Book Review: Reckless by Lauren Roberts

‘Reckless’ by Lauren Roberts is the second book of the ‘Powerless’ trilogy. It was published in 2024, and follows promptly after Paedyn killed the king of Ilya.

In my opinion, this book was essentially a really long-winded way to achieve three imperative plot points, all of which are acknowledged at the end of the story, and while the build up was necessary to an extent, I felt like ‘Reckless’ could have been shorter.

It was, effectively, forced proximity to the nth degree. Kai, in his brother’s serivce, is sent on a mission to recover Paedyn and bring her to justice. In a bid to get her to come with him, Kai follows her across The Scorches, a seemingly unpassable stretch of desert, to the land of Dorne, where he challenges her to a fight in an underground gambling ring, and exposes her as a wanted criminal, forcing her to leave with him.

During their attempt to leave Dorne, they are captured by Ilya’s Resistence, abducted from the Resistence’s care by the man who ran the aforementioned underground gambling ring in order to acquire the bounty on both Paedyn’s and Kai’s heads. They escape a jail cell via a sewer, and head home via The Sanctuary of Souls.

The whole mission of finding and recovering Paedyn, and returning her to Ilya only takes a few weeks of canonical time which, from where I’m standing, arguably puts both Paedyn and Kai at a disservice for their supposed survival skills, endurance, etc. By wrapping this whole arc up in a bow within a few weeks, it rushes a lot of the subsequent events in the series, especially when Kai and Paedyn’s budding romance in ‘Powerless’ came to be over a period of months.

The three big reveals towards the end of the book were each rather predictable, and while I won’t spoil them in this review, I will say that even with the glimpses into Kit’s POV that began in this book, and the indecision he seems to experience, things are quite easy to anticipate.

While I had intended initially to DNF the series after ‘Powerless’ and decided to continue irrespectively, my stance on the series thus far has yet to change, which is unfortunate, as it is a TikTok darling, and a big seller. I hope that ‘Fearless’ will change my mind, but I will admit that at the time of writing this review, I am not holding my breath about being knocked for six.

While I believe I have made my opinion on this series up to this point incredibly clear, that doesn’t mean it is a series I would discourage readers to look into, especially if they are easing their way into romantasy or that are interested in Roberts’ world etc. After all, just because I didn’t like it doesn’t mean it won’t be your next favourite book!