Lauren Roberts’ “Powerless” trilogy has taken over the book world in the past few years. With “Powerless” finding its way to the New York Times bestseller list, the first two installments both being Goodreads Choice Award nominees and the trilogy stoking a #BookTok frenzy, it has felt like you can’t turn around in a bookstore without seeing someone raving over these books.
In the “Powerless” trilogy, nearly everyone in the kingdom of Ilya has powers, but protagonist Paedyn Gray is one of the few “Ordinaries” — in other words, she’s powerless. She has to hide this truth from those around her, but things get complicated when she saves a prince, winds up in a dangerous competition and starts falling in love. With nail-biting fight scenes, female friendships that will bring you to tears and a love story with BookTok’s favorite prince, the story has something for everyone. And it really does feel like everyone is enjoying it.
All of this is even more special and awe-inspiring when you realize that Roberts didn’t expect any of this to happen.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Roberts explained that the journey of “Powerless” really just began because of her love of reading.
“Growing up, (I) was obsessed with writing, but it was one of those things where I never thought it was in the cards for me, because I always thought … it’s so difficult to get your foot in the door and pursue a passion,” she said. “And so I was 18, and I remembered reading all these amazing books but thinking, ‘oh, I wish there was this in this book,’ or ‘I wish it had an element of this aspect or this trope.’”
Her creative mind was at work nonstop. Eventually, her whirring brain shifted from hypothetical changes to make in books she was reading to an idea for her own, born out of a deep desire to bring into existence the book that she had always wanted to read.
“One day, I had a shower thought,” Roberts said. (Isn’t that where the best ideas always come from?) “(It) was nothing profound, but I really thought, what if I do an ‘Uno reverse card’ on the chosen one trope, and instead of our main character being the one to find these powers and save the kingdom … she’s the only one who’s powerless and is surrounded by people who do have these abilities? That was the first little nugget of inspiration.”
So, she took to social media, as so many authors are wont to do in this day and age, to see what others thought. She explained that she had “amassed a little family on TikTok” of fellow readers who all loved the same kinds of genres and tropes, and, after the initial idea for “Powerless” came to her, she hopped on a TikTok live to see what her internet reader friends thought of her idea — and was met with wild support.
And she continued to reach out, via the internet and social media, to stay in contact with her would-be readers.
“When I was 18, as I was writing every scene, I would go on (social media) and ‘promote’ it, in a way, and I would read (the scenes) to them,” she recalled. “I called them ‘bedtime stories,’ and I read different scenes or (took) different lines, freshly, as I’d written them.”
This process was an extension of her own excitement with the experience and consisted of a desire to share that excitement with others.
“(It) was like, ‘here I want to gift you this book, and let’s talk about it,’” she said. “I think because I had such a great community off the bat, it’s been very natural to go on there and talk about my books (today) … I love being able to have this one-on-one relationship with readers; I think that’s so special … In this day and age of publishing, authors are so reachable, so why not take advantage of that? I love asking the readers what they want, (asking) what tropes (they) like, what type of characters (they) like. Because I’m writing for me … but … I also want them to like it. So I like to ask and see what they’re looking for.”
Roberts continues to post snippets of her writing on Instagram, keeping that door open for her readers to feel like a part of her process. As the final book in the trilogy, “Fearless,” creeps closer to its release date in early April, fans pore over her quotes in their eagerness to close out the trilogy.
Roberts seemed in awe of the support she’s received from her growing number of fans on social media and elsewhere.
“I wrote (“Powerless”) when I was 18 — and obviously I’m not too much older now — but there are so many things (that) I would go back and do … differently (now),” she said, looking back on her experience. But at the same time, she reflected on how special the book is to her, regardless of the changing perspective that time offers.
“It’s almost like a time capsule of what I wanted to read when I was 18,” she said. “And I feel like the readers are also growing up with me, which is so exciting. “Fearless” comes out in April, (and) I really do feel like it ages up … it’s just darker, the themes are a little bit more intense, and there’s just a lot more at stake. It’s cool to be able to grow up with this community (and) have their support.”
In terms of “Fearless,” Roberts reflected on the bittersweet experience of writing the final book and wrapping up the trilogy.
“It is so surreal,” she commented. “(The trilogy) feels so familiar, and I can write Paedyn and Kai with my eyes closed. I feel like I know them so well — these characters are just living in my brain — so it’s very scary to … (close) off that chapter. But at the same time, I’m also excited because, like I said, I wrote “Powerless” when I was 18 … So, I’m excited to step into something fresh where I can take the knowledge and the things that I’ve learned and put that into a new series or a new book and to really just … make it the best I absolutely can. So, in some ways, it’s very bittersweet to finish it, because … I love these characters, and I’m so comfortable here.”
She did assuage our worries, though, about facing the end of the series. “There’s still more to be said in this series,” Roberts explained, “so I’m not quite done with it. But I am going to step away from Paedyn and Kai’s story and grow with the series a little bit more. So I’m not completely saying goodbye to it, but definitely saying goodbye to Paedyn and Kai and their relationship, which is what is so comfortable to me.”
When discussing these beloved characters, she spoke about her protagonist, Paedyn, with special fervor.
“Paedyn was exactly what I needed when I was 18,” Roberts said. “She was kind of who I looked up to, in a way, and who I hoped I would be if I was in her situation. I would not say that she’s based on me in any way — maybe her stubbornness — but she’s way cooler than I am. But I (do) think she really helped me come into myself and gain more confidence in things.”
Writing Paedyn was “therapeutic” to Roberts. “She’s so strong, and she says what she wants and does what she wants — I am not that way. I’m very much a people pleaser, and I hate confrontation, so having her as an outlet to be this super badass woman was really, really cool … I think one of my favorite things about her, though … (is) that she knows when she needs help, and I think that alone is such a sign of strength, because that’s something that I struggle with … I think we saw that in “Reckless” specifically, (during) the moment in the cave where she broke down,” Roberts said. “It’s her being vulnerable, but that doesn’t make her weak. And I love that. A badass character doesn’t have to be strong all the time; them showing their weaknesses is also them being just as strong, so I really wanted to show that in her character and have her hopefully be like a role model in some ways.”
Roberts explained that she feels that this dichotomy of strength and vulnerability has become a staple of the romantic genre recently and of the burgeoning romantasy genre especially. The romantasy genre has existed for a while, but it has really started to gain steam in the past few years, especially due to BookTok.
“When I was writing (“Powerless”), I don’t know that ‘romantasy’ was a term, or maybe it (had) just started to be one,” Roberts recalled. “Obviously romance and fantasy have always been (genres) … but I do remember after publishing the book … ‘romantasy’ being a coined term, and that was such a booming genre … I think I just happened to be there when this romantasy kick was taking off, and for that reason ‘Powerless’ was kind of lifted up and more people were able to access it,” she explained.
The process of getting her books out has shifted for Roberts since her series got picked up for traditional publishing, as opposed to her initial foray into self-publishing with “Powerless,” but she’s still just thrilled to be writing and having people read her work. She laughingly recalled how, in the past, she would listen to music while writing “Powerless” (in particular, “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele, which she said encompasses Paedyn and Kai’s relationship, and “I Don’t Think Now is the Best Time” from the “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” soundtrack); nowadays, she listens to “eight hours of box fan in (her) headphones” to focus on writing. So, some things change.
But some things stay the same, too. No matter what she’s listening to or what she’s writing, Roberts is honoring the girl who grew up reading and inventing stories. And at her heart, she’s just someone who wants to share her ideas and thoughts with the world and her fans — her friends. “Powerless” may have been Roberts’ great and famous origin, but even when “Fearless” releases and she closes a chapter on the trilogy and that era of her life, it’s clear that this is just the beginning for Lauren Roberts. There will be more to see from her — of that, I am sure.
Daily Arts Writer Sabriya Imami can be reached at simami@umich.edu.
