Title: The Winner's Curse
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Series: The Winner's Curse # 1
Hardcover, 355 pages
Publication: March 4th 2014 Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Source: Personal library
Buy|Amazon|B&N|
Source: Personal library
Buy|Amazon|B&N|
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.
MY THOUGHTS
The Winner’s Curse has been on my TBR for years and honestly I’m not sure why I waited so long. The Winner’s Curse has everyone’s favorite trope: Enemy to Lover. It’s certainly one of mine. But I like that the author switched it up with the male lead as the captive and the heroine as the ‘Master’; the dynamic was interesting. Because I’ve read plenty of novels where the woman was in the subservient role. But there was nothing subservient when it came to Arin, the stubborn Herrani young man.
Despite the cover and the year it was released, The Winner’s Curse wasn’t a Fantasy novel like I thought. It’s a historical fiction that involved colonization, rebellion and those on the opposing sides of war. Which is where we found our two leads. The Valorians conquered the Herranis and those that survived the conquest became slaves. But The Herranis were not people who rolled over and accepted their fate. They waited and planned. The first step was to take the Valorians down from within which was why Arin posed as a slave at auction and had himself sold to the general’s daughter.
The book started off shaky, I didn’t know what to make of Kestrel and Arin. Their relationship felt clumsy, somewhat odd and definitely rushed. It felt almost like instalove but not quite that. I’m not sure if Kestrel was lonely and that was why she was so quick to be open and trusting of Arin, but there’s that. Arin spent most of the time fending indifference and acted cold towards Kestrel; but then he declared his love for Kestrel at at the end which seemed confusing and out of the blue. It didn’t feel realistic or believable to me.
As I write this, I’m not sure if I loved it or not. I did like the story and characters enough that I didn’t know the book ended until I reached the very last page expecting another chapter or two. And now I’m eager to see how Kestrel and Arin’s relationship unfolds after that abrupt cliffhanger ending. All in all a decent read that was engaging and well written.
Despite the cover and the year it was released, The Winner’s Curse wasn’t a Fantasy novel like I thought. It’s a historical fiction that involved colonization, rebellion and those on the opposing sides of war. Which is where we found our two leads. The Valorians conquered the Herranis and those that survived the conquest became slaves. But The Herranis were not people who rolled over and accepted their fate. They waited and planned. The first step was to take the Valorians down from within which was why Arin posed as a slave at auction and had himself sold to the general’s daughter.
The book started off shaky, I didn’t know what to make of Kestrel and Arin. Their relationship felt clumsy, somewhat odd and definitely rushed. It felt almost like instalove but not quite that. I’m not sure if Kestrel was lonely and that was why she was so quick to be open and trusting of Arin, but there’s that. Arin spent most of the time fending indifference and acted cold towards Kestrel; but then he declared his love for Kestrel at at the end which seemed confusing and out of the blue. It didn’t feel realistic or believable to me.
As I write this, I’m not sure if I loved it or not. I did like the story and characters enough that I didn’t know the book ended until I reached the very last page expecting another chapter or two. And now I’m eager to see how Kestrel and Arin’s relationship unfolds after that abrupt cliffhanger ending. All in all a decent read that was engaging and well written.
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