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desiree930 's review for:
The Winner's Crime
by Marie Rutkoski
3.25 stars
This was better than Winner's curse. Marginally. I still had a lot of issues with the story/characters, but there were some bright spots that gave me hope for the final book.
Things I liked:
1. VEREX!!! I really liked Verex, specifically his relationship with Kestrel. When he was first introduced, he was written very strangely, almost as if he was a young child...he was whiny and petulant. But after the first or second scene with him, I really grew to like him. I like that he is intelligent, but in a completely different way than Kestrel (supposedly) is. He isn't cunning, strategic, or manipulative. Instead, he is caring and thoughtful, and would be a good ruler for his people. I was worried when I began liking him that Rutkoski was setting up the ever-present YA love triangle. I'm so glad I was wrong, and that they kept it strictly platonic between him and Kestrel. I like that she had sort of an ally in the palace, even though she couldn't confuse EVERYTHING in him. I hope to see more of his relationship with Risha, although I'm not sure how the third book will handle that since Kestrel is off to a work camp and away from the palace.
2. NEW PLACES! AND A MAP!!! I liked that we were taken to some different locations in this world. I would've liked to see more depth in the development of the capital city and Dacran (sp), but I like that the world expanded a. It. More than that though, I LOVED that a map was included at the beginning of this book. Book one did not have a map, and I feel like that was an opportunity that was missed because it really helps visualize in stories like this that take place in other worlds. But they fixed it with this book, and it made me happy.
3. KESTREL. Kestrel was (slightly) less infuriating. I still had a lot of issues with her, specifically her relationship (or lack thereof) with Arin. And for someone who is supposedly so smart, she makes some really stupid freaking decisions. But, I did like that she wants to help Herran and Arin. I wish there had been more of Kestrel's spying and less of her angsty drama with Jess.
4. THE WRITING. Marie Rutkoski certainly knows how to spin a phrase.
Things I didn't like:
1. JESS AND RONAN. I hate these two characters. They served no purpose in book one other than to prop up the main character. I don't even understand how someone like Kestrel, who is supposedly against slavery, could be best friends with someone who not only had no problem with slavery, but actually believes that she and her kind are entitled to whatever they want because they BRUTALIZED AN ENTIRE NATION AND ENSLAVED THEM. So yeah, she's a real winner (haha, no pun intended). And Ronan...completely pointless character. Him not being in the story did not affect it in the slightest.
2. THE ENDLESS MISUNDERSTANDINGS. I hate this particular trope. It is prevalent in YA, especially during second and third books where the author wants to keep the couple apart and angsty. There are so many times in this story where if they would just talk to each other, it could make a world of difference. We're supposed to believe that Kestrel was afraid to confide in Arin because the Emperor might find out and would retaliate...so instead of meeting him once and telling him, "I really care about you which is why I'm doing all of this but we can't keep meeting because I'm being followed and I have to keep up appearances with the Emperor and by the way, I'M THE SPY!", she meets him several times and has several misunderstandings that neither one of them realizes are misunderstandings until it's too late to do anything about it. Ugh. So annoying. Her not wanting him to know about her being the Moth was the biggest WTF for me. It makes no sense other than as a contrived plot device to keep them apart. At the end she says something like, "It didn't make sense to keep it from Arin. When had she started doing things that made no sense?" And here I am like, "SINCE THE BEGINNING OF BOOK ONE!!! This entire series exists because she does things that make no sense.
But Arin isn't blameless in this either. We are supposed to believe that they have this connection and he knows her like no one else does, and yet it doesn't occur to him that she is marrying the crown prince in order to secure the treaty that gives Herran its independence?
3. THE ROMANCE. I'm still not really feeling this epic love between the two characters, especially not in this book where they only have like three scenes together and no other interactions like letters or anything like that. I've heard many people refer to this as a 'slow burn' romance...but in order for something to burn, it needs oxygen...and this romance has been completely smothered, IMO. We are TOLD that they love each other, but I don't see it.
4. THE EMPEROR. This guy is a mustache-twirling stereotype of a villain if there ever was one. He isn't given any kind of a backstory that would explain his motivations or his bat-shit craziness. He is evil just for the sake of evil. Why does he want to bring destruction and death to every other culture on the continent? Because...reasons?
5. THE PACING. I had the same problem in book one. For the first 75-85% of the book, it is very slow going. Now, if this story was mostly character driven, I wouldn't have minded a slightly slower pace. But this is supposed to have spies and political intrigue and stuff like that...but most of this book was just Kestrel and Arin being angsty over each other and Kestrel being upset because her terrible friends are terrible. Then the last few pages picks up and gets you all crazed about the last book in the series.
6. SHOCKING SECRET!! In the synopsis of this book, it mentions a SHOCKING SECRET being discovered...I'm assuming they are referring to the Herran water being tainted...but really? Is that 'shocking' anybody? We've spent the last 350 pages learning that this Emperor is crazy AF. Not to mention that he delights in torturing and enslaving entire nations of people...just because. So how is it shocking that he would choose to poison their water supply and kill them so he could presumably take the country back after they all die? Spoiler alert...it's not shocking. Not at all.
All in all, I did enjoy this a little better than the first book, but I'm still not seeing what is making so many people obsess over this series. I will pick up the last book more out of curiosity and my need to finish series than actually LOVING the book, but I have hope...
This was better than Winner's curse. Marginally. I still had a lot of issues with the story/characters, but there were some bright spots that gave me hope for the final book.
Things I liked:
1. VEREX!!! I really liked Verex, specifically his relationship with Kestrel. When he was first introduced, he was written very strangely, almost as if he was a young child...he was whiny and petulant. But after the first or second scene with him, I really grew to like him. I like that he is intelligent, but in a completely different way than Kestrel (supposedly) is. He isn't cunning, strategic, or manipulative. Instead, he is caring and thoughtful, and would be a good ruler for his people. I was worried when I began liking him that Rutkoski was setting up the ever-present YA love triangle. I'm so glad I was wrong, and that they kept it strictly platonic between him and Kestrel. I like that she had sort of an ally in the palace, even though she couldn't confuse EVERYTHING in him. I hope to see more of his relationship with Risha, although I'm not sure how the third book will handle that since Kestrel is off to a work camp and away from the palace.
2. NEW PLACES! AND A MAP!!! I liked that we were taken to some different locations in this world. I would've liked to see more depth in the development of the capital city and Dacran (sp), but I like that the world expanded a. It. More than that though, I LOVED that a map was included at the beginning of this book. Book one did not have a map, and I feel like that was an opportunity that was missed because it really helps visualize in stories like this that take place in other worlds. But they fixed it with this book, and it made me happy.
3. KESTREL. Kestrel was (slightly) less infuriating. I still had a lot of issues with her, specifically her relationship (or lack thereof) with Arin. And for someone who is supposedly so smart, she makes some really stupid freaking decisions. But, I did like that she wants to help Herran and Arin. I wish there had been more of Kestrel's spying and less of her angsty drama with Jess.
4. THE WRITING. Marie Rutkoski certainly knows how to spin a phrase.
Things I didn't like:
1. JESS AND RONAN. I hate these two characters. They served no purpose in book one other than to prop up the main character. I don't even understand how someone like Kestrel, who is supposedly against slavery, could be best friends with someone who not only had no problem with slavery, but actually believes that she and her kind are entitled to whatever they want because they BRUTALIZED AN ENTIRE NATION AND ENSLAVED THEM. So yeah, she's a real winner (haha, no pun intended). And Ronan...completely pointless character. Him not being in the story did not affect it in the slightest.
2. THE ENDLESS MISUNDERSTANDINGS. I hate this particular trope. It is prevalent in YA, especially during second and third books where the author wants to keep the couple apart and angsty. There are so many times in this story where if they would just talk to each other, it could make a world of difference. We're supposed to believe that Kestrel was afraid to confide in Arin because the Emperor might find out and would retaliate...so instead of meeting him once and telling him, "I really care about you which is why I'm doing all of this but we can't keep meeting because I'm being followed and I have to keep up appearances with the Emperor and by the way, I'M THE SPY!", she meets him several times and has several misunderstandings that neither one of them realizes are misunderstandings until it's too late to do anything about it. Ugh. So annoying. Her not wanting him to know about her being the Moth was the biggest WTF for me. It makes no sense other than as a contrived plot device to keep them apart. At the end she says something like, "It didn't make sense to keep it from Arin. When had she started doing things that made no sense?" And here I am like, "SINCE THE BEGINNING OF BOOK ONE!!! This entire series exists because she does things that make no sense.
But Arin isn't blameless in this either. We are supposed to believe that they have this connection and he knows her like no one else does, and yet it doesn't occur to him that she is marrying the crown prince in order to secure the treaty that gives Herran its independence?
3. THE ROMANCE. I'm still not really feeling this epic love between the two characters, especially not in this book where they only have like three scenes together and no other interactions like letters or anything like that. I've heard many people refer to this as a 'slow burn' romance...but in order for something to burn, it needs oxygen...and this romance has been completely smothered, IMO. We are TOLD that they love each other, but I don't see it.
4. THE EMPEROR. This guy is a mustache-twirling stereotype of a villain if there ever was one. He isn't given any kind of a backstory that would explain his motivations or his bat-shit craziness. He is evil just for the sake of evil. Why does he want to bring destruction and death to every other culture on the continent? Because...reasons?
5. THE PACING. I had the same problem in book one. For the first 75-85% of the book, it is very slow going. Now, if this story was mostly character driven, I wouldn't have minded a slightly slower pace. But this is supposed to have spies and political intrigue and stuff like that...but most of this book was just Kestrel and Arin being angsty over each other and Kestrel being upset because her terrible friends are terrible. Then the last few pages picks up and gets you all crazed about the last book in the series.
6. SHOCKING SECRET!! In the synopsis of this book, it mentions a SHOCKING SECRET being discovered...I'm assuming they are referring to the Herran water being tainted...but really? Is that 'shocking' anybody? We've spent the last 350 pages learning that this Emperor is crazy AF. Not to mention that he delights in torturing and enslaving entire nations of people...just because. So how is it shocking that he would choose to poison their water supply and kill them so he could presumably take the country back after they all die? Spoiler alert...it's not shocking. Not at all.
All in all, I did enjoy this a little better than the first book, but I'm still not seeing what is making so many people obsess over this series. I will pick up the last book more out of curiosity and my need to finish series than actually LOVING the book, but I have hope...