit of grace since it was self-published to begin with and hoped that this book would stand on its own two feet a bit better.

That did not happen.

Instead, Reckless stole feet (specifically from Dance of Thieves, Red Queen, and Tangled) and used said stolen appendages to stand on a pile of manure, into which it slowly descended through the length of the novel.

Which is to say: this was bad and I did not like it all.

Reading is subjective and I know that this was partially intended for a specific type of reader that I am not. I respect that. However! This was also objectively atrocious in literally every regard - from the writing style to the plot to the characters and their absolutely horrific attempt at romance. Holy shit.

(There were also quite a few problematic elements, particularly in regards to the descriptions/treatment of BIPOC characters. While I don't believe it was the author's intent for these lines to read that way, I'm surprised it wasn't noticed by an editor.)

I can't think of a different way to word this, so I hope my meaning won't be misunderstood: it was abundantly obvious that this book was written with TikTok in mind. And I don't mean BookTok as a whole, I mean TikTok video formats and the algorithm. The lines are written like they're all meant to be taken out of context and used to market the book, which I understand.

The problem grows when these lines don't make sense in the context, making the reader feel weirdly divorced from the situations at hand.

For example:

"I'm tired of writing from the villain's perspective."
(This is said by a royal character whilst he's writing letters/signing official documents. It is the last line of a chapter and meant to be dramatic.)


First, there is nothing.
Second, there is everything.
There is her.
"Move, and I'll sink this dagger into your heart."
No. There is hatred.


"I see none of that, because I see nothing at all.
She is no one.
I am nothing.
We are forgotten.
And this is meaningless."


But I seem him now for what he is to me---dead.


"You think so little of me, Highness."
A laugh, "No, I think so often of you."

Aside from the fact that a lot of these read like Atticus poetry on Pinterest in 2016, they also read like they're meant to have a slowed and reverbed song behind them as blurry, nondescript fantasy pictures flash in the background.

This isn't me insulting BookTok or authors that use TikTok to promote their books. I love finding new books to read through every possible platform and I can 100% vibe to some cheesy ass, dramatic fantasy edit. But the intensity of the quotes needs to exist and fit into the story, rather than exist for the purpose of having a dramatic quote.

There are a lot of other issues I have with this book, including but not limited to:

- The worldbuilding (or lack thereof.)
Why the hell did we casually mention Achilles if this takes place in a world with no resemblance to our own? And if it's supposed to be our world but millions of years in the future, that is not made clear.

- The politics.
I don't even know what to say about this, other than the fact that this is the dumbest political environment I've ever read about. The resistance is laughable and the King is... Maven but with no actual reason for being the way he is?

- The "romance".
I mentioned this earlier but it deserves repeating. I didn't like Kai and Paedyn's relationship in Powerless; I hated their banter and saw their feelings as incredibly childish. This book not only proved my point, but made me hate it even more.

There's an art to a 'will they, won't they' situation that a lot of authors don't master. In the case that it isn't done well, it just reads like characters that keep having a melodramatic internal monologue as they make out with the person they just said they were going to kill. It ends up with the same sentence being repeated five. million. times and the reader wanting to become Dobby and slam a lamp into their skull.

I didn't go into this book expecting to hate it. In fact, I really hoped to enjoy it more than the first and I'm really disappointed that the opposite happened.

As I'm saying all of this, I want to add: I've followed Lauren Roberts since before she began writing Powerless. I've enjoyed her content and have cheered for her successes along with everyone else. I'm truly happy that she's gotten to pursue her dream and has found such a loving audience for her works. This review is in no way meant as an insult to her as a person.

With all of that being said, I wanted to love this and I'm really sad that I disliked it as much as I did. I hope that Lauren Roberts continues to find readers that love and support her work, even if it doesn't work for me.