It’s been over a year since I read Cheyanne Young’s first novel in the Powered trilogy.  I remember how I felt about the characters and what the main plot of Powered was, however I don’t remember many details.  So the only thing I will say is this: in the first novel the characters were shallow.  They lacked personality depth, which I feel is important to superheroes.  It seemed like sometimes they’d act annoying just to be annoying.  President Might (Maci’s father) was a big representation of that.  The only exceptions to this assessment is Maci and her boyfriend Evan.  I liked them.  Although, I will say sometimes Maci did act like a brat, but I found that it was usually justified and I could understand her behavior.  But sometimes you can’t always excuse it, sometimes Maci just needed to grow up.  So what I am hoping to see is some character growth.

REVIEW OF OVERPOWERED:

First things first (I’m the realist), I’m definitely not a fan of the cover for Overpowered.  I’m not sure if the cover for Powered has been changed, I’ve only ever seen my ARC cover which is nothing spectacular.  For books like these the covers should be eye-catching.  Something that will attract you even surrounded by a dozen other books.  Using elements of colors, big, bold lettering, unique and creative drawings, this cover should be so outrageous people will buzz about it.  So the cover itself is a downright disappointment.

In the beginning chapters of the Sequel (Overpowered), Maci searched for her twin sister Nova and acted softer than I remember her character being.  In Powered I remember Maci being a bit of a hothead and never thought before she acted.  That’s kind of what made me love her in the first place.  She’s a hero that has the DNA of a villain so her actions and intentions weren’t always pure. She ran into a lot of trouble for her snarky attitude but prevailed at being a hero anyways  because she’s a boss.  It’s a very entertaining and relatable character.  I forgive the first few chapters since it was the beginning of the story and I SUPPOSE Maci couldn’t right off the bat get into a fight.  Although, that would have been pretty awesome.

What I absolutely love most about this series is its entirely new take on Supers.  Cheyanne really hit it home with her creation.  This world is so simple, yet it works, and you don’t feel like it’s a cheap rip off of something that’s already been done.

Again, Evan is an exception to my previous assessment.  His character is good natured and strong.  He fits with Maci perfectly because of their opposition in personality.  His past was explained in the first book and it wasn’t anything too cheesy or tragic, and explained his simplistic lifestyle.  He doesn’t stand out, he’s very sweet, you can’t help but love him, but you’d forget him as soon as you finished the novel.  He wasn’t much different in Overpowered.  He and Maci didn’t have any sort of blowout or relationship trouble.  Probably because they spent a lot of time in Powered arguing.  I would compare their relationship to Tris and Fours.  Based off of respect and matured feelings.  They have a very natural relationship for two teenagers.  It’s cute and nothing too serious.  Evan was nothing but a supportive boyfriend in Overpowered, which I can’t compare to Four.  I wanted to punch Four in the face a lot during Insurgent, he needed to get a copy of Boyfriend 101.

What I loved about this book was how lighthearted it could be.  And most of that was Maci’s character alone.  She was being a total bitch kicking chick, and her jealousy mood was HILARIOUS.  She brought the whole feministic heroine to life in a completely new light.

Overpowered had a lot of whit and irony to it.  However at the same time it could be serious and dangerous.  It makes you curious as to what will happen and next and keeps you turning the pages.  It has just the right mix of literary tools to make you laugh, sigh, curious/interested, sad, and or angry.

I definitely didn’t like Nova.  Not that she wasn’t up to par with the rest of the characters, or because she’s rude, or badly written.  Nova herself just pissed me off.  Probably because I’m more of a Maci fan and anyone who is supposed to compete with her or supposed to be as great as Maci is just an annoyance.  Maci struggled with her feelings throughout the novel towards Nova, and I don’t blame her.  I probably would have been the exact same.  Especially when it comes to Maci’s dad.  There’s just something about him that makes me wish his character would just fall off a cliff.  So between all of this I’m not sure how I felt at the end of the book when Maci just accepts Nova.  It didn’t really match her conflicting feelings for Nova earlier in the book.

I loved that throughout the novel were these small mysterious incidents the heroes had to fix that seemed insignificant.  But in the end they all come together to create a bigger problem that effects the future.  There are chapters that aren’t action packed which allowed for characters to build on relationships and emotions, and gave me time to see what happens when heroes aren’t at work.  Unfortunately I thought there wasn’t much character growth.  Maci’s character is one that would never change and Evan is already matured.  The rest of the characters could do for a little dynamicity, but other than that I don’t have any complaints for the book in the long run.  It has a great ending to the book, leaving me with a satisfied resolution for the second novel and they annoyed but excited feeling you get when left on a cliff hanger for the third novel.  I really am psyched for Empowered which I believe comes out around Christmas this year.  I am in love with this superhero series and personally I think it would make a great Young Adult movie.  It has everything we love about Young Adult movies now: futuristic and supernatural, starring a powerful/sassy/sarcastic/ female lead, a bit of teenage drama and romance, and a hilarious yet serious and engaging plot.