Disclaimer: There may be some spoilers. Read at your own risk.

I’ve heard so much about Powerless by Lauren Roberts that I decided to read it. After all, something so popular must be of substance, right?

Here are my thoughts.

I didn’t really hate Powerless, in the same way that you wouldn’t hate your senile great aunt Reba for spitting in your cereal. It’s hard to hate something that’s not worth your struggle.

My main problem is with its originality or perhaps the absence of it. Let’s play a game: Is this my description of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games or Powerless?

Set in a dystopian, bleak world with a lavish lifestyle for the rich and near starvation for the poor, a skilled archer and fighter who’s spent her life on the wrong side of the law is elevated to national attention as she competes in a deadly set of arena fights, where only one can win. Inside the opulent capital city where the excess of the elite shocks and disgusts her, she quickly wins over the crowd with her fiery personality , telling the audience she intends to survive. She falls for her unlikely ally after wanting to kill him and…

Need I go on?

I understand that it’s difficult to find tropes or plots or settings that aren’t done to death or recycled in this day and age. I understand that settings and characters are hard to write. I understand that Suzanne Collins is a literary genius who created a transcendent and wonderful and beautiful piece of art, and imitation is the best form of flattery.

But seriously? You couldn’t disguise the blatant copyright infringement a little better?

Part of the allure was the romantic factor, leading thousands of schoolgirls to kick their feet and squeal. But was it deserved?

I think not.

The synopsis of the romance can be summed up in two sentences:

Girl hunted because of her existence falls in love with the person sworn to eradicate her kind. And there’s a weak side thing with the brother, because the plot needed to move along.

Not only is it a weird situation for a romance, the actual romance is so repetitive. I kid you not, they have the same conversation restated at least 20 times. And that’s not even counting the ones with the brother.

Somebody dies at the end. I’m not going to say who, but you couldn’t see it coming more clearly if it stabbed you through the chest. 

Now, after unloading my frustrations and holding back no criticism, I can talk about some of its good points. It did have an interesting magic system, in which some were gifted powers and others were left, as they were so called, “Ordinary.” Since being an Ordinary was punishable by death, the main character faked psychic powers, and I found that subplot fascinating. But good world building can only do so much.

Again, I didn’t hate it. I found it lacking in some areas, but it wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read. I can’t really say I enjoyed it though. Picking it up to read felt more like something I had to do. A chore. 

However, I believe there are seeds of something better in Roberts’ writing. Perhaps in the future, she can fulfill her potential and create a completely original work. Meanwhile, her third book of the trilogy, Fearless, comes out in April. Maybe I’ll even read it.

But I’m not making any promises.