Reviews with content warning for Slavery - The Winner's Crime

This series is turning out to be like a bag of chips, no one can eat just one. Or well like a Netflix show, intensely bingeable. The writing gets prettier and the turns of phrase more elegant in this one, the politics gets more involved, the social conscience and implications more complex. Now we’re talking.

Kestrel is one fascinating girl. She’s sharper and more mercenary than ever. We are with her as she learns more about her own morals and priorities, and is a firmly Grey character. She’s not perfect, but her strategic brain is the only thing keeping the pieces on the board moving in the right direction. For the most part. Her character arc is uncomfortably real and true to someone who’s been raised with a certain set of beliefs would be. As in, raised by colonizers.

When she does make mistakes, which of course she does (she’s 17 after all), it is mostly out of desperation or to correct errors on others’ part, most often Arin’s. Who by the way, might be on the noble side always, but has a tendency to make the worst decisions. That Kestrel has to fix, and boy does not understand her cues whatsoever. Okay I’m being too harsh on him, but he’s not the sharpest crayon in the box. At least in this book. Your typical hero with a hero complex, leaping without thinking things through.

Thanks to that and desperation and some poor choices on everyone’s part, it all went to he11 in those last few pages. Which tbh I expected, but was brutal nonetheless. Now do I put the rest of my tbr aside and go straight to the last book 🧐

Content Warnings

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Wow, The Winner’s Crime took me by surprise. This book was intense.

We talk a lot about how middle books are a bridge between books one and three and are a bit blah. That was not the case with The Winner’s Crime. This book – particularly Kestrel’s POV – was a constant rollercoaster. I loved listening to it.

Well, I loved listening to Kestrel’s POV chapters. As I found with The Winner’s Curse, Arin’s chapters were ridden with a lot of stereotypical poor decisions and I found him underwhelming. Honestly, I don’t know what Kestrel sees in him as a person because Arin is reckless and shortsighted and frustrating. Please know – when I say “stereotypical poor decisions”, I’m not giving Rutkoski enough credit. Even though Arin makes a lot of expected choices, Rutkoski chose to take the story in a different direction than I expected. This book stressed me out in a lot of the best ways and I appreciated it.

Kestrel, Arin, and the emperor all fit neatly into character tropes and are easy to get to know in a short period of time. As far as characters go, Rutkoski hasn’t done anything spectacular. These characters aren’t memorable on their own and won’t bring readers back for their own sake. The Winner’s Crime relies heavily on its plot to bring in readers. If you aren’t interested at the beginning or if you’re a very strong character reader, this series may fail to interest you.

For myself, I wasn’t overly impressed with The Winner’s Curse, but I was intrigued enough to pick up the sequel… and I’m glad I did. The interesting parts of the story flourish in The Winner’s Crime and this book stressed me out. In a good way. In that “yelling at the TV ‘NO DON’T GO IN THERE'” kind of way. I really enjoyed it and I’m glad I picked it up. I have no idea how this trilogy is going to end and I can’t wait to find out.

Content Warnings

beautifulpaxielreads's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

gabbygarcia's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

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