About: The Winner’s Crime is a fiction novel written by Marie Rutkoski. This book was published on 3/3/2015 by Farrar Straus Giroux, 402 pages. There are 3 books in The Winner’s Trilogy: book 1 is The Winner’s Curse, book 2 is The Winner’s Crime, and book 3 is The Winner’s Kiss. The genres are fantasy, young adult, and romance. This author has a Ph.D from Harvard University. Much respect for her, to write good books and to be educated by the best school. The author has a baby during the work on this book. Much appreciated for the hard working mother as well as author and educator because she’s also a professor of English Lit at Brooklyn College.
My Experience: I started reading The Winner’s Crime on 8/26/16 and finished it on 8/30/16. This book is intense! It’s serious and no laughs, but the intensity grabs my attention and keeps me locked on the pages. I couldn’t put the book down and it has me guessing and wanting to know what happens next. The mind games are excruciatingly painful. I enjoy the thinking process of Kestrel and Arin and how they slowly unravel the puzzles. In real life, I don’t like to play mind games because I dislike having to figure out the meaning behind what people are saying. I always prefer a straight forward honesty or even blunt comment. In books, however, is most interesting to read. I also like how stiff each characters are in this book. They don’t have excitement where normally one would jump up and down at happy news or broke down and cried when upset. The characters hold in their emotions and speak with calm.
The author has written this book beautifully. I feel chills and hold my breath at certain cruelty, actions, and risks the characters take to defy the law. I like that the author makes all of her characters smart and tough with strong self control. The story woven together very well, making the read cringe worthy. The quote below is what the emperor said to Kestrel when she negotiate for what she wants instead of pleaded for it. It’s a good life advice for landing a job or winning an argument. This is what I love most from each read, to take away something useful like a moral lesson.
Don’t whine for what you want, but seek to win it (p. 10 on the hard cover)
Pro: mind games, power struggles, espionage, self control, Kestrel’s POV and Arin’s POV
Con: I wonder if the author could weave in a laugh or two for readers during Kestrel’s daydream
I rate it 5 stars!
Grab yourself a copy here: Book Depository
***Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from my local public library and my opinions are honest.
xoxo,
Jasmine
Kestrel drove me crazy during the first two books…but now you have to read The Winner’s Kiss! That’s my favorite out of all of them!!
So glad you liked it! 👍
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Yeah, she does have that stubbornness in her.. haha.. but I still like how she comes in and give people good ideas like the cannonball. She prevents any romance happening because she has super strong self control. I think I would lose all controls on that balcony.. lol
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Me too!! I am weak compared to that chick! I would be like, All right, Arin, you got me…I’m lying. I love you. Let’s go run off together.
Then I would probably be killed. But it would be the best time ever.
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I also really enjoyed this one! Still have to finish the series though…
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Are you reading the third book now?
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No, I don’t read it. I plan to read it in October, September will be pretty bussy and I want to read it when I relaxed, if you know what I mean… And October should be an easy month work whise. 🙂
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I agree pretty much with everything you said! All the books in this series are very beautifully written, and one of my favourite things about Kestrel is definitely that she thinks before she acts and VERY deliberately plans all of her next steps. It’s such a good quality to have in YA heroines, who tend to charge headfirst into situations.
Great review. ❤
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You’re right. Most times people speak before they think but this book it shows how to think before speak. I like that a lot. I assume you have finished reading this series?
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I have! I finished all the books in pretty much one week, haha. Have you? 🙂
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I’m still working on the third book. 😊 I like it so far!
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I really need to read this series! I’ve only heard good things about it – glad you also enjoyed it 🙂
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I really need to read A Winner’s Curse! Great review. xx
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Yes, it’s really good!
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Great review! I still have to read the copy of TWC I’ve had on my Kindle for months. I love the pros and cons. That really helps when I’m deciding if I want to read a book. 🙂
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When I read that first book, I thought this is unlike anything I’ve read before, but the good kind! 😊
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Wow, I would get a headache if I played mind games. Lovely review, I’m on hold from adding books to my tbr. 🙂 how are you?
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Do you think people always talk straight forward with you? It’s like classic books, you have to figure out the meaning behind each sentence. I think that is sort of like mind games. You have to add this series on the TBR. It’s really good!
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OMG! Loved this review! And I’m glad you enjoyed reading the book. 😉
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Thanks! Have you read it?
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I haven’t read it yet… I still have the first one on my TBR… 😉
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I haven’t read this series yet. Do you recommend book one as well?
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Yes. Book one is as awesome as book two. I really enjoyed both of them.
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Great! I’ll have to read them then 🙂
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