Book Review: Powerful by Lauren Roberts

Book Description

With Paedyn gone to compete in the Trials, Adena is left on her own to navigate life in the slums. Without Paedyn to snatch sticky buns for her, Adena is forced to go it alone. Unfortunately, she lacks Paedyn’s skill and after a sloppy attempt, she’s thankfully saved by a stranger. Mak has a hidden past and a power that causes him to be more cautious than most in Loot.

With both having loved ones competing in the Trials, they decide to team up to see them once again. However, this simple partnership ends up becoming much more than they ever expected.

Review

Powerful is a novella centred around Adena (Paedyn’s best friend) and her life after Paedyn’s abrupt exit from the slums as a chosen participant in the kingdom’s deadly Purging Trials.

Having read Powerless, I knew what would happen at the end of this book. I liked Adena’s character in Powerless, but I didn’t know that much about her other than the obvious. So, when I got to the end of that book, I felt sad, but I wasn’t broken up about it. I think I was more in shock and angry for Paedyn if I’m being honest. HOWEVER, after reading Powerful my feelings have upgraded to being completely torn apart by what happened! Things were going so well for her until they didn’t… and now I’m pissed.

Adena has such a sweet and kind soul. Here, we see her in her element, sewing costumes and creating pieces for her loved ones. I love that her love language towards others is to utilise her passion to create thoughtful gifts. We get to see that in Powerless, but it’s further emphasised in this book. She is truly such a giver which makes everything even more heartbreaking. There wasn’t one thing I disliked about Adena, which is probably why Mak found it practically impossible to maintain his gruff and guarded persona around her.

I loved everything about Mak and Adena’s relationship. It was very much giving grumpy x sunshine vibes which I adore. Adena is the very definition of a sunshine character and Mak with his sarcastic attitude and pessimistic outlook, seamlessly fits into the grumpy role just as nicely.

Adena brought out the best in Mak. She saw him exactly for who he was and loved him anyway and in return, Mak gave her the fairy-tale love she’s always wanted. Seeing them confide in each other and bond over being left behind made me feel warm inside. Even though it was short you could feel the love between the two characters. Lauren Roberts did a great job of making us believe in their story.

I can’t wait to see Mak again and I’m curious to know what role he will play in the future….

Criticisms

I do wish we could have gotten more of their story but it’s a novella and I get that it’s supposed to be short and sweet. But I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get more of Adena’s backstory. We don’t really hear much other than her revealing that her mother taught her how to sew and that she passed away. We don’t get told how she died or anything more private from her past.

I hoped that there would be a little more to her other than a happy-go-lucky girl. It would have added more depth to her character if she had a secret hidden in her past or an experience that would have surprised me and gravitated me even more to her story.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a great novella, and I would highly recommend it to those who have already read Powerless. Don’t miss out on this book. It not only adds context to the ending but also introduces Mak, a new character I hope we’ll be seeing again. Fair warning, bring out the tissues!