The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Love this cover!

Title: The Winner's Circle
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Page count: 355 pages
Publishing date: March 2014
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
My rating: 3/5 stars! 

Blurb:

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. 

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. 

Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. 

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined. 

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.


I was drawn to this book because of the cover and the raving reviews on Goodreads. The cover is absolutely exquisite. It's magical, beautiful, and alluring. And, well, when all your friends on Goodreads are giving 5 star reviews to a book that has an overall 4.08/5 rating, you pick up said book when you see it. 

My problem is that I was expecting something magnificent when I began reading The Winner's Curse. By the time I finished the book, I was 99% sure I'd hold it close to my chest and stroke it like one would with a baby. But that didn't happen. At the most, I thought this book was alright. Nothing extravagant, but it wasn't terrible. 

I think a lot of my problems with this book was the plot and the romance. Both just didn't flow well. If the plot hadn't had boring chapters where nothing interesting happened and more action, this book might have sat better with me. Especially if the romance had been something better than what it was. But, alas, it wasn't.

What I liked:

- The world building. 

• Although most of the Goodreads community agrees that the world building was lacking, I disagree. (I'm a rebel, you see!) I loved the empire that Kestrel lives in. I thought Marie Rutkoski was able to weave an intricate web to introduce the reader into Kestrel's world. The reader isn't thrown into everything at once, which is helpful. We learn things about the world as we go along, and I think that's better than dumping a bunch of information into one chapter. 

-The writing.

• The prose was phenomenal. The author has a way of telling a story in a haunting way. Her words leave you breathless and contemplative. You want to learn more, know more, from her writing. She leaves sentences for you to interpret on your own. It's a beautiful thing, really, when a reader falls in love with an author's writing style. 

- The emotion.

• This book is very emotional. People are treated as slaves in this book and at times it can be very hard to read. There is a lot of pain and heartache in this book. You can feel it in the characters' souls and the actual book itself. Yet, at the same time, there is hope within the slaves that keeps the life in them burning bright. It made me want to go "HOORAH! GO HUMAN RACE!" Anyways, this book was an emotional roller coaster ride, and I loved it. 

What I didn't like:

- The plot.

• While the plot had potential, there were too many slow chapters that made the overall plot boring. Things didn't get good until the second half of the book and by then I had already wanted to skip through to the last couple of chapters. If things had picked up after the first couple chapters, my liking of this book would have increased. 

- The characters.

• I couldn't relate to any of the characters, especially Kestrel and Arin. They felt more like robots to me than actual people. That probably sounds weird if you look at all of the raving reviews on how awesome all of the characters are, but I just can't help it. I couldn't shake the feeling that they didn't really have any emotions whatsoever.. even if they actually did. 

- The romance.

• While I liked that there wasn't insta-love between Kestrel and Arin, I just didn't feel like they had a connection at all. Every time they were together, it felt bland. Boring. I know that each had their own problems to deal with before they could even think about developing feelings for each other, but still. I didn't care if they got together or didn't. I just... didn't care. 

Overall thoughts?

This series has potential to be something great. Lots of people will agree with me on that. With the way the book ended, I have a feeling that the sequel with have a lot more action and less slow chapters. Will I continue on with this series? Sure, I'll give it a shot. I think it will progressively get better as the series goes on.

Until next time,