Book Review: The winner’s curse by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski Published by Bloomsbury Childrens on 3rd July 2014 Genres: Fantasy Pages: 368 Rating: 4/5 stars This book was by no means bad , however it was also by no means outstanding When I first picked up this book I had no idea what to expect having not even read the blurb (the truth of the situation being that I saw one person say it was good and immediately decided I had nothing better to do than give the book a try), and so you can understand my slight disappointment when I discovered that things only really started progressing at the 60% mark. That being said, the last 40% really redeemed the book for me, and I felt myself much more engaged in the events as they unravelled. Aaaaaaaaand upon reflection, I feel as if the slower nature of the first half of the book may have been necessary in order to set the scene for the next books (which people have promised are much better). In terms of the characters themselves, I feel as if during the first half of the novel I was very detached from Kestrel and Arin, and the relationship that was soon to develop. HOWEVER, similar to my feelings concerning the plot, I cared a lot more for these characters in the second half and found myself torn between taking Arin’s side and taking Kestrel’s side, all the while hoping that somehow they could remain together and make things work. And though I remained fairly detached from the majority of the side characters, I felt the improvement was enough to raise my rating from 3 starts to 4 stars. Something that I particularly loved about this book was the way in which it was written, and this admittedly was one of the leading reasons as to why i continued to read the novel throughout the slow parts toward the beginning. I also found the ends of each chapter gripping and appreciated the dramatic note that left me wanting more. Overall, I enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it, but perhaps to someone patient enough to get through the very slow progression of events at the beginning