Review : The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : The Winner's Crime (The Winner's Trilogy #2)
Author : Marie Rutkoski
Publication Date : March 3rd 2015
Publisher : Farrar Straus Giroux
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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.

Personal Thoughts 

I realize that I'm posting this review way too early, but I wanted to write down my thoughts before my memory loss got to me. I was told that The Winner's Crime would leave me in heartbroken state, but I still insisted on wanting to read it because I'm a masochist apparently. There are absolutely no words to describe how destroyed I was by the end. I'm also not sure how I'm going to patiently wait for the final book. It's going to be excruciating!

The Winner's Crime picks up right where The Winner's Curse ended and for spoilers sake, I won't reveal anything. Kestrel has always been a very complex character and Marie Rutkoski explores the depth of her character further in The Winner's Crime, while simultaneously torturing them (POOR BABIES!). The events of the previous book had hardened Kestrel, but she was still that selfless and genuine character underneath that we met in The Winner's Curse with her giving nature and gentle soul. There were moments where I wound up being very frustrated by her, even though she was doing the right thing by putting others before herself first. I just wanted the girl to go after that happiness that she deserved. At the same time, I admired her self-denying nature. It's rare to find unselfish characters in YA and Kestrel was probably the epitome of one. We also get to know Arin better through his POV. I fell harder in love with him as he fought for his people and for justice. I have grown so invested in the lives of these characters. Seeing them being repeatedly physically and emotionally tortured was painful for me as a reader and trust me when I say that the author puts these characters through complete hell.

One of my complaint in the first book was the lack of world building. Thankfully, this book expanded on that part of the story. The world of the Herrani and the Valorians finally started to come together cohesively and I was fascinated by what the author had come up with. It has a very simple foundation, but as you get through the story, you discover more of the intricacies of the world building. The plot was still rather slow, but in the case of this series, I personally think it works because it gives you time to absorb everything else very slowly. Like in the first book, the pacing did pick up towards the end of the book and left me pretty much breathless and on the edge of my seat. While the romance in The Winner's Curse was absolutely phenomenal, in The Winner's Crime it was pretty much non-existent because Kestrel and Arin were separated for the most part or they were completely cold to each other after the events of book 1. I'm not going to lie, I was personally disappointed by the lack of romantic interactions between the couple, but I'll admit that it's for selfish reasons and I'm a very romance-driven reader. I'm crossing my fingers that the lack of romance in this one means we will overdose on romantic scenes in the next book. Still, there is absolutely no denying the fact that Marie Rutkoski's writing is absolutely beautiful and has the ability to really touch you. It was so easy to get lost in it. Also, know that this book ends in a pretty horrible cliffhanger that will leave you itching for more.

The Winner's Crime was a solid sequel to The Winner's Curse. While The Winner's Curse is still my favorite out of the two books mostly because of the romance, that doesn't mean that The Winner's Crime is lacking in any way. If you thought the first book was brutal, you better prepare yourself for this one. It's going to SLAY you!

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 5/5

Thank you a million times to Danielle at Love at First Page for letting me borrow an ARC of The Winner's Crime.