THE WINNER'S CRIME by Marie Rutkoski / Book Review

By: Marie Rutkoski
Published by: Farrar, Straaus and Giroux
Released on: 3/3/15
Series: The Winner's Trilogy #2
Purchase from: Amazon | B&N
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Source: purchased book / I received an arc from the publisher exchange for my honest review

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 loved The Winner's Curse! I was really looking forward to reading this book. I had to know what happened next for Lady Kestrel and Arin. The Winner's Crime picks up right after The Winner's Curse ends. I love when series does that without rehashing everything that happened in the previous book. It makes it incredibly easy to jump right back into everything that's going on. There's a lot that is happening, or so it seems.

Sadly this book falls into the 'second book syndrome' category for me. Great start, awesome ending, and sadly a really slow storyline, and not much plot in the middle. It pains me to say that, but this book lacks a lot of what I loved from the first book. I really wanted to love this book, but I didn't. I was bored with much of it. I felt like this book lacked the character growth and plot advancement I was looking forward to. I had a hard to staying invested with the characters, and interested in all the affairs that were going on in this book. 

For much of this book, I was frustrated with Kestrel for not seeing that she was a pawn in game she was never going to win, no matter how much lying, and spying she was doing to protect those she loved. While I may not have agreed with all of Kestrel's choices this time around, I at least understood, to some degree, why she made them. Same goes for Arin. Romance wise, I really missed the relationship they had in The Winner's Curse. What I loved about Kestrel and Arin's relationship was absent for much of this book, and I understand why. I wasn't a fan of their continuous lying to each other (even if it was to protect one another), and their loving each other from a distance. It made their relationship feel distant, and in turn I became less invested in it. 

The thing I did love about the book is Marie Rutokski's writing. It's is so beautiful, that regardless of feeling like this story was lacking something, I couldn't stop reading it. I'm mesmerized by the way she writes. Her writing is almost poetic. I loved that her writing style didn't change. I still find it captivating. It hooks me in a way that makes it hard to look away, even if I want to. Had this not been a Marie Rutokski book, I would have put the book down, but instead I read this through in one sitting. 

Over all this book was a solid 3 star book for me. It was a good read. Despite my not loving this book like I had hoped to, I still wanted more of it when I was done, because of that ending. The ending was awesome, and not what I was excepting at all. I need to go read the next now, so I know what happens next!