The Winner's Crime
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Series: The Winner's Trilogy #2
Genres: Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 4th March 2014
Publishers: Bloomsbury
No. Pages: 368
Source: Review Copy - Bloomsbury
Rating:
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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.

I wanted to read/review this as soon as I got the copy (November I think) and I waited till mid January to read it. I then had to schedule it nearly a month in advanced and all I want to do is talk about the book with someone. However as much as I want to talk about it, I'm actually sat here stuck for words or ideas on how to go about reviewing the book. If you read my review of The Winners Curse you'll see that speechlessness is just something that follows reading this series. In book one I was absolutely captivated by the characters, the story line and the tender love that was brewing between Arin and Kestrel. I swooned with everyone as they got closer, I wished for everything to turn out well for the pair and my heart broke when it looked like things weren't going to plan. So after such a mesmerizing book with all the feels and heartbreak you could ask for, could the second book really live up to the first?. The answer for me is sadly, no. This book was just as swoon worthy but when it's a choice between the two, there is no real contest.


So what happens in The Winner's Crime I hear you ask? For the sake of those reading this review who haven't read the first one (I really wound advise you read the #1 before continuing) I will try and keep this as spoiler free as possible. As the summary suggest, Kestrel is due to marry the Valoria prince and Arin has got just as much commitments himself trying to keep his newly free country a float. I don't know about you be the only thing I see when I read that is that they aren't together, and the sad fact of it is that for most of the book they aren't together. Although it as lovely to read the stolen moments, once I got over the initial shock that they wouldn't up close and personal for the majority of the book, I actually started to like the idea. Yes I missed the romance and the banter between them but in the first book we saw them develop together, they grew perfectly around one another and it was just really refreshing and interesting to see they type of people they were without the other by their side. It was a risky move but I honestly think it paid off.

Kestrel and Arin have seemed to lost their softy side and instead the situations they are put in and the things they must do to survive have hardened them. Though we did have to sacrifice the romance to pave the way for new characters, I was more than happy to. I love a romance as much as the next person, and the romance in the first book was probably my favourite thing about the story, I liked that even though Arin and Kestrel were separate we had some good character to fill the gap, we had Verex the prince and Risha the kidnapped eastern princess. They may never feel the giant whole left by out favourite Herrani, we are lucky enough to have the story spilt into a joint POV so he's never really gone.

Overall like I've already said, I did like this book. It was very different to the first because of the lack of romance but it really gives the rest of a story a chance to shine and Marie Rutkoski the opportunity to really build up everything else and that cliffhanger is going to have people climbing the walls until the next book is out!