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| Image (c) Macmillan |
Publication Date: March 3rd, 2015
Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.
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 suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.
I received a copy of an ARC of this book, thanks to On The Same Page
for their ARC Tours! I was not compensated in any shape or form for
this review. I just happened to enjoy reading The Winner's Curse and was
interested in reading the sequel.
Where
we last left off from The Winner's Curse, Kestrel discovers that there
has actually been a revolution going on in her home town. She would
have, most likely, never found out about this if it wasn't for Arin- the
slave she had brought at the beginning of the book. Of course, this is
because he was part of the revolution in the first place. It is meant to
free the Herrani from the Valorians- from people like Kestrel.
Due
to the fact that her closest friend, Jess, ingested poison at the ball
Kestrel made a promise to her to take revenge against the Herrani. She
still desires to do just that but, due to her growing romance with Arin,
she finds herself conflicted on how she should handle the situation. In
the end, she decides to flee from Arin and hide herself on a ship that
will take her to the emperor. She manages to convince him to let the
Herrani to keep their land but to still let it be under Valorian
control. In return, though, she accepted the engagement to the emperor's
son.
Now
we get to see Kestrel preparing herself to become the queen and,
despite everything, she's unsure that she could properly handle the
role. There are those who feel like she can handle it but there are
others who are more than happy to see her fall just as fast. She knows
she must keeps her wits abound lest she finds herself between a rock and
a hard place.
Meanwhile,
Arin is back in his hometown and is struggling to ensure that his
people will survive another year. Due to the fact that his home is still
owned by Valorians, they still request plenty of them- one of them
being the crops they grow. They're forced to give so much that there's
not enough to give around to the Herranis. It's not right and Arin knows
he has to attempt to do something. His people are suffering - he can't
let this happen.
Kestrel
grows significantly in this book. In the first book, she's slightly
ignorant with what's going on around her despite how intelligent she is
with military tactics. In this book, she has no choice but to adapt to
her current situation and she handles it really well. She puts her
intelligence to good use in order to help the Herrani. This is balanced
by how she's required to present herself as the future queen. Needless
to say, it wouldn't look good on her part if she's seen consorting with
someone her people immensely dislike.
Arin
remains as confused as ever. He is sure about how he feels about
Kestrel, but he is incredibly unsure about how she feels. When he does
get the chance to talk to her (which is minimal, at best) when he finds
himself as the representative of his people in an attempt to convince
the emperor to not take as much crops, he knows she's hiding something
from him. He's not quite sure what it is, but it's something... and it
must be something big for him to want to hide it from her.
There's
so much going on in this book this time around but every little thing
in it is important. It's also more subtle with Kestrel's actions and
words that it may take a little bit for everything to process properly.
Every character has something to gain and lose and it's so incredibly
painful to read for her and Arin. All of it truly made me feel like I
couldn't trust anyone in the story because you never know who could be
working for who or if someone is willing to pay for the information that
you try so hard to keep a secret.
I
must admit, though, I found myself liking Prince Verex- the man who
she's engaged to. He's the opposite of his father and I really like
that. He doesn't care much about war (which might be one of the biggest
reasons why the emperor wanted Kestrel to be the queen in the first
place with her skills in strategy) and I like that about him. He's
calmer and relaxed... but he also knows his place in the world. He knows
what needs to be done.
I'm
not quite sure about Tensen though. He's the one who ended up being
like the third party and keeping her connected to the Herrani in secret.
I kind of felt like he had some sort of agenda that he didn't feel like
revealing. But considering how treacherous everyone is in this world,
I'm not surprised that thought crossed my mind.
The
ending though... the ending! It truly took me by surprise. I don't want
to say much more, because of spoilers, but I am definitely interested
in what's to come in the next book. I'm sure both Amber and I will be
jumping at the opportunity when the time comes!
Until next time! : D
(Originally posted on A Court of Ink and Paper, previously known as Cosying Up With Books)
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