The Winner’s Crime is a story about a girl called Kestrel, the daughter of a soldier. Kestrel is engaged to a wealthy, older man who she doesn’t want to marry in the slightest. Then she meets the love of her life. Arin. Together they spy and murder people to get their own way. If found out, they will be put to death or be sentenced to life imprisonment. As the wedding of Kestrel approaches, disaster strikes. Kestrel’s father discovers the truth about his daughter and Arin. Kestrel makes plans to run away but her father finds her and disowns her on the spot. From there on, life becomes even more complicated for Kestrel and Arin...
Although the plot line was fast-moving and full of detail, the story was mainly from Kestrel’s point of view and that made reading the book slightly boring at times. As this book is part of a trilogy, I realise that some questions need to remain unanswered but I still found that frustrating and I couldn’t warm to Kestrel’s personality: too self absorbed for my liking.
I would give this book three stars out of five and would recommend it to 12-14 year olds who enjoy romance and mystery. The plot was a bit like Romeo and Juliet with a pair of star-crossed lovers at the centre of the action, but personally I think William Shakespeare does this sort of thing a lot better...
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