Author: Tera Lynn Childs, Tracy Deebs
Genre: Fantasy
Published on: June 2, 2015 by Sourcebooks Fire
In a world of superheroes, the line between good and evil is always clear. Right?
Kenna is constantly surrounded by superheroes. Her best friend, her ex-boyfriend, practically everyone she knows has some talent or power. Kenna doesn't have a power. Sure, she's smart and independent, but surrounded by all the extraordinary, it's hard not feel very ordinary. And she's tired of it.
So when three villains break into the lab where she interns, Kenna refuses to be a victim. She stands her ground. She's not about to let criminals steal the research that will make her extraordinary too.
But in the heat of battle, secrets are spilled and one of the villains saves her life. Twice. Suddenly, everything Kenna thought she knew about good and evil, heroes and villains is upended. And to protect her life and those she loves, she must team up with her sworn enemies on a mission that will redefine what it means to be powerful and powerless...
While fantasy is one of my favorite genres, I haven't come across many novels in the superhero sub-genre. When I found Powerless in the Kindle store, it seemed like it would be up my alley. The protagonist is Kenna Swift, a regular girl who lives in a world of supers. There are two factions: Heroes and Villains. Kenna is the daughter of Jeanine Swift, a prominent scientist who works for the heroes at a secret lab. Kenna works there as an intern.
Kenna is working at the lab one night when three notorious villains break into the place. They’re looking for something—or someone. Kenna surprises them and is taken hostage. She’s terrified, having heard extreme stories about them. Kenna is afraid the villains will kill her if she opposes them too strongly. She has some protection at least, courtesy of Jeanine. Kenna manages to alert authorities and the villains bolt. Not before they plant a few seeds of doubt in Kenna’s mind, though.
The heroes drastically reinforce security at the lab. This is when two more characters are introduced. One of them is Rex Malone. Apart from having an ostentatious name, he’s the president of the Superhero League. Rex is furious about the break-in and orders that stringent security measures be put in place. The other character we meet is Rex’s son, Riley Malone. He wants to follow in his father’s footsteps. Riley is a tad too fanatical about superheroes, though. He often wears coats that look like capes and worships Superman. The guy struck me as a bit of a Percy Weasley type. He seems a by-the-book, black-and-white kind of guy.
Kenna also has a best friend, who goes by Rebel. She’s Riley’s sister but is nothing like him. Whereas Riley is all righteous and spotless, Rebel is, well, a rebel. She wears short, spiked hair and has a weird sense of fashion. Rebel is also a telekinetic, and a powerful one at that. She also doesn’t shun Kenna for being powerless. They’ve been close friends for a long time. Kenna attended superhero school even though she’s powerless. This suggests that regular people aren’t aware of supers. Jeanine’s clout is probably what got Kenna into the special school.
After a couple slip-ups by Rebel and Jeanine, Kenna’s suspicions are raised. She sneaks into a secret level of the superhero lab. There, Kenna is floored by what she witnesses. The discovery changes everything she thought she knew about supers. Feeling confused, Kenna meets with the three villains who broke into the lab. One of them is the shot caller, Draven. He can influence memories in people. Another of the villains is Dante, a super who can manipulate wind. The other is Nitro, a mercurial pyrokinetic. After learning about what Kenna witnessed, Draven and the others tell her the true nature of heroes and villains.
Now, while Powerless was an entertaining novel, it was quite repetitive. Other than bare minimum world-building, all that happens is break-in after break-in. There was plenty of action, at least. And the story couldn’t progress without Kenna and co. getting what they are after. Still, I’d have liked the book to be about more than continuous raids. This is even more needed when there was so little world-building. It’s not clear whether normal people know about supers or not. I mean, most of them don’t exactly have subtle powers.
Another thing that’s not clear is how heroes and villains differ. Is it a choice they make? It appears that genetics makes a super one or the other. Telling heroes and villains apart is straightforward. I'm not going into details here, but how this works is not well-explained. Also, the prologue reveals that a secret military project is what created supers. Since this is true, how did super genetics branch into heroes and villains? The military project thing also doesn’t explain how regular citizens are unaware of supers. If they are enhanced humans, did their creators just forget about them?
Despite the interesting characters, Powerless is dragged down by so many fundamental questions. There are lots of things that don’t compute. I wonder if they’ll be explained in the sequel. Still, the book is enjoyable. If you don’t mind being left in the dark about most of the super world, you’ll like Powerless. It was more than decent even with all the questions that are raised.
My rating: ★★★
3 stars - Could have done worse
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