Book Review :: Fearful by Lauren Roberts

Fearful by Lauren Roberts
ISBN: 166597107X
Series: The Powerless Trilogy #3.5
Also in this series: Powerless, Powerful, Reckless, Fearless
on 2 September 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 211
Goodreads

Love too grand, it kills.

Mara never intended to set foot in Ilya again. But when the king makes a life-altering decision, her interest is piqued, and Death is determined to understand Kitt Azer’s mind if he is destined to join her in the Mors.

Spending time with the king while observing the castle’s inhabitants reminds Mara that there is more to life than just death. There is love. But even the purest of intentions spur revenge and the pursuit of power. And fate will have its way with all of them—to live, to rule, to love, and most certainly, to die….

Last updated on 6 October 2026

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Warning: May be spoilers ahead for this series. 

What is Fearful by Lauren Roberts about?

Fearful by Lauren Roberts takes us back in time from the original series and introduces us to a new character, Mara, aka Death.

Mara has spent forever guiding souls to the Mors, the afterlife, and while she vowed never to return to Ilya, she finds herself captivated by King Kitt Azer, and she lingers. Kitt’s imminent death intrigues her, and she finds herself wrapped up in observing both him (to his knowledge) and Lenny and Blair.

“To those fearful of falling—in love or otherwise— you are braver than you know.”

Fearful is a little hard to explain, as it’s a slow-moving, character-based story, rather than one filled with plot points and interesting settings. It’s really more of a novella about Death’s involvement (or lack thereof) in the lives of those at the castle, especially Kitt’s. We’re given more of an insight into Kitt’s downward spiral and get to see the other side of things.

My thoughts on Fearful

I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. There was something nice about being drawn back into this world, and sort of coming at it and the characters from a different angle. The idea overall – of using Death/Mara as a sort of pinhole we saw everything else was interesting, but I do think it lacked something.

I was definitely wanting more from this, even though I knew it was a novella and it was going ot be short and sweet, focusing on a particular character or instances, much like with Powerful (which is the 1.5 book, following a side character).

I think part of it was that I didn’t like Death/Mara. She wasn’t as interesting as she could have been, and at this point I had moved away from caring much about Kitt either. Perhaps it’s been too long since I read the other books, but they didn’t really grab me. Lenny and Blair were a lot more fun, but again, you’re coming at them through Death’s eyes, so there’s always something you’re not seeing or really experiencing.

While I do think they had some really beautiful moments and it was moving at times … it just didn’t hit like the others in the series. Which is disappointing, because I really enjoyed the original series.

It really seems like there is more to come from Lauren Roberts, so I guess, watch this space to see if there are more books to be released in this series.

Have you read Fearful by Lauren Roberts? What did you think?