Book Review: Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs and Tracy Deebs

Book #1 of The Hero Agenda Series
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Publication: June 2015 by Sourcebooks Fire
Acquisition: Won an ARC

Synopsis:

Kenna is tired of being "normal". The only thing special about her is that she isn't special at all. Which is frustrating in a world of absolutes. Villains, like the one who killed her father, are bad. Heroes, like her mother and best friend, are good. And Kenna, unlike everyone else around her, is completely ordinary— which she hates.

She’s secretly working on an experiment that will land her a place among the Heroes, but when a Villain saves her life during a break-in at her lab, Kenna discovers there’s a whole lot of gray area when it comes to good and evil and who she can trust.. After all…not all strength comes from superpowers.

(from Goodreads)

3.5 / 5 Stars

I've got a thing for heroes and villains and it's not a theme I often come across in YA books so this one was a pretty good read for me. The world these characters live in is both fascinating and terrifying - much like I would imagine a world were say, the Avengers or Batman where real. Not a place I would actually want to live, but defiantly a world I can get happily lost in for a while.

Also - action. There is a lot of it and I liked that. Not much down time - everything is go go go. Not very realistic but it's very much how I envision a real life superhero's (or supervillian's) life to be like.

So why wasn't this a 5 star read for me?

Well, as much as I did like Kenna I didn't love the 'normal girl' is really the most special girl every thing. And the fact that she is powerless is mentioned...a lot. Kenna's inner monologue is a whole lotta insecurities. I was like - I get it! You're not special! Get over yourself! Except...the story was a little predictable so...I kinda figured out that maybe she was important? You know? Not giving anything away here but...you can see where this is going right?

And, well, the romance. Not every YA books needs a romance. Sometimes it's awesome though and sometimes it's horrible. Sometimes it's just meh and the story could stand on it's own without it and that's how I felt about Powerless.

So yeah - lots of mixed around feelings with this one.

However - I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. The hero / villain aspect and how it's totally integrated into the world is pretty unique and makes for a really good story.

I'm not sure I'll be picking up book 2 but like I said - I do recommend you try this one out for yourself!