Literature / Fearless

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Fearless is a young adult novel series by Francine Pascal. The story follows Gaia Moore, a teenager who was born with the inability to feel fear, as her terrorist uncle "Loki" messes up her life.

In 2003, the series was loosely adapted into a TV show starring Rachael Leigh Cook in which Gaia is an FBI agent. Only one episode was filmed; it never aired.

A short follow-up book series in which Gaia joins the FBI, Fearless FBI, was published in 2005.

Provides examples of:

• Alpha Bitch: Heather. She eventually stops being this and even jumps to Gaia's defense when the FOH start mocking her in the final book.
• Amnesiac Dissonance: Oliver/Loki following his Convenient Coma.
• Artistic License – Biology: The supposed explanation for Gaia's condition is that she was born without the gene that makes people experience fear, but there is no such thing (fear is much more complicated than a single gene). In additional material at the end of the last book, Pascal admits to having made up the explanation.
• Back from the Dead: Sam, but the implication is that reports of his death were exaggerated and that he was actually held prisoner by Loki's Mooks.
• Blessed with Suck: Gaia is fond of pointing out that humans feel fear for a reason.
  • Also, her supreme fighting skills come with a serious drawback: She can't hold back when fighting, so even a simple brawl causes her to overexert herself, which results in her passing out once the fight is over.
• Brain Washed: We learn Tatiana was once a nice person, before getting Brain Washed... then it's never mentioned again.
• Cain and Abel: Loki and Tom
  • To the point where, when Gaia demands Tom's location from Loki, he sarcastically asks her "Am I my brother's keeper?"
• Cardboard Prison: Loki spends, like, one chapter in a supposed "maximum security" prison before escaping.
  • It helped that he had people working for him inside the prison.
• Cursed with Awesome: Loki's point of view on Gaia's fearlessness. His attempts to recreate it don't go so well though.
• Faux Yay: Gaia does this with Mary Moss to mess with a police officer who has mistaken them for lesbians. ^note Mary is helping Gaia walk after one of her Power Strain Blackouts.
• Genius Ditz: Zolov, Gaia's chess partner from the early books, suffered from Alzheimer's Disease to the point where he couldn't even remember that Gaia's name wasn't "Cindy." He also royally schooled her at chess every time they played, which is no small feat, considering that Gaia is the equivalent of an internationally ranked Grand Master.
• Girl Posse: Whom Gaia dubs the "Friends of Heather", in reference to the Alpha Bitch. Said Alpha Bitch pulls a Heel–Face Turn later on, while the rest of them continue to act like little harpies.
• A God Am I: One villain actually calls himself "God". He's quite delusional, and is viewed with nothing but contempt by the other villains.,
  • Loki as well, after the Norse god of trickery.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: A major hindrance to all of Gaia's relationships.
• Out of the Inferno: Referenced metaphorically in "Blood": After Gaia is stopped from almost killing Skizz, Tom Moore watches her as she attends Mary's funeral. When she gives her tear-filled speech on her friend's behalf, Tom reflects that Gaia has "been through the fire and emerged tempered, not charred."
• Parental Abandonment: Gaia's uncle killed her mother and her father is off working for the CIA.
• Poor Communication Kills: If any of the characters ever actually explained anything to each other clearly and truthfully, 90% of the tragedy and 👁 This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.
  Wangst wouldn't happen.
• Power-Strain Blackout: Gaia has this problem when fighting.
• The Mole: Anyone Gaia ever trusts. Ever. Including but by no means limited to Oliver, Ella, George, Josh, Natasha, Tatiana, and Yuri. And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
  • Liz Rodke breaks the pattern. She was genuinely unaware that her family was up to anything evil. According to her brother Skyler, they kept her out of the loop because she can't keep a secret.
• Sequel Series: Fearless: FBI
• Teen Genius: Due to her Action Girl skills, this part of Gaia's character is often forgotten. She has a higher-than-average IQ, speaks multiple languages, and is an expert in decryption.
• Truth in Television: The scientific journal Current Biology recently reported on the curious case of a woman who does not experience the emotion of fear👁 Image
  .
  • Francine Pascal once said that she got the idea for the series from a similar article that she read.
• Villainous Breakdown: Ella early on, Loki near the end.
• Wicked Stepmother: Ella, in the first major story arc (well, technically wicked foster mother, but her foster father is a friend of her biological father's, and Ella is his new wife, so close enough).