With the first book of the series being published in 2023 and the last of the trilogy published in 2025, “Powerless,” written by Lauren Roberts, has over 5.5 million copies in print and has a growing fan group falling in love or in deep hatred with the characters. Every chapter drips with drama and revenge, leaving every reader on the edge of their seat and slightly criticizing themselves for being so invested. Fan of “Hunger Games”, “Divergent” or “Twilight”? Welcome to a series that wraps them all into one.
The series starts by illustrating the dystopian Kingdom of Ilya, a place divided into two main groups: the Elites and the Ordinaries. After a devastating plague, Ilians who survived were “blessed” with powers. These powers fall into three categories: the Offensive, the Mundanes or the Defensives. However, some people were born without a power, known as the Ordinaries. By order of the king of Ilya, these Ordinaries contained a disease that would rid the Elites of their powers, this justified the king’s soldiers killing the Ordinaries. This forced Ordinaries to fake powers in order to save their own lives. This is exactly what the main character of Powerless, Paedyn Grey, did. But when she was put in the Purging Trials, a “Hunger Games” type of show of powers in Ilya, Paedyn was forced to push her skills to the limit in order to save her life and keep her secret.
Not only does this book series contain a heart-racing element of fight-to-the-death and careful calculation, but it contains the heart-racing element of enemies to lovers with forbidden love sewed across the pages. It appeals to those who want more than just a romance themed plot line because of the life vs. death element, but it also contains gut-wrenching plot twists that keep the reader enthralled to the very end, unsure of what will come next. The unpredictable outcomes set it apart from many other romance novels and even from dystopian novels as well.
This book will, in my own words, “change your life.” No person could read this book and not love it to the core. In the course of three weeks my heart raced during the first book, I screamed to my friends about the second and cried (literally) during the third book. The plot twists just keep coming, and the reader enjoys every part of the ride in the mystical kingdom of Ilya.
