“Fearless” by Lauren Roberts is the third book in the New York Times best seller “The Powerless” series. “Fearless” was published on April 8 and carries off where we leave off in “Reckless,” where Kitt Azer proposes to Payden Grey. In “Fearless,” Grey accepts this proposal for the good of her people, the ordinaries, and they officially announce it to the Ilya Kingdom.
The Powerless world, also known as Ilya, was full of ordinaries until a deadly plague spread within the kingdom, killing the entire population. After the plague subsided, the next generation was given supernatural powers along with their descendants.
There are two main groups of people, elites and ordinaries. The difference between these two groups is power, as elites are respected, important, and belong in the kingdom, while ordinaries are powerless, and when found are killed by the elites.
Grey is an eighteen-year-old girl who lives in the slums, she is short with silver hair and ocean blue eyes. She looks like an elite; however, she is really an ordinary.
She had to steal and bribe her way into living and constantly relied on getting food or money from people in the streets. Even so, the things she had received were barely enough for her to get by. Grey lied and cheated to survive in the slums, but she didn’t do it alone, she made a friend, Adena Ali, a beautiful, talented fashion designer who would make clothes and sell them on the streets to earn money.
While pickpocketing from people in the streets, she accidentally stole from the future enforcer of Ilya, also known as the second prince for the throne, Kai Azer. Kai is the youngest of the royal family and is also the enforcer of Ilya who kills any ordinaries that are left in the kingdom.
Towards the beginning of the story, Grey gets manipulated by the king, Edric Azer. This leads Grey to participate in the trials to compete to become the king’s future champion after saving the future enforcer from some entitled people from the slums. She competed in the trials and became the King’s enforcer.
Grey also got along with the heir of the kingdom, Azer. They would hang out outside of the trials together and he thought he loved her, but he quickly took back that feeling when she killed his father, the King of Ilya.
When Azer became king, Grey left the kingdom, causing a worldwide search for her requested by Azer. Along with posters and flyers for a worldwide search, the king also sent his enforcer, Kai, to hunt Grey down, dead or alive.
Kai finds Grey in the countryside right outside of Ilya and returns her home where Azer is awaiting her arrival. Once back, he announced that Grey would be his bride, the Queen of Ilya.
The people of Ilya do not accept her as their queen, so they create a few tests for her to complete. She has to find the first queen’s crown, sail across the ocean to meet with a queen, and kill someone she loves.
While she is completing them, she and Kai are having a secret affair behind the king’s back. Kai and Grey are also trying to figure out how to settle some past issues with other kingdoms, which involves them trashing their kingdom because of their lack of powers.
Once she completes all the tests, she becomes the Queen of Ilya. However, this crowning leaves Kai heartbroken, and as he attempts to interrupt the wedding, he finds out it’s too late.
“Fearless” is an amazing story to read, this book is a rollercoaster of emotions, and it has so many twists and turns that you wouldn’t expect. I loved it so much, through everything, I didn’t know Grey was going to get through all the trials because Roberts wouldn’t kill her, but towards the middle-end of the book I got so scared, I thought Kai was going to die, which made me bawl my eyes out.
I cried over the characters and was overjoyed when Grey nearly escaped death, fighting the king. The emotions just prove how good the writing is if you’re able to cry over ink on a page.
The last chapter was the chef’s kiss, but it did make me cry both sad and happy tears. It’s set a few years after everything and it’s Kai and Grey together with their child, Kit. I was baffled when I read it, they named their child Kit after Kai’s brother.
The writing in this book is perfect, you can feel the characters emotions through the ink and imagine the scenes with such clarity. If you have not read this book or this series, I recommend you to, especially if you liked “Red Queen” by Victoria Aveyard, “Nightweaver” by R.M. Gray, or the “Cruel Prince” by Holly Black.
