The Winner’s Kiss (The Winner’s Trilogy #3)
By Marie Rutkoski
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Ages: 18+
War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.
At least, that’s what he thinks.
In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her.
But no one gets what they want just by wishing.
As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover that the world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and they are caught in between. With so much to lose, can anybody really win?
The Gist:
A Satisfying, though not overly exciting, ending to a trilogy. Overall, I enjoyed reading The Winner’s Trilogy. It wasn’t my favorite series, but it definitely had it’s good parts. It centers a lot on the relationship/tension between Arin and Kestrel so if that’s your thing, my guess is you’ll enjoy The Winner’s Kiss. I didn’t mind the book, even enjoyed it some, but it didn’t grab me and I don’t have a desire to read it again.
What I Liked:
We really get to see Kestrel’s strengths in this book and she really comes into her own. And of course I loved the building of hers and Arin’s relationship, even if it was just a little.
It was fun to meet new characters like Prince Roshar, especially since we don’t have Jess anymore. I liked his spunky attitude and happy-go-lucky charm. And the only thing I love more than a good romance is a good bromance. And the one between Arin and Prince Roshar was wonderful. It was a joy to see how slow they’d grown together and how much they depend on and trust each other.
What I Didn’t Like:
It felt choppy to me a lot, like we switched scenes and perspectives abruptly and that felt unnerving and made it very hard to follow at times. I also caught myself thinking “Wait, what! I want to know more about what happened!” when a scene suddenly jumped.
Some aspects began to feel quite tedious, like Arin’s overprotectiveness. Things like that could have been downplayed in my opinion.
Sometimes I also think it focused too much on the relationship between Arin and Kestrel. There was a war going on the entire book, yet it didn’t feel like there was a war going on until the end. We weren’t hearing many updates, didn’t have enemies charging on the residence, there was just no urgency to survive and defeat them.
I expected more from Arin and Kestrel. After two books of them not being together, there was too much angst and melodrama between them for my taste. I would have liked to see more of them together as a couple in the final book of a trilogy, but that could just be my opinion. The reason I say this though is because I seemed like I was hearing a lot of the same arguments and inner monologue from the first two book.
LunasLuckyRating: 3.5/5 Lunas
