Scan barcode
A review by hurrikanekathrina
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
5.0
4.5/5 stars!
Wow! Wowowowow! What an amazing book! I am so glad that my friends from the buddy read made me read this book. Shout out to you guys!
Beware when you start this book. It will be nearly impossible to put it down! Better plan a free day so you can finish it all in one sitting, because being forced to stop is torture!
If I had to describe this book in three words it would be: Intriguing. Mature. Unputdownable.
But luckily, I don't have to limit myself to three words, so I shall ramble happily about all the great things of this book that made me rate it 5 stars and put it on my favorite shelf.
The fantasy aspect of this book is not very heavy. Other than the names of the nations and places being fictional, this could be set in our world during the time of the Roman's conquest of Greece (which has several parallel's to this book's society). When I heard that this book would be about historical fantasy, focusing on the aspect of slavery, I was doubtful if I would enjoy this book (as I prefer very fantastical and otherworldly fantasy over realism and history. I know. Shame on me.) But the writing style, the great main characters and the world building was so good and so intriguing. I flew threw this book.
Whenever I would put it down, it found its way into my hands again in a matter of minutes and 'one' more chapter became ten.
Though the pacing is relatively slow at the beginning, the story and the character's dynamics pulled me in from the very first chapter. This books main strength is its two main characters.
Kestrel the female lead, is the general's daughter and part of the elite of her society. She took some time to grow on me. It wasn't that I didn't like her, but she was rather cold and reserved, so it took some time to slip into her perspective and feel what she's feeling. However, she is deadly smart and is a different kind of "badass" (her strength is, other than most badass female characters, not in physical combat or kickassery, but in her sharp, almost Sherlock Holmes-esque combination skills and wit.) It was so, so enjoyable to see how she maneuvers and talks her way out of the most dangerous situations, how she keeps a cool head even when she is overrun by emotions. She's definitely NOT an annoying female damsel in distress that will have you tear your hair out in frustration because of her impulsive and stupid decisions. This girl thinks before she acts. She plots all the time, always looking for ways to tip a situation in her favor. That also makes her harder to identify with, because she's lacking that teenage aspect of most YA female protagonists (and while often YA overdoes that aspect to the point of having annoying, angsty Mary-Sues, when it's done in small dosises and not the main aspect of the character's personality, it offers comedic relief and a means to indentify yourself with the character if you a young adult girl yourself) but who says you always need to be able to identify yourself with a character 100%ly?
Now to our male lead, Arin . Oh, Arin, you got me from the beginning. Grim, quiet, mysterious, dark, he is all the things that I love in a male character. It is my luck that lately I seem to encounter more and more mature, thoughtful YA males (in contrast to the vast number of generic and boring "smirky, cocky womanizers/assholes" that seemed to dominate the genre for quite some time) and Arin is such a character. Despite being a slave he had this silent pride and something I'd like to call a "brooding anger" inside of him that just made him interesting from the very first page he appeared. I don't want to give too much away about him, but he's def. my favorite character so far.
The writing style was very prosy beautiful yet at the same time easy to read (which is something to accomplish).
The cover and design is very beautiful as well, btw, the edges of this book are ragged and frayed and the paper feels nice and solid. Has nothing to do with the story or the content of this book, but still, props to the publisher for that.
Wow! Wowowowow! What an amazing book! I am so glad that my friends from the buddy read made me read this book. Shout out to you guys!
Beware when you start this book. It will be nearly impossible to put it down! Better plan a free day so you can finish it all in one sitting, because being forced to stop is torture!
If I had to describe this book in three words it would be: Intriguing. Mature. Unputdownable.
But luckily, I don't have to limit myself to three words, so I shall ramble happily about all the great things of this book that made me rate it 5 stars and put it on my favorite shelf.
The fantasy aspect of this book is not very heavy. Other than the names of the nations and places being fictional, this could be set in our world during the time of the Roman's conquest of Greece (which has several parallel's to this book's society). When I heard that this book would be about historical fantasy, focusing on the aspect of slavery, I was doubtful if I would enjoy this book (as I prefer very fantastical and otherworldly fantasy over realism and history. I know. Shame on me.) But the writing style, the great main characters and the world building was so good and so intriguing. I flew threw this book.
Whenever I would put it down, it found its way into my hands again in a matter of minutes and 'one' more chapter became ten.
Though the pacing is relatively slow at the beginning, the story and the character's dynamics pulled me in from the very first chapter. This books main strength is its two main characters.
Kestrel the female lead, is the general's daughter and part of the elite of her society. She took some time to grow on me. It wasn't that I didn't like her, but she was rather cold and reserved, so it took some time to slip into her perspective and feel what she's feeling. However, she is deadly smart and is a different kind of "badass" (her strength is, other than most badass female characters, not in physical combat or kickassery, but in her sharp, almost Sherlock Holmes-esque combination skills and wit.) It was so, so enjoyable to see how she maneuvers and talks her way out of the most dangerous situations, how she keeps a cool head even when she is overrun by emotions. She's definitely NOT an annoying female damsel in distress that will have you tear your hair out in frustration because of her impulsive and stupid decisions. This girl thinks before she acts. She plots all the time, always looking for ways to tip a situation in her favor. That also makes her harder to identify with, because she's lacking that teenage aspect of most YA female protagonists (and while often YA overdoes that aspect to the point of having annoying, angsty Mary-Sues, when it's done in small dosises and not the main aspect of the character's personality, it offers comedic relief and a means to indentify yourself with the character if you a young adult girl yourself) but who says you always need to be able to identify yourself with a character 100%ly?
Now to our male lead, Arin . Oh, Arin, you got me from the beginning. Grim, quiet, mysterious, dark, he is all the things that I love in a male character. It is my luck that lately I seem to encounter more and more mature, thoughtful YA males (in contrast to the vast number of generic and boring "smirky, cocky womanizers/assholes" that seemed to dominate the genre for quite some time) and Arin is such a character. Despite being a slave he had this silent pride and something I'd like to call a "brooding anger" inside of him that just made him interesting from the very first page he appeared. I don't want to give too much away about him, but he's def. my favorite character so far.
The writing style was very prosy beautiful yet at the same time easy to read (which is something to accomplish).
The cover and design is very beautiful as well, btw, the edges of this book are ragged and frayed and the paper feels nice and solid. Has nothing to do with the story or the content of this book, but still, props to the publisher for that.