spoilers for powerless (duh) ahead, and some light spoilers on powerful (just like one plot point)

this novella runs in tandem with the events of powerless, but follows two characters outside of the trials: adena, paedyn's friend she left behind and mak, who also has a loved one in the trials. although short, the plot is still flimsy: mak requires adena's assistance to get into the castle to see hera, his cousin. hera however, although someone we can assume is someone mak cares for, barely makes any sort of presence in the book. we never really get to hear or see her, which is disappointing especially after her death. the reason mak is even in this book is to see hera, but when he fails at this there's not much description and reasoning as to why or what happened, just him being upset about it and adena comforting him. after her death there's not really any depth to mak's grief, and towards the end i realised that hera was more of a plot device than a character, disregarded for the relationship development. 

LR does manage to build what i think is a rather sweet relationship: it's obvious a grumpy-sunshine pairing, which i will always fall for. mak's protectiveness for adena was endearing, and i liked the bubbliness of adena falling in love. for me, LR always seems to be able to flesh out her male characters more than her female MCs, i think it's because for her brooding dark male must have a fleshed out backstory. (but 'hun' for a nickname? really? immediate ick.) adena's optimisim however, did sometimes come off as ignorant at times, especially after hera's death. i do like how we can see how her light has affected both paedyn and mak, and after the sadness of this novella, i hope the two are able to meet and offer comfort to each other. i was hoping against hope there'd be a twist, but alas. still an enjoyable novella, enough to satiate me before the anticipated sequel.