Fearless – Lauren Roberts
What happens when a promising story built on danger, forbidden love, and rebellion begins to collapse under the weight of its own ambition? In Fearless, the final book in the Powerless trilogy (fourth, if you count the novella Powerful), that very question is answered – not always satisfyingly.
Fearless brings the story of Paedyn Grey and Kai Azer to a close. If you’ve read my previous reviews, you’ll know I enjoyed Powerless despite its obvious and frequent nods to The Hunger Games. Reckless, on the other hand, was one of the worst books I’ve ever read, with Kai being the only character who stopped it from being a complete write-off. I was genuinely unsure whether to even bother with Fearless, but curiosity won out. I had to know how it ended. And, well… yeah.
The story picks up directly where Reckless leaves off. Kai delivers Paedyn to Kitt, expecting her execution. Instead, Kitt announces his intention to marry her. Fearless is, to its credit, better than Reckless (though that bar was pretty low). Still, it never quite recaptures the emotional or narrative weight of Powerless. The pacing is inconsistent, either rushed with everything thrown at you at once or grindingly slow. It gives the impression that the author had several strong scenes in mind but struggled to thread them together into a cohesive plot. Much of it feels cobbled together around “inspired” moments taken from other books, and the story ends up shaped to fit those, rather than the other way around.
And I can’t not talk about *pretend*. Used 54 times – yes, I counted – it’s down slightly from the previous 61, but still painfully repetitive. And often unnecessary. You can’t “pretend” something when everyone knows the truth. That said, Kai’s tortured, just-out-of-reach love for Paedyn remains the emotional core of the book. You feel it, and once again, he completely steals the show.
Paedyn regains some of her edge here – far less irritating than she was in book two – but when you consider her overall arc from book one, she’s still disappointingly stagnant. Kitt is still Kitt. Do you sympathise with him? Yes. Do you want to give him a slap? Also yes.
Now, here’s a mild spoiler warning if you’ve not read Powerful: Mak. If you’ve never met him before, he appears and disappears so quickly it’s jarring. He’s framed as someone significant, but for readers unfamiliar with the novella, he’s a stranger. For those who are familiar, it is a frustrating use that feels like a waste. He’s dropped in to fill a specific plot role and contributes little else. It’s emblematic of a larger issue – twists that are shoehorned in, resolved too quickly, and leave no lasting impact. They’re meant to shock, but the emotional fallout just isn’t there. When everything resets within a few pages, it’s hard to care.
(Spoiler-adjacent rant incoming.) The “their story mirrors ours” twist. Why? Honestly, why? The story didn’t need it. It added nothing, and its presence actually weakened the emotional journey. Given the series’ repeated emphasis on eye references, legitimacy was never in question. This twist didn’t significantly change anything we didn’t already know, nor did it affect the outcome. It felt wedged in – a big idea crammed into too few pages with no narrative consequence. Doing that once might be forgivable. Doing it repeatedly? That’s what leaves readers feeling short-changed.
Despite the lack of foreshadowing and the tendency for major events to vanish without a trace, the ending (and several of the twists) was entirely predictable. I’m glad the series rebounded slightly after Reckless, but it never truly delivers on the promise of the first book. If you’re after an easy fantasy series you can dip in and out of without too much mental commitment, this will probably do. Just enjoy Powerless – it’s the highlight. The rest? Lower your expectations.
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