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The Winner's Curse (The Winner's Trilogy, #1)

Marie Rutkoski

Start date: July 1, 2016

Finish date: July 31, 2016

Discussion leader: Victoria Scott

Why we're reading this: July '16 SOTM…more
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May 03, 2015 Aly rated it it was amazing

Check out my full review!

https://bookloverthoughts.wordpress.c...

In short, I loved it - characters, romance, the world, the plot, the political intrigue, and Arin <3 ...more

18 likes · Like · see review

Mar 07, 2014 Meghan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: disappointments, read-in-2015

This book was recommended to me by my friend Wednesday. Wednesday and I usually have the same taste when it comes to novels, especially Young Adult ones, so when she recommended this one to me I immediately went to the library and picked it up. I started the novel with high hopes... and maybe those hopes were a little bit too high.

The Winner's Curse tells the story of Kestrel, a girl who is pretty well off. That's actually an understatement, she's freaking rich! She can have anything she wants ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Dec 17, 2014 Victoria Scott rated it it was amazing

Shelves: posted-on-blog

This. Book. I was told it was good, but I try never to believe the hype too much. In this case, though, the hype was right. This book is amazing!

The thing I really loved was that the character's were flawed. Not just a little imperfect, like terribly flawed. Kestrel is the daughter of a general, and being the daughter of someone who has taken over different territories, she's grown up pretty racist towards the Herrani. She doesn't really see a problem with using them all as slaves, because she k This. Book. I was told it was good, but I try never to believe the hype too much. In this case, though, the hype was right. This book is amazing!

The thing I really loved was that the character's were flawed. Not just a little imperfect, like terribly flawed. Kestrel is the daughter of a general, and being the daughter of someone who has taken over different territories, she's grown up pretty racist towards the Herrani. She doesn't really see a problem with using them all as slaves, because she knows that the Valorian's were the better people and won them in battle. She gets angry when they step out of line, and she knows that loving Arin would be the worst thing ever, although you could put that blame on her father. It's a really fresh take of the usual slave story we get, where everyone is racist except for our perfect protagonist. And it made her story so much more interesting. Arin is in the same situation, although with a little more reason. He's ready to fight back, and he has no qualms in telling everyone Kestrel's secrets. You think you know how this story is going to go, but there's no 360 of Arin's personality as he learns to love the people who have kept his people captive for so long. He wants to fight for the Herrani, and dammit he will!

Part of this is to do with the society they're part of. Like I said, the Herrani are spoils of war, and that really isn't a problem to any of the Valorian. There are little rules that piece together to get yo really immersed in the world, like the fact that you either have to join the military or get married and start producing soldier babies by a certain age. Yes, this is an actual law! It's not a huge thing in this book, it's just something that's floating around that helps you work out exactly what kind of people the Valorian are. The world building is spectacular!

The plot has the perfect mixture of love and action. Arin and Kestrel were obviously going to fall in love from page one, and their opposite cultures makes them the best kind of star crossed lovers. If that's not your thing, though, don't worry! There's enough drama going on to keep your mind off it. The love causes a stir among the rest of society, and that gives Kestrel a lot of stuff to deal with. Then there's Arin and the massive secret he's keeping, which we're privy to a lot sooner than Kestrel is. There's the looming threat of more war, especially with her father being the general. I honestly couldn't put the book down in the last bit, because there was so much going on!

In case you couldn't tell, I really recommend this book. It's absolutely amazing! And, shockingly, worth five stars for me. ...more

1 like · Like · see review