By Autumn Graef

Many people are familiar with the popular BookTok novel, Powerless. Published in late January of 2023, Lauren Roberts’ Powerless has won a Barnes and Noble award, as well as being nominated for a Goodreads choice award and being a New York Times bestseller. But is the book as good as the statistics say? The first of three novels in the series, Powerless, in short, is about a magical world where everyone is born with a superpower, and those without these powers are illegal and must be killed. In the fictional world of this romantasy novel, much like The Hunger Games, teenagers are put in a sick game where they must injure and kill each other to win. Paedyn Gray, a ‘powerless’ girl living on the streets, pretends to have powers in order not to be killed. Kai Azer, a prince with the ability to use everyone’s powers, is in charge of killing the powerless citizens of his country. 

When I read this book over the summer, my expectations were quite high because of all the positive propaganda I had seen for it, but, to me, the novel was not as good as people claimed it to be. Sure, the idea of it sounded nice, but the romantic parts of this romance novel were less romantic and more creepy. A scene where this is shown is probably the most popular scene, when Kai is escorting Paedyn to her room and, without warning, grabs her face. She responds by pressing a knife to his throat to which his very first thought is, “Vicious little thing, isn’t she?”  I personally hated this scene, though I know many others find this kind of thing romantic. 

This isn’t the last time the exact same thing happens, and I honestly find it more uncomfortable than swoon-worthy. The best parts of this book were the parts without romance, which is very rare because these two are always together, and when they aren’t together, they’re thinking about each other. But when you look past all the cheesy and creepiness of the main male love interest, this book is quite entertaining in the way it paints its world, and the other character relationships are enjoyable to see.

“I think the author tried way too hard to make it sound romantic, it made me feel very awkward, especially when it said ‘adorable attempt’ and specifically these sentences.”- Elsie Lemahieu

The sentences she was referring to are as follows: 

 “I lean against the cool stone, laughing darkly as I slip my hands casually into my pockets. That only has her pressing the blade harder against my throat, threatening to draw blood.

“Vicious, little thing, isn’t she?”

‘Careful, Highness. I wouldn’t want to spill royal blood.’ She’s mocking me and it’s an adorable attempt.”

Elsie also said,

“These sentences made me feel unsafe because if anyone acted like this around me in real life I think I would punch them in the throat.”

Not to say this kind of romance isn’t for everybody. On the other side of the argument, Parker Hudson said,

“That was very romantic. Just overall it gave a very romantic vibe.”

At the end of the day, BookTok books, this one in particular, are for a very specific breed of reader. To the average person, I would not recommend this book, as brain cells will be lost. However, if you are the kind of person to find trashy romance novels enjoyable, or if you’re willing to ignore the romance for the average/okay plot – which is basically every single dystopia novel where there are superpowers – go for it. 

If you want to torture yourself with this book, you can find it in many bookstores and libraries, or you can download it online.