Book Review:
Title: The Winner's Curse
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publisher: Bloomsbury
“Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.”
Kestrel is the general's daughter in an empire that revels in war and enslaving the opposition. As a 17 year old she is given two choices: to get married or join the military. Kestrel has no interest in either of these choices. She wants to be free. As does Arin. The strong-willed and defiant slave. Arin is auctioned off and ultimately bought by Kestrel on a whim. However this decision does not come without a price - a price known as the Winner's Curse.
I actually hadn't planned on reading this book any time soon. I mean I've had my eye on the series for quite sometime, but thought it would be quite a while before I actually picked it up due to my never-ending TBR list. However everywhere I looked, this trilogy was popping up. On Twitter. On Instagram. And everyone was talking about how excited they were for the last back to come out. So obviously I succumbed to the hype and ordered the book on my kindle - and I'm so glad I did.
One major thing that this book excelled at was world-building. Most books normally have one section where it's pure information dumping, where the author is trying the teach us everything about the world all in one chunk. It's excruciatingly boring and really drags out the story. It think most people prefer it where we learn little tidbits of history as we go along, where it's spaced out and not all crammed together. Or at least I do. And that's exactly how this story went. We learn little snippets of the past through many different characters, at different points in the story. It was a smooth read, which I really appreciated.
I must admit, I did find the starting a bit slow but, as the story progressed I became enthralled and found myself reading the novel in the space of 6 hours.
Another thing I loved was the romance aspect of this book. I am a complete sucker for romances, especially the ones that are filled with angst and really make you feel. The romance between Kestrel and Arin ticked both of those boxes. There was no insta-love (which I absolutely loath!) There was a great build-up and was no actual sharing of feelings till after half way, which I thought was the perfect part to reveal them as that's where the story really came to life.
After that half-way mark, I was completely immersed into the story. There was action. There was romance. There was some politics. It was brilliant. I can't really name my favourite thing about this story because, I enjoyed so many parts of it. The writing, plot, characters, all of it was great. The only reason that it is a four star read for me and not a five star is because I thought the start was quite slow but other than that, BRAVO! I'm now off to go order the second book in the trilogy and devour it, just like I did for the first.
To sum up in 3 words: Intelligent, Enthralling, Romantic
4 Stars
Goodreads