The Winner's Crime (Winner's Trilogy, #2)

by Marie Rutkoski

[Ashley]

I liked this book but didn't love it. It felt like it had all the typical negative points of a book in the middle of the series. It was a clear transition—not as exciting as the first book, and not as exciting as the last book. Somewhere in the middle. Then there was the typical "second book problem" of the MC and the love interest being separated for most of the story. Grr.

LIKED:

* Politics.
* Betrayal.
* Kestrel's awesome intelligence and battle strategy. The girl is crazy impressive.
* I liked the prince and his relationship with Kestrel. It's not a love triangle (which I appreciated), but they still have a cool relationship.
* I loved the ending!
* Kestrel's relationship with her father (ohhh damn).

DISLIKED

* Some elements felt repetitive: Kestrel messing up and the Emperor saying "watch it" (over and over), her relationship with the Emperor, her on again/off again relationship with Arin, etc.
* I didn't like all the flashbacks to Arin's POV from the first book. I just felt "been there, done that" about it.
* The story dragged on a bit with nothing really progressing (see repetitive point). It felt a bit slow.
* I agree with what Debby said about how they made jumps to insane conclusions that had so little proof or logic. One thing I'd like to add to Debby's example is when the word "diluted" made Kestrel jump to the idea that the emperor was poisoning the Herrani's water supply. She was SO CERTAIN but honestly there was very little proof. I thought it was insane that she guessed that.