Title: Reckless
Author: Lauren Robert
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781665955430
Synopsis:
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.
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Ahhhh could this series get any better? This second book in Lauren Robert’s’ Powerless series takes the tension and cliffhanger from the end of book one and ramps it up a notch. The action, the romance, and the world-building all expands as the plot follows protagonists Paedyn and Kit through the next phase of their adventure.
In book two, Paedyn is on the run. She’s been identified as an Ordinary, and now she’s a king killer too. The Enforcer and the new King, once friends to Paedyn, are now after her to hold her accountable for her crimes against the crown. Nowhere in Ilya is safe for her now and she must flee, braving the endless stretch of the Scorches to seek a new life in hiding. The revolution is dead and she has nowhere else to go.
Kai is on a mission, decreed by his king. He is to find Paedyn and return her to face judgement for her crimes. His feelings towards her are complicated, to say the least. Anger consumes him at everything she took from him. But the man she killed is also the man who spent a lifetime torturing him and turning him into this brutal monster. While there is anger, there is also relief.
This book follows these two characters as they both take to life on the run. We see the world expand beyond the bounds of Ilya and we learn what happens to an Elite when they are stripped of all of their power. We also get to learn of those who have survived the terror of Ilya, many of them who would have been killed had they remained due to their mixed heritage.
There is so much potential for this series to end in an epic third book. If only we didn’t have to wait until 2025! I cannot wait for the next book to arrive and I’ll be sitting on the edge of my seat. If you haven’t read this series, please do. It’s a fabulous YA fantasy and one of the best I’ve read and loved in years.
Happy reading!
Worn Pages and Ink 