Review: The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski (Spoiler-Free)

Going back to my roots and ran to the library to grab the sequel immediately after finishing this. Reverting to inner high school Emily.

As the trees went from green to burnt orange, as the wind picked up from a light breeze to a deep howl, I started craving kingdom fantasy. But I didn't want anything too complicated, didn't even want magic or creatures involved, I just wanted a classic story where I could imagine myself in a ball gown getting my hair elaborately braided. And The Winner's Curse delivered.

It came to mind once I started having that specific fantasy craving because I remember it standing out on my TBR for being one of the only fantasy books I've ever heard of that doesn't have magic. It takes place on a fictional continent, follows similar beats to a fantasy novel (particularly those of the political intrigue variety), and has unique worldbuilding. So it still very much scratches the itch.

The writing is simple and keeps the pages absolutely flying by. There's not an ounce of filler and I can tell this was exquisitely edited, which I feel like is harder to say in the currently oversaturated SFF market.

Another way this stands out in the space it was published into is through its emphasis on intellectual prowess rather than physical. When this came out in 2014, assassin fighter girls were all the rage. And don't get me wrong, I can have my fun with those stories too, but it's refreshing to see a character who's an average fighter and also has reservations about war. Instead, her strengths lie in perception, and because of that she is critical of her nation's history and therefore doesn't strive to become the best at serving it.

Lastly, I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm here for fantasy books with romance, but I'm not into romance books that try to masquerade themselves as fantasy. Thus, I loveeeeee the budding romance in this series. It's nuanced, burns slowly, and is not the primary focus. But it's intense!! There is so much at stake in the world and between Kestrel and Arin that I can't even figure out how exactly I'm rooting for them, but I am. Their pull to each other is undeniable... "smart is very sexy," the author says in the Q&A at the end of the book, and these two people who are "very attuned to the world around them—very observant, very strategic [are] able to do a kind of mental dance with each other." And I'll gladly watch them play mental chess for 1,000 more pages.

P.S. I always read the bonus content in novels because I often find gems buried in there. The most recent example being from this book's Discussion Questions. "Is there something you are good at that you are also afraid of?" pops up in there and that is an INSANE middle school book club question wow. I will be thinking about that for a while.