Title: The Winner’s Curse

Author: Marie Rutkoski

Series: The Winner’s Trilogy #1

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux

Publication Date: March 4, 2014

Source: library

About: Winning what you want may cost you everything you love…

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.

This book. THIS BOOK! Where is my sanity?? Um, it went with the ending of this book.

I put this on hold on a whim when I saw my library had it, because I had seen several reviews on it. (Not necessarily good or bad – I can’t remember – but I’d just seen some hype/publicity about it and, let’s be honest, I totally judged the cover. It’s just… so… pretty!) Lemme just say: best. library. whim. ever.

For the life of me, I cannot remember a book that hooked me from the first chapter like The Winner’s Curse did. The last series I read super quickly would have been The Selection series by Kiera Cass – which was finished a year and a half ago – and even then I wasn’t hooked till quite a few chapters in. I was all aboard after reading two pages. I had no idea what to expect of this book – would I like it? (Maybe.) Did I know what it was about? (No.) Did I love the cover? (Heck yes.) It was, like I said, a WHIM! THE BEST WHIM OF 2016 SO FAR. (alright, so that’s not saying a lot. It’s January 31st. But still.)

The setting and world Marie Rutkoski created:

I’M HYPERVENTILATING I’M HYPERVENTILATING I’M HYPERVENTILATING I’M HYPERVENTILATING.

OMGOOOOOOOOOOSH. It was like nothing I’d ever read before! It wasn’t exactly in the past, nor in the future – it wasn’t historical, dystopian, or sci-fi. It certainly wasn’t contemporary. The world was something all on its own. That was part of what pulled me in: from the first page, it seemed the main character Kestrel was buying a slave. But it obviously wasn’t a historical fiction and the medieval-times feel world wasn’t sci-fi or dystopia. I WAS CURIOUS.

Then. Then: the romance. oh flying flapjacks. It was slower than usual YA books I read, which was awesome. So many books dive right into and I’m all “whoa. I’ve only known these people for X amount of pages and already they’re all over each other. Chill, peeps.” and with this… I had time to really get into Kestril and Arin’s heads before they realized their feelings for each other. And yet… it wasn’t too slow. It was a sweet romance. There’s no other way to describe it: it wasn’t naive OR wild, or crazy or fun or dumb or fast or anything. It was a sweet, innocent love but it wasn’t: the world they lived in forbade them to be together. Which meant it was a forbidden love, but not a love triangle – which again was refreshing since those get old fast – BUUUT. Something was still different about this scenario.

Kestrel and Arin are on completely opposite sides of the fence. They’re both fighting for two different causes. They disagree politically, which means when war breaks out, they must choose between each other or their people. It was fascinating. This was different for me, because I haven’t read a book where the two main characters are loving AND fighting each other. I really didn’t know how it’d end… and that’s saying a lot. I’m a good predictor.

And the writing! It was so poetic. There was some action in this book but it was still a poetic, beautifully-written story. I wanted to quote every page. Marie Rutkoski has talent there. Every line she wrote made me want to cry! It reminded me of a quote from another favorite book, The Book Thief: “If your eyes could speak, what would they say?” I feel like Rutkoski did exactly that. I don’t think just anyone can write like that.

“The silent, brilliant tension, like scribbles of heat lightning… He felt so vibrant. As if his life was a fresh, translucent, thin-skinned fruit. It could be sliced apart and he wouldn’t care. Nothing felt like this.”

Loved the 3rd-person and switching perspectives. The line breaks. (That sounds funny, but yes, I liked how there would be a line break after a paragraph. That was cool.) The cover, of course, is such a beauty. There wasn’t any content I disliked. I can’t think of a way to accurately describe everything this book is!

FIVE STARS.

 

 

 

would you read this book?? (if you say no, i just might be offended.) have you read it? thoughts? opinions? FEELS? i want to hear everything. 🙂

P.S. watch the book trailer here or below! I personally adore this trailer, it had me sold!