CBR18 Bingo: Justice – Arin and his co-conspirators rise up against the occupying forces and enact justice upon them.
She remembered how her heart, so tight, like a scroll, had opened when Arin kissed her. It had unfurled. If her heart were truly a scroll, she could burn it. It would become a tunnel of flame, a handful of ash. The secrets she had written inside herself would be gone. No one would know.
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner’s CurseMusic made her feel as if she were holding a lamp that cast a halo of light around her, and while she knew there were people and responsibilities in the darkness beyond it, she couldn’t see them. The flame of what she felt when she played made her deliciously blind.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner’s Curse
Kestrel is the seventeen-year-old daughter of General Trajan: the top military commander of the Valorian empire and conqueror of Herran. Kestrel remembers little of her time before the war and her move to the Herran capital. She remembers little of her mother who died during their first winter there.
The Valorians invaded the Herran peninsula and enslaved its people. The Herrani were divided up and sold to noble households as well as to the Valorian businesses that established themselves in the years following the war.
Raised by a military strategist, Kestrel learned the way to her father’s heart was by impressing him with her cunning. What she lacks in physical stature and combat skills, she makes up for in cleverness. As part of the Valorian nobility, Kestrel is considered strange, but her status allows her to be eccentric, especially when it comes to her obsession with practicing piano at home and eschewing formal events. Her childhood friend Jess, and Jess’s brother Ronan, make up Kestrel’s social circle.
On the cusp of her eighteenth birthday, Kestrel must make a decision. Her father wants her to join the military so they can work side-by-side. If Kestrel refuses to enlist, her only other option is to marry. As she is content with her current freedom and is not interested in marrying anyone, she delays the decision for as long as possible.
On a visit to the docks one afternoon, Kestrel and her friend Jess find themselves at an auction. When Kestrel sees the Herrani man being sold, she ignores the looks of other Valorians and places her bid. To her relief and dismay, she wins.
Kestrel has never bid at an auction before and is not sure what came over her. However, she convinces herself that she made the right choice. The man is a blacksmith and, if the auctioneer is to be believed, a talented singer. Upon returning home, the house steward sends the man (called Smith) to work in the forge of Kestrel’s estate.
Arin (Smith) is no ordinary blacksmith. He is part of the Herrani resistance working to take back their country from the invaders. Although Arin works as a blacksmith, he finds ways to speak with Kestrel. He intends to learn as much as he can about the general and the inner workings of the military. He tells himself that he needs to get close to Kestrel for intel, but the more time he spends with her, the more he accepts that his friendship with her is not strictly in service to his cause.
The most interesting thing about this book is Kestrel. Everything else – Arin, Jess, the general, the spoiled aristocrats – was completely predictable. Told from Kestrel’s point of view, there is very little character development or interesting character traits for any of the other primary players. Kestrel loves her horse. She loves to play piano. She doesn’t want to join the military or get married. She wants to read and play music and be left alone. Girl, same. She is blind to her privilege and wholly unsuited for domestic life. At one point, Arin teaches her how to make tea and build a fire. Kestrel is always on the defensive, even though everyone is trying to help her. Her father raised her to be suspicious by nature, but she is almost completely cut off from her feelings. Arin’s affection for her, for the girl who bought him, doesn’t make sense. I’m sure she’s cute, but she’s an entitled jerk. She is, however, brilliant, ruthless, and determined.
