The Winner’s Crime Review

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