The Powerless series follows Paedyn Gray, an Ordinary in a world of Elites, and Kai Azer, a prince and Enforcer of the Elites. When Paedyn gets swept into the Purging Trials, a series of deadly competitions designed to honor the mass extermination of her own kind, she finds herself caught in a fight to survive.

There was a controversy when Powerless first came out regarding the seemingly blatant plagiarism of the book Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, and as someone who read Red Queen before Powerless, I can say that Powerless definitely felt very similar on a line and plot-level. If I said, “A book about a girl with no powers who enters a palace for a competition between people with powers, during which (SPOILER) the sweet, caring friend/sister gets her sewing fingers gets broken, and has a love triangle between two brothers, one of which (SPOILER) betrays her in some way”, I could be describing the plot of both books. It seems like quite a few things, specific AND general, are taken from Red Queen. In that regard, the first book is unoriginal.

It gets better in the second and third books, Reckless and Fearless, as well as Powerful, the first novella. I actually almost shed a tear at the end of Powerful–which had led me to believe Lauren’s shorter works were more my taste, until Fearful (the second novella) came out and immediately disproved that notion. Lauren’s writing has a lot of potential and her characters were relatively interesting, but I think her plots could use some help, as they were very predictable and generic.

3. Binding 13/Keeping 13 by Chloe Walsh (3.5/5)

Genre: New Adult Contemporary

Completed: No

Books in the series: 6

PLEASE READ: While this series is centered around high school characters, the content in these books is geared for older, more mature audiences. Read with caution or avoid reading entirely if under 15 years old.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: domestic abuse, bullying, sexual assault, alchohol and drug use, miscarriage, and teen pregnancy.

Binding 13 and Keeping 13 are the first two installments in Chloe Walsh’s Boys of Tommen series, centered around a friend group who are students at Tommen College. Don’t be fooled by the word ‘college’–apparently, in Ireland where this book is set, college refers to high school, making all of the main characters high-schoolers. There’s one or two books for each couple in the friend group.Binding 13 and Keeping 13 specifically are about Johnny Kavanagh, a star rugby student, and Shannon Lynch, a deeply traumatized victim of domestic abuse. She joins Tommen College after severe bullying at her old school, and comes across Johnny when he hits her with a rugby ball (by accident, of course). From then, a whirlwind of events occur regarding both their budding romance and the issue of Shannon’s home life.

I personally enjoyed the plot and the cast of characters in these books, though the plot repeated itself a few times. As Jasmine Moawad (10) said, “My favorite part was definitely the dynamic of the group, they fight and they make fun of each other, but they would do anything for each other and protect each other”, which I think perfectly sums up the dynamic of the main friend group. That same dynamic was what balanced out the heavier topics touched on and explored throughout the books. Characters like Johnny Kavanagh and Gerard “Gibsie” Gibson, Johnny’s best friend, were fan favorites. Brooke Holmer (10) said, when asked about her favorite character, said, “I love Johnny because of his amazing personality and his very inspirational friends”.

My biggest critique was the writing style. The way every character speaks sounds immature and inappropriate. Some people have said that it’s because of their ages, but as someone around their age, I cringed for 99% of the dialogue. The actual writing–descriptions of setting/action–was nothing too special. Additionally, these books are unnecessarily long (around 600 pages), and felt even longer due to the small font and large size of the page.
I hope these reviews give you an idea of what reads you might choose next!