This review covers three books in the Powerless Trilogy by Lauren Roberts. It contains some spoilers, so if you haven’t read the books yet, you may want to skip this review until you do.
Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, Book One)
Title: Powerless
Author: Lauren Roberts
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy / Romantasy, Epic Fantasy
Year of Publication: 2023
Date of Publication: November 7, 2023
Pages: 528 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1665954884
Summary of Powerless
The story follows a woman named Paedyn “Pae” Gray. Paedyn lives in the Kingdom of Ilya. She is classified as an Ordinary, which means someone without supernatural powers in a world where powers define status.
In Ilya, Ordinaries are persecuted: they were banished or killed under the King’s decree, because the King claims that their existence weakens the powers of the Elite and eventually would leave their kingdom vulnerable. As a result, Pae pretends to be a Mundane i.e. someone with little powers. She claims to be a Psychic and that is how she has remained in Ilya. She lives in the slums (Loot Alley) and in order to survive, she and her best friend named Adena, steal from unsuspecting visitors.
One day Pae saves Prince Kai’s life during a confrontation, without knowing who he is. This act, combined with her stealing from him earlier, marks her as the “Silver Saviour,” and she is pulled into the kingdom’s harsh Trials. The Trials are known as the Purging and are competitions meant to showcase the strengths of the Elites. To survive, Paedyn must hide her lack of powers, compete among powered people, deal with court intrigue, danger, and a growing attraction to Kai (who has a complicated role as a prince and as part of the system that oppresses people like her).
Throughout the story, Pae is torn between the risks of exposure, the cruelty of the laws against Ordinaries, her desire to survive (and protect those she cares about), and her feelings, especially as she becomes more involved in the political and social unrest of Ilya.
Reckless (The Powerless Trilogy, Book Two)
Title: Reckless
Author: Lauren Roberts
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy / Romantic Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Year of Publication: 2024
Date of Publication: July 2, 2024
Pages: ~ 400 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1398530126
Summary of Reckless
After the dramatic events at the end of Powerless, Paedyn Gray has killed the King of Ilya and triggered a Resistance. She is on the run and is determined to escape those who want her captured or killed. Meanwhile, Kai Azer has become the Enforcer under his brother Kitt, the new King, and is tasked with bringing Paedyn to justice.
The chase takes both of them across dangerous terrains including a desert known as the Scorches and into the city of Dor. In Dor, the power dynamics are flipped as Ordinaries have more freedom there. There are fighting rings in Dor, secrets that are discovered from Paedyn’s father’s journal, betrayals, capture, and reluctant cooperation.
Book 2 centers around Paedyn’s attempts to hide, survive, and find allies, and how Kai balances his pursuit for justice and his duty with the feelings he has for Paedyn. The book ends with some major revelations and a cliffhanger that will leave you wondering how the trilogy will conclude.
Reckless is the middle-book in the trilogy. It bridges the consequences of Powerless and sets up for Fearless.
Fearless (The Powerless Trilogy, Book Three)
Title: Fearless
Author: Lauren Roberts
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy / Dark Fantasy / Romantasy, Epic Fantasy
Year of Publication: 2025
Date of Publication: April 8, 2025
Pages: 608 pages (hardcover edition)
ISBN-10: 1665955465
ISBN-13: 978-1665955461
Summary of Fearless
Fearless is the conclusion of The Powerless Trilogy. It follows Paedyn Gray and Kai Azer as they return to the Kingdom of Ilya. Paedyn is faced with a life‐altering choice—one that will determine her fate and the fate of many others.
A lot of the plot in Book 3 builds on the tension of the previous books (Powerless and Reckless). Now, with political stakes rising, King Kitt (Kai’s brother) proposes marriage to Paedyn as a political alliance in order to unify Elites and Ordinaries and attempt to heal a divided kingdom. Of course this marriage proposal is problematic given the romantic connection that exists between Kai and Paedyn. Paedyn’s feelings, moral obligations, and heart are all pulled in different directions.
As the story in Fearless concludes, some significant truths are revealed including truths about the lineage of some of the characters and hidden motives behind certain actions. The novel builds toward a conclusion that resolves many of the series’ arcs.
Main Plot & Characters
- Paedyn “Pae” Gray — She is the main character in this story. Paedyn is an Ordinary and is pretending to have psychic powers (to avoid detection). She is resourceful, resilient, and driven partly by loss (her father died under the King’s oppression) and a desire for justice.
- Kai Azer — He is a prince of Ilya. Kai has the ability called “Wielder,” which allows him to use and control other people’s abilities. He is King Edric’s Enforcer, meaning his duty requires him to eliminate any person the king considers a threat. Kai is torn between his duties, his moral compass, and what his role in the society demands.
- Kitt Azer — He is Kai’s half-brother and the heir to the throne. He is more sheltered by palace life, but his character becomes important especially in relation to Pae and the trials. He later becomes king.
- Edric Azer — He is Kitt and Kai’s father and the king in Book 1 (Powerless). He enforces harsh laws against the Ordinaries. Edric is strict, extremely calculative, and a politically driven ruler.
- Adena — She is Pae’s best friend. Adena is a seamstress. Pae does what she can to care for Adena. They live together in the slums.
- Blair — She is an Elite. She plays a role in Adena’s death. Blair was involved in the Trials and is a general’s daughter.
- The Elites — They are those who have supernatural powers. They enforce laws that marginalize or punish Ordinaries.
- Calum / The Mind Reader – He is associated with the Resistance. He later becomes an adviser to King Kitt and plays a role in the revelations toward the end of the trilogy.
- Lenny, Leena, Mira, Finn and Mira – They are part of the the Resistance, which is an underground group who oppose King Edric Azer’s oppressive regime.
- Myla Rowe — She was Kai mother and Edric’s second wife.
- Iris Moyra — She is Kitt’s mother and Edric’s first wife. She has a connection to Paedyn.
- Gail — She is the cook at the palace. Gail has a very close relationship to both Kitt and Kai.
- Mundanes — They are sometimes called lesser elites because they have little power.
- Ava Azer — She was Kitt and Kai’s younger sister.
- Ace, Hera, Sadie, Braxton, and Andy — They were participants in the Purging Trials.
- Rafael — He is the owner of the fight club in Reckless.
Writing Style
Lauren Roberts tells the story mostly from dual POVs i.e. Paedyn & Kai. There are portions of the books that are from Edric and Kitt’s POVs. We really liked the multiple perspectives as it works well with these types of narratives. Robert also does a great job with the worldbuilding. We get a good sense of Ilya, the slums, the harshness of the Scorches, as well as life in Dor.
We enjoyed the first two books and found the story to be engaging but by Book 3, we were no longer cheering for the relationship between Kai and Paedyn. It just came off as been disloyal to Kitt with all the “pretending.” Also the switch in Kitt’s character in Book 3 seemed all over the place and almost like a forced need to make the character a villain to ensure Kai and Pae end up together. It was difficult to reconcile Kitt from Book 1 with Book 3. Granted he had experienced a tragedy but it read like a completely different character. It’s not easy to make us dislike the main characters in any book but Book 3 somehow pulled this off and left us not liking Paedyn and Kai and we really liked these characters in the first two books.
It was also a little difficult to reconcile how Paedyn could not get over Blair’s actions that led to Adena’s death but somehow seemed to find peace with the fact that she killed King Edric and believed that Kitt and Kai should forgive her. Also, there was a bit of emphasis in Book 1 on how brutal the Elites are and Blair’s father being a general, yet even these facts were not enough incentive for Paedyn to stop seeking revenge against Blair.
Memorable Quotes from The Powerless Trilogy
- “Thank the Plague.”— Common expression throughout the books
- “I’d never thought about what my favorite color was before because I hadn’t seen one that was worthy of the title. Until now, that is.”— Kai
- “Remind me to make you smile like that again, when you aren’t dying, and I have all the time in the world to memorize it.”
- “Because beasts don’t get the beauty.”— Kai
- “I was lonely in a way that I imagine the stars to be, observed by everyone yet too far to truly be seen.”
- Call us even. Call me crazy. I don’t care. Just… Just call me yours.”
- “You cannot be nothing when you are everything to someone else.”
- “I may be a monster, but if you cut me, I’ll bleed. And if you break my heart, Pae, you’ll break me. So, if even a sliver of your soul longs for mine, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to deserve it.”.”— Kai
- “Tell me you hate me, and I’ll still count every heartbeat, every freckle, every shiver of your body, if only you say it with a smile.”
- “You’re not just a mission to me. You’re not just another enemy for me to find. You’re something even more terrifying.”— Kai
- “You don’t need a blade. I would bleed if only you asked.”— Kai
- “Love each other for me.”
- “You’re quite the poet, Prince.” Moonlight pools in the dimple that accompanies his grin. “And you the muse, darling.”
- “I love you. And I’ve been waiting to tell you since I realized your eyes are my favorite color and your freckles the only constellation worth looking at. … Pae, you are my inevitable.”— Kai
Final Thoughts on The Powerless Trilogy by Lauren Roberts
Powerless Trilogy is an entertaining addition to the YA romantasy genre. The books give us oppression, resistance, underdogs to cheer for and forbidden romance. The trilogy received some criticisms as many felt the “Purging Trials,” the branded scar on Pae, and the concepts of the Elites incorporated portions of books like The Hunger Games, The Selection, and Red Queen. While those comparisons are fair, we didn’t particularly dislike these facts since the books did have their own twist on things.
With that said, while we enjoyed Books 1 and 2 (Powerless and Reckless), which we found to be good reads, we found Book 3 (Fearless) to be a much harder read. Fearless feels less cohesive. Some character arcs, particularly Kitt’s, take sharp turns that feel more like a setup for the endgame than a natural evolution. The romance between Paedyn and Kai also loses some of its spark as their choices grow harder to reconcile. By the end, the trilogy risks alienating readers who once rooted for its central characters.
Even with these flaws, the overall series still delivers plenty of emotional highs. If you enjoy YA fantasy with high stakes, dangerous trials, rebellion, and a star-crossed romance at its heart, The Powerless Trilogy is worth picking up.
There are also some other books associated with this trilogy including Powerful and Fearful, which was published on September 2, 2025.
Have you read any of the books in The Powerless Trilogy? How did you feel about the way the trilogy ended—satisfying or frustrating?
Authors
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