Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love. 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. Summary from Goodreads Didn't read the The Winner's Curse, the first book? Check out our video review of it here! The first one of this series was amazing so thankfully this one was not disappointing. It brought in elements that weren't seen before in the first novel. The Winner's Curse had mainly taken place in the Valorian controlled Herranian territory up until we get a glimpse of the capital at the end when Kestrel speaks with the emperor and then returns to the Herranian peninsula. But in the Winner's Crime, Marie Rutkoski takes us all over her world as the characters travel. Kestrel herself mainly stays in the capital of Valoria with the emperor and the prince while Arin travels the realm visiting the "savage" eastern kingdom of Dacra, returns to Herran, and of course spends time in the capital with Kestrel. Some people think that the romance between the two was really heavy in the first book, so they'll be happy to hear that the romance in the sequel is much lighter. For the romantics out there, the struggles in Kestrel and Arin's relationship ARE REAL AND THEY HURT. We get to see the dynamics of their relationship change, for better or worse, and it's still realistic. Kestrel's not throwing away everything she has to be with Arin nor is he shirking his duties to steal away in a corner with her. They're still both trying to figure out where their loyalties lie and if their choices are going to harm more people than necessary. To be truthful, this book felt more like a filler book to me. The first one had its giant plot twist that made it a true story but this sequel was more of a development in the story than a crucial plot twist (not until the very end, that is). Rutkoski takes the time in the Winner's Crime to develop Arin and Kestrel's relationship and characters and build the plot and world around them by introducing new characters (killing them most of the time), building subplots and situations, and making readers and characters question themselves. For a sequel, The Winner's Crime was a thrilling read and leaves the reader waiting anxiously for the third one. Continue reading if you want to know more about this! If you've watched our video for the Winner's Crime, Talia and I question what happened to Ronan and Jess, Kestrel's friends. Fortunately, readers get to find out in the sequel. Jess is scarred by the Herranian's treatment after the revolution and goes out of her way to avoid Kestrel. Rutkoski uses her more of small tool for the plot rather than having her as a support for Kestrel in the first book. The only meaningful thing we see Jess do is get angry at Kestrel and take drugs and which in return makes Kestrel realize the emperor's plans for Herran and what values she holds. The lack of Jess is disappointing but understandable since Jess isn't essential to the plot anymore.
Whereas with Ronan, I feel cheated. He may have been a flat character and we readers knew that he wasn't going to end up with Kestrel but he was likeable and many were rooting for him to at least find happiness elsewhere. Rutkoski had quickly taken care of him so she no longer has to deal with him. At the end of the first novel, no one knew what had happened to him, all we knew was that he had lived, but even that had been said much earlier in the novel so at the end, because of all the events that had happened, we doubted he was still alive. Once readers discover that he's alive in The Winner's Crime, it's a joyous moment and we see that his character had actually developed into a cynical and angry club-fighter. Our moment is cut short when Rutkoski sends him off to fight with the army in the east and he is promptly killed by the fires of Arin's advice. Maybe that will serve some sort of purpose later on, but right now, Ronan's character seems like such a waste. Another thing we mentioned in our video of The Winner's Curse was our speculation about the Prince. to whom Kestrel is engaged to. He, Prince Verex, was not a let down. He's slightly cliche, not the strong and dashing prince, but rather the timid prince that has disappointed his father too many times. He's close to Risha, the kidnapped princess ward from the eastern kingdom and it's implied at one point they may be more than friends, but it's not confirmed. Yet, he still befriends and Kestrel and tries to help her. He's the more realistic and passive of the two so when he states a solution to all of Kestrel's problems, it was sort of a wake-up call for her, and one that would affect her decisions that lead to fate at the end of the book. Verex suggests to just sit it out. Act the part the kingdom wanted until the emperor dies and from there, Verex and Kestrel, as a married couple could do whatever they wanted and make the policies they thought were best. It's such a simple solution and such a DUH that Kestrel and readers have to take a moment and say "oh..." At the end of the novel, Kestrel is revealed as a traitor to her father and he reports her to the emperor so she is secreted away to the labor camps in the north. Arin is preparing to fight with his new allies in the east to fight for Herran freedom and believes Kestrel is a fake even though she has been helping him all along. The third book promises a war, another element of Rutkoski's world brought to the light, and hopefully a happy ending for Kestrel and Arin.
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