Bungulover

This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, specially for the first half approximately. However, here the characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them and their stories and traumas didn’t feel authentic but forced. I even struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.

I almost to DNF’d at 40% because of this, but I was too lazy to choose a different book so I continued. It didn’t get better.

This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, specially for the first half approximately. However, here the characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them and their stories and traumas didn’t feel authentic but forced. I even struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.

I almost to DNF’d at 40% because of this, but I was too lazy to choose a different book so I continued. It didn’t get better.

This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, but without the depth of character development or emotional impact. The characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them, and I struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.

I have DNF’d at 40% because I just can’t push myself to keep reading—I’ve already read a much better version of this story, and unfortunately, this book doesn’t offer anything new or compelling to set it apart.

I highly recommend to skip this and read The House in the Cerulean Sea instead— I gave it 5 stars. It offers a much richer experience.

This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, but without the depth of character development or emotional impact. The characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them, and I struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.

I have DNF’d at 40% because I just can’t push myself to keep reading—I’ve already read a much better version of this story, and unfortunately, this book doesn’t offer anything new or compelling to set it apart.

I highly recommend to skip this and read The House in the Cerulean Sea instead— I gave it 5 stars. It offers a much richer experience.

In a word: Chaotic.

One shock after another turned this series into a full-blown telenovela. It was exhausting, painful, and left me deeply disappointed.

With Powerless, the Hunger Games inspiration was obvious, but after reading other reviews, apparently the author borrowed from several other sources throughout the series. So I guess that in order to write Fearless, she probably went hunting for dramatic moments and threw them all into the mix. Most of it lacked real justification—added purely for shock value.

The scene where Paedyn had to fight Kai to the death was painful to read—and revealing him as Mak didn’t make it any better. It left a terrible taste.

Making Paedyn the lost child of the king and half-sister to her new husband felt completely unnecessary. It was obvious Kitt would end up dying (and I didn't want him to), but turning him into a villain and having Kai kill him was upsetting and gratuitous.

The twists about their ages and hidden origins were just too much and made the story feel tangled and overcomplicated.

All for the drama.

The same scenes, dialogue, and cheesy quotes are repeated endlessly. One are twice are cute, but it was too much. Also making out where the sister is buried? Really?

I looked up the author—she’s quite young. I hope that, with time, she finds her own voice and learns to recognize when less is more. The romance was emotive, and I liked most characters and their playful interactions—when they weren’t being overly repetitive.

My breakdown:

Powerless: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — Enjoyable, as long as you don’t have high expectations.

Powerful: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ — Cute. Sad. (tandem read not recommended)

Reckless: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ — Filler and repetitive (but the slow-burn romance was still enjoyable)

Fearless: ⭐️ — Exhausting, messy, bad.

Series Overall: ⭐️⭐️ — A trope- and romance-heavy series with some enjoyable moments, but also plagued by repetition, and a messy, unoriginal finale. Too much borrowed, not enough substance.

A cute, short secondary novella about Adena and Mak. Mak isn’t mentioned in Powerless, so he felt a bit like an afterthought—but I liked him, and it was nice to see a different kind of romance for Paedyn’s best friend. They’re the classic grumpy x sunshine type.

The story takes place at the same time as Powerless, but from the perspective of these two characters.

I read the book in tandem with Powerless, following a guide I found online, and I really wish I hadn’t done it that way.

I do not recommend the tandem read. Why? Because the stories rarely intersect—the characters are in different places, doing completely different things most of the time. It was very anticlimactic jumping back and forth between the two books, and the ending is emotionally devastating if you don’t know what happens at the end of Powerless. Yes, I cried. More than once.

If you liked Powerless, just read this novella right after finishing it, while it’s still fresh in your mind. It’s short and sweet, so it won’t take you long. Reckless (the second book) can wait a bit!