Powerless
by Lauren Roberts
read by Chase Brown and Cecily Bednar Schmidt
Simon & Schuster Audio, 2023. 17 hours, 28 minutes.
Review written February 20, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
I only review books I like. That has always been true. I don’t ever want to imply that my judgment is better than people who like the book – there are always some people. And I don’t really want authors to find a bad review of their book on my site. Lately, if I have too many reservations, I’ve decided just to pass on reviewing the book. The trouble with that is that later on I forget what my reservations were, and just remember a general negative. So – with Powerless, I decided to review it on my blog only. I won’t even link to the review on social media, so think of this as bonus content for those who subscribe to my blog.
All that said – I did enjoy the book, and I did listen to all 17.5 hours of it. Well, the second time I tried. This book is wildly popular with our library customers, and since I love YA Fantasy novels, I decided to find out what all the fuss was about. But when I started listening to it this time, it was just familiar enough for me to remember that I’d tried listening to it earlier and had given up after several chapters. This time I was feeling more tolerant of tropes and listened to the whole thing. And enjoyed it.
But let me talk about tropes. This one has All the Tropes. We start out with the noble thief, living on the streets, expert at thieving and fighting – but good at heart, forced into it because her father was murdered when she was thirteen.
Then there’s the trope of everyone has a magic power. In this case, the explanation is that there was a plague that killed off most of the population, and those that survived have magic powers. But those who do not have magic powers – Ordinaries – are considered diseased and a blight on the kingdom and must be executed.
That part – executing the outcast group – is a trope, too. But it strikes way too close to home as blaming a group of outcasts for all society’s ills is a hallmark of fascism and is way, way too relevant today.
Another trope is the evil, horrible, repressive king (the one whose idea it is to execute all the Ordinaries) – but with a son who is good despite his evil father. Well, in this case, they’re also half-heartedly going for a love triangle trope – so the king has two sons, both who end up interested in our heroine. But I say it’s half-hearted, because only the younger son is also a viewpoint character, and it’s with him that we get lots of talk about “wanting” each other.
Let me add in here that there’s no sex in this book, but oh my goodness there’s enormous sexual tension – even some sleeping together in vulnerable situations where sex doesn’t happen. Lots of touching in provocative ways. Going out on a limb, I’m pretty sure there’s eventually going to be sex between those characters or the readers will be up at arms.
But the trope I didn’t like at all was the competition where lots of the competitors kill each other. Because again, it was half-hearted. Called the “purging trials,” it was never remotely clear what the point was. We didn’t even find out who won at the end – because votes from spectators are part of the score, and they never told us how that went, even though we found out who finished the last trial first. We also didn’t get the scoring details of the earlier trials. We were told that the “future enforcer” needed to win to impress the people of the kingdom – but not clear why or what would happen if he didn’t. Or what the winner even wins. And it’s clear from the start that many die in the Purging Trials – but many don’t die. I never understood why killing other competitors was necessary or expected. With the kingdom watching, did it ever occur to anyone to demand that those who murder other contestants be held accountable? And even if there’s immunity from killing someone in the trials, why wouldn’t many of the competitors simply refuse to do that? Our protagonists make alliances with some of the other competitors, but others seem to be fair game – and part of the way they’re shown as evil is because they attack friends of our protagonists. Because that’s worse than the killing our main characters do? It just all feels like an excuse to have some killing and show how evil the king is who encourages that – but also the evil characters who attack the people we like.
And oh yes, the thing about the Future Enforcer. He’s the second son of the king. His older brother will be the next king – and he will be his brother’s Enforcer. What I never understood is why was he not already considered the Enforcer? There’s never any mention of a current Enforcer, but he’s already going around finding Ordinaries to execute and torturing people in the dungeon. Even thinks about torturing as a way to blow off steam after the trials. I don’t understand why he’s going to hold this title – only after his father dies.
And speaking of torturing and killing – Okay, his horrible father is the one who forced him to learn to be a torturer and an executioner. Yes, that’s all very awful. But it’s kind of a great big romantic red flag? It seems like no matter what your body’s telling you and no matter how attractive you find him or how sorry for him you feel – it’s going to be fairly easy not to fall in love with him. (Never mind the big thing she only remembered at the end. Really?) So forgive me if I’m not all that excited about that relationship. And that’s disregarding the fact that I despise men who call women they are barely acquainted with “Darling.”
Another trope is dearly loved people being killed or nearly killed. More than one. And the one toward the end of the book, I never understood any justification for calling the person a “criminal.” Just to show what an awful person the king is?
Yes, the book is incredibly violent. The future Enforcer isn’t the only one who kills people. But they’re Bad People because they killed people our protagonists cared about.
So, yes, I had a bunch of issues with this book. But I finished it, and I enjoyed listening. I might even listen to more books in the series – there’s a novella, a sequel, and the third book of the trilogy coming out soon. Can I set aside all my reservations to find out what happens next? I’m not sure, but now at least I can look up this review and remember what happened in the first book.
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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