Winners Crime: A Heart-Wrenching and Thought-Provoking Novel

I recently had the pleasure of reading Winners Crime, the second installment in Marie Rutkoski's Throne of Glass series. As I delved into the world of this captivating novel, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and trepidation. The story picks up where the first book left off, with Kestrel, now the emperor's daughter-in-law, struggling to maintain her grip on reality amidst the complexities of court politics and her own growing feelings of unease.

As Kestrel navigates the intricate web of alliances and rivalries within the palace, she begins to make more mistakes, both in her personal and public life. Her once-impenetrable facade starts to crumble, revealing a more human side to this complex character. Despite her intelligence and wit, Kestrel is no longer on solid ground, and her relationships with those around her are put to the test. This newfound vulnerability makes her all the more relatable and endearing to the reader.

One of the aspects that resonated with me most was the dynamic between Kestrel and Aaron. Their bold second-guessing of each other's intentions and connection tugged at my heartstrings, leaving me feeling emotionally drained. I must admit that I hate how their relationship is put to the test, but it was beautifully executed by Rutkoski. The author masterfully weaves together the threads of their complicated bond, making it impossible not to feel invested in their fate.

The character development in this novel is truly impressive. Kestrel's growth and evolution are remarkable, as she grapples with the pressures of her position and the weight of her own expectations. Meanwhile, Aaron's struggles to cope with the challenges he faces make for a compelling narrative. His fall from strength to vulnerability is both heartbreaking and relatable, leaving me eager to see how his character will continue to develop in the future.

The family dynamics within the novel are also noteworthy. The relationships between characters like Jess and Kestrel, as well as Verax's friendship with Aaron, add depth and warmth to an otherwise complex narrative. These connections are expertly woven into the story, making it easy to become fully immersed in the world of Winners Crime.

The Emperor plotline is also a highlight of this novel. The way Rutkoski has developed this character, making him a formidable opponent for Kestrel and Aaron, is nothing short of impressive. His cunning and intelligence make him a force to be reckoned with, and his presence raises the stakes in a significant way.

One of the most striking aspects of Winners Crime is its exploration of themes such as loyalty, duty, and survival. The novel delves into the difficult choices that Kestrel and Aaron must make, often finding themselves at odds with each other and their own moral compasses. These dilemmas are expertly crafted, making it impossible not to become fully invested in the characters' fates.

The ending of Winners Crime is, without a doubt, one of its most memorable aspects. The author's bold decision to take the story in this direction leaves me both heartbroken and hopeful for the future. I must admit that I was utterly devastated by the conclusion of the novel, but it serves as a testament to Rutkoski's skill as a storyteller.

As I reflect on Winners Crime, I am left with so many questions about what the future holds for Kestrel and Aaron. How will they manage to reunite, given their current circumstances? Will they find a way to overcome their differences and work together once again? These are just a few of the burning questions that remain in my mind as I wait anxiously for the next installment in this series.

Ultimately, Winners Crime is a masterfully crafted novel that will leave even the most seasoned readers heartbroken and eager for more. With its complex characters, intricate plotlines, and thought-provoking themes, it is an absolute must-read for fans of fantasy and adventure. If you're looking for a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat and leave you questioning everything, look no further than Winners Crime.

As I conclude my review of Winners Crime, I am left with a sense of hope and anticipation for what's to come in the next installment of this series. The author has set the bar high, but I have every confidence that she will deliver once again. Until then, I'll be eagerly awaiting the release of the final book in the Throne of Glass series, Winner's Kiss.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys it's Sam and this is my spoilery gush video for the British crime by Murray Bukowski and I said this video will have spoilers and I so if you ever read this book I will link my spoiler free review down below so as I said my review I was really nervous that it but a little bit of time since reading the winners curse and that I was going to forget about the characters and about what was going on and that I was gonna be unsure and I was hesitant to pick up this book for that reason and also because I heard it was bringing a lot of people pain so a little hesitant with this stuff but when I did I could not put it down I immediately got sucked back into the world and I am in awe of this book and also hurt by it still so this book really was stressful for me to read and it brought me physical pain I don't know how many times my stomach just dropped with all the things that were happening throughout this book I feel like you keep getting your heart ripped out and stomped on and then you're like oh wait something goes gonna happen something goes gonna happen and then it doesn't and you get stomped on again and then you wait and the cycle just continues throughout the whole book I knew the book had a cliffhanger and name was people were talking about it on Twitter and stuff and people were warning me about it but I didn't know exactly how painful that ending was going to be until I got to it I knew it was coming I had like two pages left and I was like no something has to happen it can't end like this and then it did and then it did what I really liked about this book is that it was a story built on lies that I found infuriating but that was also really well-done typically speaking especially with young adult books if you have two characters that are lying to each other where they're just like if you just talk to one another everything will be fine I usually hate that about books but this was actually done really well I was irritated at times I was frustrated I was stressed out I just wanted them to talk and be honest but I knew how they couldn't be the Emperor and this book is vile I have not hated a character so much in a very very long time I just can't stand him usually I kind of like Villas I'm like oh you're so evil and conniving but him I legitimately hate if there's nothing redeeming about him to me I hate him so much so I knew what I had to kind of lie to each other obviously but there were so many times I was like just be honest just be honest and then at the end when Tenzin died and he had a letter on him like oh my gosh why do you have to go and die when you have like important plot information to give to the other main character so frustrating but again so well done I was just I was waiting for something to happen I was waiting for everything to just be remedied and usually you have these kinds of things were made very quickly especially in young adult and we didn't have that with this and although it rips my heart into tiny tiny pieces I love it I really like how both Kestrel and Aaron are so out of their element in this book especially Custer all of you this book - last book she's completely different she's still conniving she's still smart but she's making a lot more mistakes she's no longer on solid ground she no longer feels like she has the upper hand and she's scrambling and making a lot of errors and that made her have kind of a more human element to her I love her as a character in book 1 I still love her now I loved her then but it just kind of knocked her down a few pegs so it's not like she's invincible or anything especially against this very very conniving Emperor character also we have Aaron who was so kind of strong and steadfast for the most part in book 1 even when everything was kind of happening and going down and I loved how he was kind of falling apart - he crumbled a lot in this book and I really kind of did appreciate that I hate how their bold second-guessing their kind of relationship and their connection that tears my heart out I can't but it was so well done and I just really like how they're very very different people in this book and they're definitely evolving and changing and I'm really interested to see how it works out in book 3 when they do eventually come back together because that they are gonna come back together right right they have to write really enjoyed the family and friend dynamics within this book - I liked that we got everything kind of fleshed out with Jess and Kestrel especially and their friendship and even though it broke my heart and I was really upset about just kind of abandoning Kestrel I understand why she did it it makes complete sense it's not just thrown in there to give her main character a curveball it completely makes sense that she would do that I was just heartbroken for how alienated Kestrel was getting in this book how separated she is from everybody else and I was really intrigued by the whole kind of friendship between verax that very easily could have made into a really crappy love triangle and I'm so glad that Marie burtowski didn't take it there because she definitely could have I think other authors might have and she didn't and I love it they formed this friendship that's kind of understanding they are very different but they are also very similar in trying to survive in this world that's very hard to survive in with an emperor who is very very hard to survive with and I really also enjoyed the varix Russia plotline and I'm interested to see where that goes in the future I just think barracks is a very interesting character because he came out of this Empire kind of like Kestrel very different from what was expected of him not exactly this like physically strong person not even really mentally strong necessarily very kind but not conniving the way the even Kestrel is so it's very interesting to see them kind of pair up and be friends also the father/daughter relationship situations in here are heartbreaking i everything with her dad where he was finally listening to her music and then he found out the secret at the end and betrayed her just rip out my still-beating heart and stomp on it on the floor like oh but so well done again the family dynamics are so so well done in these and I am really worried for the last books I cannot believe that he would betray his only daughter the only person that he has oh my gosh one of the lines I really enjoyed from here is when Castro says if you won't be my friend then you'll regret being my enemy and I hope that that comes up with in book 3 I hope that finally she can kind of take everything back and twist it back and said she is so intelligent and I really need her should just very much conquer that Emperor and just twist everything on his head and take him down just take him down so lastly I've already contests that but that ending is heartbreaking and crushing and I'm so upset that we have our characters going in two separate directions I don't know how Kestrel is going to get out of being up in that like prison wasteland area what the heck I don't know how Aaron's gonna find out about her maybe the mall situation maybe that guy will get in the moth I don't know how that's possibly gonna happen it's the only hope I have I just how much was to wait how are we supposed to wait a whole year for the next book to come out after that really really really so that is - about the winners crime I am obviously heartbroken it was 5 out of 5 stars but I am a shattered broken person so comment down below and let me know what you thought of the book and discuss with me I am still reeling from it it's been over a day of me trying to recover and it still hasn't quite happened yet so discuss with me about this guys so thank you all for watching and I'll see all of you guys soon byehey guys it's Sam and this is my spoilery gush video for the British crime by Murray Bukowski and I said this video will have spoilers and I so if you ever read this book I will link my spoiler free review down below so as I said my review I was really nervous that it but a little bit of time since reading the winners curse and that I was going to forget about the characters and about what was going on and that I was gonna be unsure and I was hesitant to pick up this book for that reason and also because I heard it was bringing a lot of people pain so a little hesitant with this stuff but when I did I could not put it down I immediately got sucked back into the world and I am in awe of this book and also hurt by it still so this book really was stressful for me to read and it brought me physical pain I don't know how many times my stomach just dropped with all the things that were happening throughout this book I feel like you keep getting your heart ripped out and stomped on and then you're like oh wait something goes gonna happen something goes gonna happen and then it doesn't and you get stomped on again and then you wait and the cycle just continues throughout the whole book I knew the book had a cliffhanger and name was people were talking about it on Twitter and stuff and people were warning me about it but I didn't know exactly how painful that ending was going to be until I got to it I knew it was coming I had like two pages left and I was like no something has to happen it can't end like this and then it did and then it did what I really liked about this book is that it was a story built on lies that I found infuriating but that was also really well-done typically speaking especially with young adult books if you have two characters that are lying to each other where they're just like if you just talk to one another everything will be fine I usually hate that about books but this was actually done really well I was irritated at times I was frustrated I was stressed out I just wanted them to talk and be honest but I knew how they couldn't be the Emperor and this book is vile I have not hated a character so much in a very very long time I just can't stand him usually I kind of like Villas I'm like oh you're so evil and conniving but him I legitimately hate if there's nothing redeeming about him to me I hate him so much so I knew what I had to kind of lie to each other obviously but there were so many times I was like just be honest just be honest and then at the end when Tenzin died and he had a letter on him like oh my gosh why do you have to go and die when you have like important plot information to give to the other main character so frustrating but again so well done I was just I was waiting for something to happen I was waiting for everything to just be remedied and usually you have these kinds of things were made very quickly especially in young adult and we didn't have that with this and although it rips my heart into tiny tiny pieces I love it I really like how both Kestrel and Aaron are so out of their element in this book especially Custer all of you this book - last book she's completely different she's still conniving she's still smart but she's making a lot more mistakes she's no longer on solid ground she no longer feels like she has the upper hand and she's scrambling and making a lot of errors and that made her have kind of a more human element to her I love her as a character in book 1 I still love her now I loved her then but it just kind of knocked her down a few pegs so it's not like she's invincible or anything especially against this very very conniving Emperor character also we have Aaron who was so kind of strong and steadfast for the most part in book 1 even when everything was kind of happening and going down and I loved how he was kind of falling apart - he crumbled a lot in this book and I really kind of did appreciate that I hate how their bold second-guessing their kind of relationship and their connection that tears my heart out I can't but it was so well done and I just really like how they're very very different people in this book and they're definitely evolving and changing and I'm really interested to see how it works out in book 3 when they do eventually come back together because that they are gonna come back together right right they have to write really enjoyed the family and friend dynamics within this book - I liked that we got everything kind of fleshed out with Jess and Kestrel especially and their friendship and even though it broke my heart and I was really upset about just kind of abandoning Kestrel I understand why she did it it makes complete sense it's not just thrown in there to give her main character a curveball it completely makes sense that she would do that I was just heartbroken for how alienated Kestrel was getting in this book how separated she is from everybody else and I was really intrigued by the whole kind of friendship between verax that very easily could have made into a really crappy love triangle and I'm so glad that Marie burtowski didn't take it there because she definitely could have I think other authors might have and she didn't and I love it they formed this friendship that's kind of understanding they are very different but they are also very similar in trying to survive in this world that's very hard to survive in with an emperor who is very very hard to survive with and I really also enjoyed the varix Russia plotline and I'm interested to see where that goes in the future I just think barracks is a very interesting character because he came out of this Empire kind of like Kestrel very different from what was expected of him not exactly this like physically strong person not even really mentally strong necessarily very kind but not conniving the way the even Kestrel is so it's very interesting to see them kind of pair up and be friends also the father/daughter relationship situations in here are heartbreaking i everything with her dad where he was finally listening to her music and then he found out the secret at the end and betrayed her just rip out my still-beating heart and stomp on it on the floor like oh but so well done again the family dynamics are so so well done in these and I am really worried for the last books I cannot believe that he would betray his only daughter the only person that he has oh my gosh one of the lines I really enjoyed from here is when Castro says if you won't be my friend then you'll regret being my enemy and I hope that that comes up with in book 3 I hope that finally she can kind of take everything back and twist it back and said she is so intelligent and I really need her should just very much conquer that Emperor and just twist everything on his head and take him down just take him down so lastly I've already contests that but that ending is heartbreaking and crushing and I'm so upset that we have our characters going in two separate directions I don't know how Kestrel is going to get out of being up in that like prison wasteland area what the heck I don't know how Aaron's gonna find out about her maybe the mall situation maybe that guy will get in the moth I don't know how that's possibly gonna happen it's the only hope I have I just how much was to wait how are we supposed to wait a whole year for the next book to come out after that really really really so that is - about the winners crime I am obviously heartbroken it was 5 out of 5 stars but I am a shattered broken person so comment down below and let me know what you thought of the book and discuss with me I am still reeling from it it's been over a day of me trying to recover and it still hasn't quite happened yet so discuss with me about this guys so thank you all for watching and I'll see all of you guys soon bye\n"