The Winner's Crime

Title: The Winner's Crime

Series: The Winner's Trilogy - book 2

Author: Marie Rutkoski

Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Young Adult

Number of Pages: 416

Publication Date: 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Summary: The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria's crown prince means one celebration after another. 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...if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For - unknown to Arin - Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country's freedom, he can't fight the suspecion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dagger that cuts him open, but the truth. And that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

What a spectacular sequel to The Winner's Curse. This book picks up a month following the end of The Winner's Curse as Kestrel and Arin try to come to terms with the drastic changes their lives have gone through. In The Winner's Crime Kestrel and Arin are not only pushed to their limits but have to exceed them. They have to be smarter than ever and play the game harder than they ever have before. And all the while keep in mind that their actions drastically effect others.

The Winner's Crime is filled with even more deceit and deception than you can imagine. Just as you think one lie has been unspun you realise you have only found the tail end of it. As Kestrel and Arin work at discovering the same secret plot the two inadvertently find themselves working against each other as they go to great lengths to stay away from one another. But the further the two of them push each other away the more they want to fight for each other.

While the trickery in this book made it so incredible it also made it a struggle. There were a few moments in this book where Kestrel and Arin's lack of communication and trust dragged the story a bit. What made this difficult was that it is such a fundamental aspect of the book. In order for Kestrel and Arin's character to grow and learn from their actions they had to see just how destructive their lies and games were. 

I was also glad for the arrival of the new characters such as the Emperor, the prince Verex and the more prominant role of Kestrel's father, General Trajan. The Emperor and Verex relationship offers Kestrel an example of how power games can push away they people who should mean everything to you. To put yourself so far above others you begin to forget how human others are. Kestrel's father, General Trajan allows Kestrel herself to feel the stinging blow of betrayal by someone you love and the loss of friends brings Kestrel into the reality of what it means to lose everything. 

And while Kestrel learns to experience betrayal and isolation first hand by her own deceit and games as well as by others; Arin learns how hard it is to love someone who not only doesn't trust you but who can also cause your own destruction. Arin is forced to learn to that in order to save himself and his people for now he must let Kestrel go.

This book is filled with dread, pain and suffering and it won't let you go until you have read to the last page. The Winner's Crime is a powerful and seductive read that will pull you in until you are just as invested in the plot as the characters are.