Review | The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski (The Winner’s Trilogy, #2)

(NOTE: Since The Winner’s Crime is the second in a series, this review will probably contain spoilers for the first book. Proceed at your own risk! Or, y’know, read Alyssa’s review of The Winner’s Curse here.)

Reviewer: Christina
Release Date: March 3, 2015
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Age Group: YA
Genres: Fantasy, romance
Pages: 402 (hardcover)
Format/Source: Hardcover, Borrowed from library
Find the Book: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | or look for it at your local indie!

Rating: 5/5 Stars

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.

A brilliantly plotted, complex, heartbreaking sequel that absolutely laid waste to my poor fragile fangirl heart.

Review | The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski (The Winner’s Trilogy, #1)

Reviewer: Alyssa
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Age Group: Young Adult
Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia
Pages: 355 (Paperback)
Format/Source: Paperback, purchased
Find the Book: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

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.