Sailing in a Sea of Words

Book: The Winner's Crime

Author: Marie Rutkoski

Genre: Young Adult/Fiction/Fantasy/Romance

Summary: A royal wedding means one celebration after another: balls, fireworks, and revelry until dawn. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement: that she agreed to marry the crown prince in exchange for Arin's freedom. But can Kestrel trust Arin? Can she even trust herself? Kestrel is becoming very good at deception. She's working as a spy in the court. If caught, she'll be exposed as a traitor to her country. Yet she can't help searching for a way to change her ruthless world . . . and she is close to uncovering a shocking secret. This dazzling follow-up to The Winner's Curse reveals the high price of dangerous lies and untrustworthy alliances. The truth will come out, and when it does, Kestrel and Arin will learn just how much their crimes will cost them. - Farrar Straus Giroux Books, 2015.

I have to say: I've never read a Young Adult novel where I found myself not only understanding, but empathizing with the main character. When I read the first book in this series, The Winner's Curse, I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about the series. Now, after reading the second book, I know it's a series that I will place as one of the top five young adult trilogies I've ever read.

I'm going to be honest right out of the gate. The displays of romance are slim to none. Rutkoski is focusing on political intrigue and mind games. After Kestrel convinces the emperor to give her beloved's homeland to them in exchange for her marriage to his son, she must keep her heart and true motives hidden from everyone around her. While she thinks she has everything under control, Arin, the boy she sacrificed herself for, comes to confront her and she must prevent him from undoing all of her work.

When I say the displays of romance are slim to none, I mean that in the physical sense. While there are some moments fraught with desire and tension, the love is found, oddly enough, in Kestrel's actions. Everything she does, even the unspeakable things, is for Arin.

If you love angst, this book is perfect for you. Rutkoski doesn't lay it on thick, but your heart hurts because Kestrel does so much, but the people who matter most don't know. Her selfishness brings her pain. Everyone who she wants to love her, even if she won't admit it, either abandon her or don't understand her.

Kestrel is such a wonderfully complicated character. She's strong in so many ways, yet when she allows herself to be weak, she is dangerously weak. She can cut people with her words so easily, but is never given the opportunity to heal them, even though she wants to. She denies the affection desperately offered to her while desperately chasing the love she has never been (and never will be) given. She is truly a tragic character, tragic to the point of Shakespearean. The Winner's Crime is Kestrel's book and I can't recommend it enough.

I was originally planning on reading a book inbetween this book and the final one, but it ended on such a great cliffhanger that I immediately started the next one.

I give The Winner's Crime an A+.

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