Review: The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

From Goodreads: War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people - and certainly more than she did for him. At least, that’s what he thinks. In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her. But no one gets what they want just by wishing. As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover that the world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and they are caught in between. With so much to lose, can anybody really win?

My Rating: 4 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski was a book that I was both excited and nervous about reading because I hoped that it would be more like The Winner’s Crime and less like The Winner’s Curse. Thankfully, The Winner’s Kiss struck a good balance between focusing on romance on the one hand and political machinations on the other.

At the end of The Winner’s Crime, Kestrel is banished to the Valorian work camp in the tundra. So, I assumed that it would take a long time for Arin to realize where she was. Surprisingly, that turned out to not be the case, and Kestrel is rescued within the first quarter of the The Winner's Kiss. As a result, the focus of the novel ends up being on the war between the East and the Valorian Empire, a decision that I was pleased with. 

With regards to the characters and romance, I really ended up loving Roshar and the bromance that developed between him and Arin. I also liked that Arin and Kestrel’s relationship finally seemed to mature, with both realizing that they needed to open up and trust the other person if they were going to have any sort of future together.

Where I think The Winner’s Kiss could be improved upon is with an epilogue. The ending was good, but it did leave me with questions about the future of the characters. An epilogue could have somewhat answered those questions!

The Winner’s Kiss was released in March 2016 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 

Comments About the Cover: Why is the model posed so weirdly in all three covers of this trilogy?!

Review: The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

From Goodreads: The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement ... if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For - unknown to Arin - Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret. As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

My Rating: 4.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Although I didn’t love Marie Rutkoski’s The Winner’s Curse, its ending intrigued me enough that I decided I would give the sequel, The Winner’s Crime, a try. I’m glad I finally got around to reading The Winner’s Crime because it was so much better than The Winner’s Curse! 

A huge reason why I liked The Winner’s Crime more was because the romance was in the background and the focus was on court politics instead. I love when fantasy novels focus on court politics! As well, because the romance was in the background, the tension increased when Kestrel and Arin did interact. 

I liked Kestrel better in this novel too because she really learns to look beyond herself, and makes sacrifices for the greater good. It was a lot of fun seeing her try to outmanoeuvre the emperor, and in the process, appear to gain a friend in Prince Verex.

Arin, on the other hand, was annoying initially because he was so angsty and kept chasing Kestrel when she made it clear that she didn’t want anything to do with him. Thankfully, he redeemed himself later on by focusing on the needs of his people. With the way things ended in The Winner’s Crime, I can’t wait to read The Winner’s Kiss! 

The Winner’s Crime was released in March 2015 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 

Comments About the Cover: I still don’t like the angle of the shot that they chose for the model. I love the focus on the dagger though!

Review: The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

From Goodreads: As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him - with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.  

My Rating: Definitely higher than 3.5 hearts but not quite 4 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski was a book that I initially had no plans to read. After seeing all the positive reviews for it though, I changed my mind for two reasons: 1) it was a fantasy and 2) the romance was deemed not to be an insta-love one.

Although I can’t say that The Winner’s Curse blew my mind, I did like it a lot. The worldbuilding was pretty solid; and while I had a bit of trouble visually conceptualizing how Rutkoski’s world would be arranged on a map, it wasn’t too difficult to imagine the setting because Rutkoski takes her time immersing you into her world.

What I didn’t enjoy as much was the romance. Yes, it was slow-paced and set up in such a way that you could logically understand why Arin and Kestrel would fall for each other, but the actual writing of the novel made their feelings sort of appear out of the blue. Also, considering that Kestrel and Arin don’t have a long history with each other, it was mystifying to me how Kestrel could still be attracted to Arin after what he did to her friends and townspeople.

As individual characters, I liked Arin and Kestrel much better. Right from the start, I had a feeling that there was more to Arin than met the eye, but I would have never guessed what he was up to! Kestrel, unfortunately, wasn’t as interesting as Arin because she seemed rather content with her life of attending parties and engaging in gossip. However, she does occasionally show that she isn’t entirely comfortable with the way her society functions. I just wish that she had been more vocal with her opinions. 

The Winner’s Curse was released in March 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 

Comments About the Cover: I think it’s pretty and love the dress, but am not a fan of the camera angle or the model’s pose.