No Books, No Life

The Winner's Crime  by Marie Rutkoski

Like with the first book, the writing is beautiful. It flows amazingly and seems to be almost poetic. I love all the descriptions and how obviously smart and talented the author would have to be to be able to write like this. Like with the first book, it's clear the author works very hard to make the books the best they can be and puts all of herself into them. I love when you can see in a book just how much the author loves doing their job and is actually good at it. I cannot stress how much I love this series and just how much I recommend it! I also feel the author would be awesome to meet and she seems like a really amazing person.

The characterization is flawless. All of the characters are 3-D and very fleshed out. I found myself actually knowing why characters did things and I felt like I could see into the minds of even the most minor characters. You can just tell by their actions what kind of a person they may be, but you don't really know if they're the "good" or "bad" guys. I loved just how much stronger Kestrel got in this book and how you could tell she's not the selfish girl she was when she first bought Arin as a slave. She has obviously formed her own opinions about things and follows through with what she views is right. I could really tell that she has grown into her own person and learned to follow her heart.

Although it is obvious that her and Arin love each other, this book doesn't have as much kissing. We can see into both characters minds though, so you can really tell that there is something between them that they both feel, but they can't do anything about it to keep the peace between their two kingdoms. I also like how this didn't turn into some kind of a love-triangle like many other good books have. More times than not, books with love-triangles eventually get boring and dragged out. I'm glad that isn't going to happen to this series. Even though Kestrel is engaged to the prince, they really feel nothing more than friendship towards each other, and even that is very forced. He knows that Kestrel is marrying him for some other reason, and may be just trying to get the throne, but he sort of just goes with it, in fear of what his father might do if he doesn't. One thing I loved is how every time both Arin or Kestrel started to think about someone else, they would automatically think of the other, even if they really didn't want to. I feel this shows that their love for each other is very true and real. I love their relationship to say the least! I really hope in the next book they somehow end up with each other, but with that cliffhanger I can't say for sure! I hate waiting for books...

This may be one of my favorite series so far, and I give this book 4.5/5 stars. This series is at 4.75 stars right now, and I hope the last book brings that average up!

Thanks for reading!
~Bri