The Power: where to start reading

After Season 1, in the books you are

at The Power.

Alderman has said season 1 leaves the story 'in the middle'; reviewers describe the finale as laying groundwork rather than reaching the book's later escalation. No source gives an exact chapter or page, so this fraction is an approximate, conservative estimate -- treat it as a floor, not a precise stopping point..

Show and books diverge here

Season 1 (9 episodes, 2023) loosely adapts the earlier arc of the novel -- the power's emergence and spread, Roxy's and Margot's early rises, Allie/Eve's ministry, and Tatiana's rise to power in the show's fictionalized crisis nation -- while reworking some characters and settings. Naomi Alderman has said the season leaves the story 'in the middle'; a much larger escalation, and the book's framing epilogue, are still ahead. The show was cancelled in 2025 without a second season, so the novel is the only way to see where the story actually goes.

📖 Start reading at The Power (the novel). The show reworks some characters and was cancelled before finishing, so the novel carries the story on

🔒Spoiler-safe, only what the show already showed you.

Get the book

Season 1 leaves off about 40% in. Pick the book up right there:

The Power

Naomi Alderman

Bookshop.org →Amazon →

or borrow it: your library

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What the show changed here

• ChangedThe book's crisis nation (tied to Moldova) is fictionalized as Carpathia on-screen; Tatiana Moskalev, a minor book figure, is a lead here.
• ChangedSister Maria (Daniela Vega), a nun in the book as well, is written as transgender on-screen -- she isn't trans in the novel.

⚠ Sources disagree slightly on this one, so we used the earlier chapter. You may re-read a little rather than risk reading past yourself.

Where this comes from: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · msmagazine.com · gizmodo.com · screenrant.com · themarysue.com · denofgeek.com · thecinemaholic.com · collider.com · themirror.com · thepinknews.com · cinemablend.com. Spotted a mistake? The report link at the foot of this page comes straight to us.

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1. S1The Powerdiverges

the showthe books

Only one season (9 episodes, 2023) was made before Amazon Prime Video cancelled The Power in 2025 -- about two years after it aired -- with no second season produced. That season adapts only part of Naomi Alderman's 2016 novel; Alderman has said herself that it leaves the story 'in the middle.' Some characters and settings are reworked along the way -- the novel's Eastern European nation in crisis becomes the fictional Carpathia on-screen, Tatiana Moskalev, a minor figure in the book, becomes one of the show's leads, and Sister Maria, a nun who isn't transgender in the novel, is written as trans on-screen. Because the show was never continued and stops well short of the book's ending, the novel is the only way to find out how the story actually resolves.