The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

***The following synopsis and summary contain spoilers for The Winner's Curse.***

Being engaged to the Crown Prince is a dream for many girls. But for Kestrel, who's heart belongs to someone else, it's a nightmare. 

In order to prevent another war between Valoria and Herran, and to make sure the one she loves is safe, Kestrel agreed to the marriage. Now she is destined to live a life of lies with the Prince. But Kestrel can't just sit back and let the rebellion live on without her. She begins to play a risky game and feeds plans and secrets to spies in the castle. 

In a world of lies and false allegiances, Kestrel is bound to be found out. She'll learn what it costs to love. Will she be able to continue to play the dangerous game when her life, and many others, are on the line? 

Rate: 4 stars

I enjoyed this book almost as much as the first and it was really great overall. It still had the same intelligent characters, the beautiful prose, and the amazing political aspect. I was still in love with the world and the cultures as we learned more about them. Much like the last book, this one left me wanting the next one as soon as possible. I'm very excited for The Winner's Kiss!

SPOILERS AHEAD.

We got a few new characters in this instalment of The Winner's Trilogy. There was the emperor who was extremely cunning and actually realized what Kestrel was up to. We also had Verex, the prince, and he didn't actually turn out to be too bad. He was actually pretty nice towards Kestrel in the end. I was beginning to like their friendship. It seems like a lot of fantasy books that I read these days have a horrible king/emperor and a son that disagrees with what is going on. I'm beginning to wonder if Verex will fight along side Kestrel and Arin in the end.

While Kestrel began to build a relationship with Verex, she also lost relationships. Her relationship with Jess fell apart fairly quickly. Jess had changed after the event at the ball, she became more bitter and less naïve. Although I understand why she changed and why she was mad, I was still on Kestrel's side of things. And then we had Kestrel's relationship with Ronan crumble as well. After his proposal in the last book, he became bitter and reckless which ultimately lead to his death. You could see that Kestrel felt very guilty about this and carried the burden of his death.

While Kestrel was playing a dangerous game of secrets and lies, Arin was dealing with political things. He ended up in Dacra looking for help, which I was glad that he got in the end. We were introduced to Dacra's people and culture. I liked that these books have different cultures woven into them. We were also introduced to the queen and Roshar. I liked Roshar and Arin's friendship, they were fun to read together.

The ending was probably my favourite part though. Kestrel was found out and she will be sent to a work camp in the tundra. Her relationship with her father fell apart as well. He was too loyal to stand up for his daughter and to see that what Valoria was doing was wrong. I'm interested to see how this will all play out in the next book. And what will Arin do when he finds out about what happened to Kestrel?

Overall, The Winner's Crime was a great sequel and I can't wait for the next book!