Quick Book Recommendation!

[deirdrej.livejournal.com]

Hi, everybody!

I was going to post this at the bottom of our latest "While She Knits"discussion, but I was afraid it would get lost. So...

I just finished a really good book! It's called "The Winner's Curse," it's by Marie Rutkoski, and I really think that some other Sounisians might like it, because it is quite well written and deliciously twisty. Also, it includes some romance, and a whole lot of politics and warfare. And the heroine could be Eugenides' and Irene's daughter -- I mean, she's got a very interesting mix of their personality traits. (Well, OK, she's not quite as tricksy as Gen. Also, she is blonde. But if you read it, I think you may see what I mean).

BTW, there is music in the book, too.  Not as much as in Serafina (another book I loved), but still, it's there, and it plays a key role (pun intended. )

There is one bad thing -- it's book one of a trilogy, and the other volumes haven't been published yet. But we're used to that here!

Has anybody else read this one? And did you like it?

Comments

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

Hm. Sounis seems to have marked my comment as spam because I included a link; let's try again:

I wanted to like this book, but I kept finding it wanting: I was put off from the first by the 'eyes meet across the room: instant connection' that Kestrel and Arin have, and their relationship never developed into anything more substantiated, to my mind. Nor were the power- and political differences between them ever explored, beyond a "I know I should hate you, but I can't help loving you, somehow." (Arin seemed to face no restrictions or humiliation as a slave in Kestrel's father's house, and that fact barely colored their interactions at all even in the beginning. He was also just boring!. Kestrel was at her most interesting, in my opinion, in the couple of places where she was interacting with her father, and, later, when she decided to fight for Valorian interests; but in general, making her a rebel against her society from the beginning meant that we never got a strong sense of that society.)

I thought the politics were also weak, both too simplistic in general (Only two countries? Each apparently monocultural and totally unified? Psh.), too black and white, and too easily resolved. Also, the fact that Rutkoski explicitly notes the Roman conquest of Greece as a model just made me compare the two -- and think about how much more interesting the history is (*multiple* small kingdoms and city-states, some internally unstable and all jostling against each other, a couple more powerful empires waiting to be asked in to mediate and then taking care of their own interests). It made me appreciate MWT all the more for how well she does Hellenistic-style politics in a simplified, fantasy setting, because Rutkoski was obviously trying very hard, but didn't produce anything very interesting at all.

Generally, I agreed with The Book Smugglers (Ij doesn't want me to link, but you can google for it; I commented on their review as "Sigaloenta").

[deirdrej.livejournal.com]

Hmm, Ricardienne!

Your reaction is very interesting -- I can see it, although I felt differently. I read The Book Smugglers review, too -- and I agree that the writing was really good, and the central relationship was handled really well. I thought it part and parcel of the master/ slave dynamic that it didn't develop further than it did -- and that actually said something good about both main characters. I also didn't read Kestrel's initial fascination with Arin as stereotypical "love at first sight." I thought it was just fascination, and I absolutely loved finding out, somewhat later on, exactly how she was being manipulated in this scene.

I think I was caught by the scene with the earrings, and after that I just had to keep reading. That scene was great to me, because it showed that:
1. Even though Kestrel is 17, she is still very young in some ways.
2. She is extremely smart, but...
3. She fails to understand some pretty basic things about her own society.
4. We're seeing the story mainly from her perspective, which is quite limited -- but she learns fast, and as she does, our view as readers widens, too.
5. We also find out in this scene (in advance) why Arin has so few strictures placed on him in her father's house -- even though he is a slave.

As you say, she is a rebel from the get go, but, unlike you, I still find her interesting, because she is not, in any real sense, a rebel against her society. Not at first, anyway. To use a modern analogy, she wants to speed along the highway, rather than abolish automobiles.

I know what you mean about the character dying. That went by way too fast, and --seemingly -- without enough repercussions.


But I still think there was a lot to like in this book. I adored the way Ms. Rutkowski incorporates art, architecture and music into the narrative. Particularly music! I expect these things will become more complex and important in the next books, (and maybe reveal things we don't yet know about both societies -- or all 3, or 4, if this world happens to expand…) I'll actually be very disappointed if they don't.

Also, I really liked Kestrel's friend, Jess. And I really, really liked the ending.

I don't want to write too much more, for fear of accidentally spoiling the book for anybody who might still want to read it.

It's very different from any of Megan Whalen Turner's books, which are definitely among my favorites. But I still liked it, and thought it was well worth reading.

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

I did think that the earrings scene was a good bit of characterization (and I also really liked the moment where it came back, and Kestrel realized that maybe her 'cleverness' had been blind to other considerations), But I found that that kind of depth just wasn't there in the way that Kestrel's and Arin's interactions were handled.

[shelver506.livejournal.com]

Yes, and I really enjoyed it! I was especially tickled by a scene that closely mimicked the scene in KoA where Gen hears about the man who cannot lie and is saved by his servant.