Parents' Guide to Fearful: A Powerless Story

Parents need to know that Fearful is a novella in the Powerless series by Lauren Roberts set after the first book, Powerless. Paedyn is the main character in the Powerless series and this book follows her nemesis, Blair Archer; Lenny, the soldier who guards her from Paedyn; Kitt, the new king of Ilya; and Mara, a female personification of Death. You absolutely have to read the whole Powerless trilogy to have any chance of keeping up with what's happening in this novella, as Fearful's story follows the timeline of the last two books of the series and references the first book often. Kitt infects himself with a plague on purpose to see if he can withstand it and dies slowly as the book progresses, experiencing symptoms of illness, fatigue, forgetfulness, and violent outbursts. In one outburst, he runs a man through with a sword. A bomb explodes with bodies strewn all around, people die fighting in an arena, fights using magic powers cause injuries, a man points a blade at his own heart and draws blood, a sparring match leads to a fatal stabbing, and a fire seriously burns a face, which is mostly healed later with magic ointment. Trips to a depressing underworld show rampant suffering and desperation. Sexual content sticks to crushes and longing glances. One character's nickname of "Bitchy Blair" means you see "bitch" a lot, along with plenty of "s--t" and some uses of "damn" and "hell." Drinking is mostly in the background of the story, but includes some drinking to drunkenness. While the characters featured in this novella are tough to root for, they provide reminders that killers and vengeful kings are complicated people who have dreams for themselves, hardships, and reasons for their actions, though never good ones.