Recently, I read and quite enjoyed Powerless by Lauren Roberts, after DNF’ing it last year. I wasn’t meaning to read its sequel Reckless this soon, but I just felt the need to do so. Did it live up to the hype?

About the book

Reckless by Lauren Roberts
Series: The Powerless Trilogy #2
Published by Simon & Schuster on July 2, 2024
Pages: 400
ISBN: 9781398530126
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Young adult

The kingdom of Ilya is in turmoil…

After surviving the Purging Trials, Ordinary-born Paedyn Gray has killed the King, and kickstarted a Resistance throughout the land. Now she’s running from the one person she had wanted to run to.

Kai Azer is now Ilya’s Enforcer, loyal to his brother Kitt, the new King. He has vowed to find Paedyn and bring her to justice.

Across the deadly Scorches, and deep into the hostile city of Dor, Kai pursues the one person he wishes he didn’t have to. But in a city without Elites, the balance between the hunter and hunted shifts – and the battle between duty and desire is deadly.

My review

Back in June of this year I read Powerless and although I had a good time reading this book, I wasn’t fully on board with the hype surrounding it. I found it definitely not unique and a bit “simple” for my tastes. It gave me major YA classic vibes and that’s just working sometime. Despite my resolution to read this sequel someday, I just couldn’t resist. I felt a bit restless and decided to just go on with it. Other readers voiced they had difficulties with this second book in tis trilogy, so I was quite reluctant because I offten share such opinions. I understand where they’re coming from,but I didn’t experience this difficulty.

This story picks up right were Powerless left off. Paedyn is fleeing and Kai has to chase her and bring her back to king Kitt. Just like with the previous book, Paedyn, Kai and even Kitt get their own POV. This book explores the characters more, which is quite different from the previous one. That was quite plot driven, but now the characters get showcased more. The chemistry between Paedyn and Kai is undeniable, but we also see them struggle with what they want to do and what they need to do. This applies to kai especially, he is fighting between duty and desire. The characters grow, but not enough for me. However, this is just the second book and the final events prove that Roberts has been working towards a big moment in the next and final book. Some interesting stuff gets revealed and I’m curious to know how this will be followed up on.

The writing style fits the genre, this book is easy to read and to consume. Is it memorable? No. Is it a nice breather? Yes. The writing makes it easy for the younger readers to follow the story and the language is not complicated at all. I find the POV switching a bonus, because it shows the inner struggles these characters are facing very well. The chapters are short which made me able to finish the book quite fast.

Even though I flew through this book quite quickly, I understand why other readers found it tough to get through. The plot is moving incredibly slow and not much exciting things are happening. In fact, the plot is a bit dull. It consists of fleeing, travelling and being captured several times. In Powerless, they were working towards something which invested me as a reader. I wanted to find out more about the trials and who will win. I didn’t feel that eagerness here. I wanted to find out what would happen at the end nevertheless, so I kept reading. This book is more character driven than plot driven and I believe this is necessary for the next book in this series. I have a feeling that one will be more plot driven again. Although i enjoy character driven books, this one fell a bit flat and therefore didn’t really succeed in its purpose. With this type off books, I expect huge character development and maybe that was a bit too much wishful thinking here. So, I was less intrigued.

Reckless by Lauren Roberts is your typical second book in a trilogy. The plot is moving incredibly slow and the characters don’t grow that much. However, their internal strugggles get showcased better here and these are interesting to witness. The writing is accesible and easy, so I was able to finish this book in a short period of time. The final events of this book make me keen to find out what’s next!