holly_tree's review against another edition
5.0
Surprisingly different from the first two, I enjoyed it all the same.
otakuish's review against another edition
5.0
Kestrel and Arin's journey wraps up so nicely. I enjoyed reading this and I'm glad I finished the trilogy.
codyleigh's review against another edition
5.0
The Winner’s Trilogy is without a doubt one of my favourite series ever, from its captivating writing, the incredible characters and those crafty plot twists, Rutkoski has proven with each new release that she can still leave us in a complete state of shock…. The same can definitely be said for The Winner’s Kiss; my dear friends, you may want to brace yourselves.
After the heart-breaking ending of The Winner’s Crime, Kestrel is in a barbaric work camp where she is drugged in order to work tirelessly long hours under the watch of ruthless guards. Arin knows nothing of Kestrel’s predicament; he’s too busy preparing his people for a War with Valoria. Arin will not lose his country without a fight and with his new alliance with Dacra and the god of Death on his side, he will be unstoppable.
Kestrel will break your heart in this book; she has been a force to be reckoned with through this series, her clever wits and strategic mind have been her greatest weapons but I feel you don’t really know a character until you’ve witnessed them at their highs and lows--- let me tell you, Kestrel hits rock bottom but I am in awe of her strength and ability to get back up. Kestrel is truly a hero and a fantastic heroine.
“She'd betrayed her country because she'd believed it was the right thing to do. Yet would she have done this, if not for Arin?
He knew none of it. Had never asked for it. Kestrel had made her own choices.
It was unfair to blame him.
But she wanted to.”
Arin’s greatest enemy is himself, he continues to doubt himself and any decision he makes, after his last meeting with Kestrel he’s always looking for a hidden meaning in people’s action and words. Arin struggles trying to lead a war where he is outgunned and outnumbered but he is able to be just a devious as Kestrel and I loved seeing his brilliant mind at work.
The romance, oh you guys!!!! The Winner’s KISS is a befitting title. Kestrel and Arin are one of my top ships and I have wanted to smush them together since the beginning. Their romance is so slow and it’s been full of disaster and complications but they are perfect together and they are so deserving of each other. Fellow shippers and fangirls will be very, very, very happy, eeeeekkk!
“He changed us both." She seemed to struggle for words. "I think of you, all that you lost, who you were, what you were forced to be, and might have been, and I—I have become this, this person, unable to—
She shut her mouth."
"Kestrel," he said softly, "I love this person.”
The action never stops, from the very beginning you can feel the high stakes of this dangerous game Arin and Kestrel play but my OTP plays to win so be prepared for some epic and sometimes intense scenes that will have you holding your breath.
"Did you have to bring the tiger?”
“I kept him hungry during the journey here, just for you,” Roshar said. “Go give him a nice snuggle, won’t you? He’s come all this way to see you. The least you could do is give him one of your arms to eat. Too much? What about a hand? At least some fingers. Arin, where’s your hospitality?”
Arin, laughing, embraced his friend.”
I’ve got to say that I have a new favourite pairing within this series: Arin and Roshar. Oh my god, the relationship between these two it’s utterly hilarious and fantastic, I found myself excited for their next interaction. It’s filled with friendly banter, backhanded compliments and lots and lots of sass and sarcasm. Roshar became a main character in this book; he has in own struggles within his kingdom and family, trying to figure out where his own alliances lie but the friendship with him and Arin was extremely heartwarming, I felt so spoiled for all his page time. Can we please have book for Roshar? Please Rutkoksi, I am begging you!
The Winner’s Kiss is the best book of the series and best way to end a trilogy, it was completely perfect, and faultless!Well, Roshar’s story would be nice. I can’t even put into words how sad I am to see this beautiful series come to an end, I am in no way ready to say goodbye to Arin and Kestrel and I’m also in no way ready to be parted with Rutkoski’s magical writing, I am praying to all of Arin’s Gods for her to have some crafty series up her sleeves. The Winner’s Kiss will make you cry, laugh, cry some more, warm your heart and cry some more, it’s an extraordinary ending and I am so thankful to have read this early but for also picking this up in the first place. It’s been one hell of a ride but I couldn’t have asked for more, now go read it and enjoy!!
Literary-ly Obsessed (Blog) | Twitter | Instagram
After the heart-breaking ending of The Winner’s Crime, Kestrel is in a barbaric work camp where she is drugged in order to work tirelessly long hours under the watch of ruthless guards. Arin knows nothing of Kestrel’s predicament; he’s too busy preparing his people for a War with Valoria. Arin will not lose his country without a fight and with his new alliance with Dacra and the god of Death on his side, he will be unstoppable.
Kestrel will break your heart in this book; she has been a force to be reckoned with through this series, her clever wits and strategic mind have been her greatest weapons but I feel you don’t really know a character until you’ve witnessed them at their highs and lows--- let me tell you, Kestrel hits rock bottom but I am in awe of her strength and ability to get back up. Kestrel is truly a hero and a fantastic heroine.
“She'd betrayed her country because she'd believed it was the right thing to do. Yet would she have done this, if not for Arin?
He knew none of it. Had never asked for it. Kestrel had made her own choices.
It was unfair to blame him.
But she wanted to.”
Arin’s greatest enemy is himself, he continues to doubt himself and any decision he makes, after his last meeting with Kestrel he’s always looking for a hidden meaning in people’s action and words. Arin struggles trying to lead a war where he is outgunned and outnumbered but he is able to be just a devious as Kestrel and I loved seeing his brilliant mind at work.
The romance, oh you guys!!!! The Winner’s KISS is a befitting title. Kestrel and Arin are one of my top ships and I have wanted to smush them together since the beginning. Their romance is so slow and it’s been full of disaster and complications but they are perfect together and they are so deserving of each other. Fellow shippers and fangirls will be very, very, very happy, eeeeekkk!
“He changed us both." She seemed to struggle for words. "I think of you, all that you lost, who you were, what you were forced to be, and might have been, and I—I have become this, this person, unable to—
She shut her mouth."
"Kestrel," he said softly, "I love this person.”
The action never stops, from the very beginning you can feel the high stakes of this dangerous game Arin and Kestrel play but my OTP plays to win so be prepared for some epic and sometimes intense scenes that will have you holding your breath.
"Did you have to bring the tiger?”
“I kept him hungry during the journey here, just for you,” Roshar said. “Go give him a nice snuggle, won’t you? He’s come all this way to see you. The least you could do is give him one of your arms to eat. Too much? What about a hand? At least some fingers. Arin, where’s your hospitality?”
Arin, laughing, embraced his friend.”
I’ve got to say that I have a new favourite pairing within this series: Arin and Roshar. Oh my god, the relationship between these two it’s utterly hilarious and fantastic, I found myself excited for their next interaction. It’s filled with friendly banter, backhanded compliments and lots and lots of sass and sarcasm. Roshar became a main character in this book; he has in own struggles within his kingdom and family, trying to figure out where his own alliances lie but the friendship with him and Arin was extremely heartwarming, I felt so spoiled for all his page time. Can we please have book for Roshar? Please Rutkoksi, I am begging you!
The Winner’s Kiss is the best book of the series and best way to end a trilogy, it was completely perfect, and faultless!
Literary-ly Obsessed (Blog) | Twitter | Instagram
njar's review against another edition
5.0
I am officially IN LOVE with this series! I’m so sad it’s over!
sarsev's review against another edition
4.0
I love this series, and I think it's incredible. It's a really nuanced and complicated exploration of colonialism and of socio-political power and how those things play out on both the large scale of war and the small scale of relationships between individual people. People who love each other, but who are never untouched by the world around them.
Arin and Kestrel have never been on equal footing, never really gotten to see each other outside of the conflict between their countries and the wounds of colonialism. Until now.
This is the installment that finally puts them eye-to-eye, on the same side of the war, on the same level. This is the installment where we finally get to see what they can be, together. And what happens to their world when that is the case.
At that, The Winner's Kiss is incredible. It's everything it needs to be.
But here's my problem: the amnesia plot is such a cop-out.
It's really hard to do an amnesia plot well. What that plot really needs to accomplish is to tell a story twice and have you see different things the second time around - the reader knows the story they think they know, the protagonist rediscovers it, and together they see something new that wasn't there before. But that is really damn hard to pull off, and it doesn't work just anywhere. And I'm not sure it works here.
Because the thing about the amnesia plot in The Winner's Kiss is that it pulls the punches from the last installment. The consequences Kestrel faces after The Winner's Crime don't get to make her stronger, or sharper, or even just different. They just make her...gone. All they do is take her out of the game for a while, while she re-discovers who she is. And while it is a really interesting decision to de-claw Kestrel right at the height of conflict, because it make everybody else step up to the plate in ways that they haven't before and it makes Kestrel re-examine her choices from an outsider's perspective, it's also kind of unsatisfying. Because the conclusion for the Kestrel we knew, before she lost and re-learns herself in new contexts, never happens.
And maybe that's the point. I would actually trust Marie Rutkoski to make some things unsatisfying for thematic reasons - because she has such a deft hand with the underlying thematic elements of this series, and she's got such perfect writing. And I'm more than happy with where this series ends. The Winner's Kiss absolutely sticks the landing, and that is a tremendous achievement.
Arin and Kestrel have never been on equal footing, never really gotten to see each other outside of the conflict between their countries and the wounds of colonialism. Until now.
This is the installment that finally puts them eye-to-eye, on the same side of the war, on the same level. This is the installment where we finally get to see what they can be, together. And what happens to their world when that is the case.
At that, The Winner's Kiss is incredible. It's everything it needs to be.
But here's my problem: the amnesia plot is such a cop-out.
It's really hard to do an amnesia plot well. What that plot really needs to accomplish is to tell a story twice and have you see different things the second time around - the reader knows the story they think they know, the protagonist rediscovers it, and together they see something new that wasn't there before. But that is really damn hard to pull off, and it doesn't work just anywhere. And I'm not sure it works here.
Because the thing about the amnesia plot in The Winner's Kiss is that it pulls the punches from the last installment. The consequences Kestrel faces after The Winner's Crime don't get to make her stronger, or sharper, or even just different. They just make her...gone. All they do is take her out of the game for a while, while she re-discovers who she is. And while it is a really interesting decision to de-claw Kestrel right at the height of conflict, because it make everybody else step up to the plate in ways that they haven't before and it makes Kestrel re-examine her choices from an outsider's perspective, it's also kind of unsatisfying. Because the conclusion for the Kestrel we knew, before she lost and re-learns herself in new contexts, never happens.
And maybe that's the point. I would actually trust Marie Rutkoski to make some things unsatisfying for thematic reasons - because she has such a deft hand with the underlying thematic elements of this series, and she's got such perfect writing. And I'm more than happy with where this series ends. The Winner's Kiss absolutely sticks the landing, and that is a tremendous achievement.
heathermaclaughlin's review against another edition
5.0
5/5 STARS
This reviews will contain spoilers - Don't read ahead if you don't want to be spoiled, just know that this book was really good!!!
Oh that beginning was so heart breaking to read, it's been 1 year since I read The Winners Crime so I had to go onto "Recaptains" and read the summary which brought everything right back. Kestrel being sent the the salt mines, Arin thinking she didn't love him.
The start of this book just killed me, Kestrel slowly loosing her memories and trying so hard to keep them and then her almost breaking out of prison only to be dragged right back. Uggghhh my heart was breaking. Arin off being a badass, but angry with how he and Kestrel last saw each other.
I loved how when he found out that Kestrel was not dead and was actually sent to the salt mines he went crazy and went to save her .. Only to find her and she has no memory of him.
The middle part to almost the end was a lot of war and strategizing for war ... Then the end was amazing!! Love Love Loved it!!
This reviews will contain spoilers - Don't read ahead if you don't want to be spoiled, just know that this book was really good!!!
Oh that beginning was so heart breaking to read, it's been 1 year since I read The Winners Crime so I had to go onto "Recaptains" and read the summary which brought everything right back. Kestrel being sent the the salt mines, Arin thinking she didn't love him.
The start of this book just killed me, Kestrel slowly loosing her memories and trying so hard to keep them and then her almost breaking out of prison only to be dragged right back. Uggghhh my heart was breaking. Arin off being a badass, but angry with how he and Kestrel last saw each other.
I loved how when he found out that Kestrel was not dead and was actually sent to the salt mines he went crazy and went to save her .. Only to find her and she has no memory of him.
The middle part to almost the end was a lot of war and strategizing for war ... Then the end was amazing!! Love Love Loved it!!
bibliofangirl's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. I loved this series. Kestrel is an actual badass heroine that you cannot help but love, root for, and admire. Arin is everything. He's...
I loved these books.
I loved these books.
tcrnn's review against another edition
4.0
Not as dramatic as the last one,
But certainly more entertaining.
Love it!
But certainly more entertaining.
Love it!
rosann's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this series - will definitely read more by this author