Book Review: The Winner's Curse

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Hardcover Edition-Bought

5/5 Lily Pads

No Spoilers!





Hey guys, today I am writing a review for "The Winner's Curse" by Marie Rutkoski. This is the first book in a fantasy trilogy. Before I tell you my opinion, here's what the book is about.

The Plot(Goodreads description)

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined. 

My Opinion 

I went into this book not knowing much about it. I've seen this book around booktube recently and I've heard good things about it, so I wanted to read it. I'm glad I gave it a chance because I loved it! I don't read much fantasy but I'm trying to read more fantasy books. I didn't go into this book with high expectations. I'll admit I wasn't sure if I was going to like it because it's not my type of book. I really enjoyed reading it. I thought the book was so different and unique. It's hard to explain why but I feel it's different from other YA fantasy books. The plot was so unique, the characters were fun to read about and the world was so cool. It was just very different from other books I've read. Most of the time I think fantasy and dystopian books are the same. I prefer fantasy over dystopian because the world's are better and fantasy books have magic and mythical creatures. This one really stood out to me, and that's why I loved it so much. I usually don't care about the world building but I liked it in this book, it wasn't developed that well. I heard the second book has more world building in it and I'm glad because it wasn't really explained in this book. 

I really liked the characters. The main character, Kestrel was very likable. She was nice and smart and I just liked her. I also loved Kestrel because she's a musician like me, she plays the Piano. Music is her passion and I felt I could connect to her because I play Piano and music is one of my passions too. I thought Arin was okay. He's very secretive and mysterious, I don't know too much about him. I think he's nice but I'm not sure if he's on the good side or bad side. Hopefully I'll learn more about Arin in the second book.  

I really liked the writing, I loved Marie's writing style. I liked how I got to read about Arin's perspective too. 

Like I said before, the plot was very different and unique. The pacing was fine and I was never bored. It was a quick, easy read. 

Overall, I loved this book, it was so good. I really want to read book two "The Winner's Crime". I'm curious to know what happens next. If your looking for a good fantasy book that's easy to read, I would recommend this book. I think this book is worth a buy and you should go read this book right now. Obviously I gave this book 5 Lily Pads because it deserved it. Thank you so much for reading this review. Stick around for more coming soon, I will have a review on my booktube channel soon so stay tuned. Bye :)   

 

Book Review: Renegade

Renegade by J.A. Souders

Hardcover Edition-Bought

2/5 Lily Pads

No Spoilers!




Hey everyone, here is another review. Today I am reviewing "Renegade" by J.A. Souders. This is book one in the "Elysium Chronicles" series. I didn't really like this book much, which is why I gave it 2 Lily Pads. Let's get on with the review.

   The Plot

This book is hard for me to describe so here is the description from goodreads

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie.

Her memories have been altered.

Her mind and body aren’t under her own control.

And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.

My Opinion

This is a dystopian book, and that's why I didn't like it. Dystopian books aren't for me because I just can't get myself to like them. Whenever I read a Dystopian, I end up not liking it so I guess it's not the genre for me. 

First I'm going to tell you why I didn't like it.

The main reason why I didn't like this book is because I found it very boring. The plot sounded amazing and I was so interested in reading it. The beginning was really good but it went downhill and got really boring. I didn't want to keep reading it but I forced myself to finish it. Most people would probably think its not boring because there's lots of action in it, but I just couldn't get into it. 

Another reason why I didn't like this book was the insta-love. Yes, this book has insta-love in it which was a problem for me. In books I hate insta-love and I just hate rushed romances. It's not realistic and it usually throws me off and makes me want to stop reading. It wasn't that bad. The main characters Evelyn and Gavin only knew each other for 5 days and they "loved" each other. I don't believe that at all. So as you can tell, I didn't like the romance.

What I liked

I liked the author's writing style, it was very simple.

I liked the protagonist, Evelyn. She was a pretty good kick-butt character. I thought Gavin was okay. He was nice but I never got attached to him. 

The plot was original, it's not like the typical other dystopian books because this one takes place underwater, so I thought that was very cool. 

So that was my review. Since I didn't really like the book, I'm not planning on reading the second book. I feel bad that I didn't like it but it just wasn't for me. I think other readers would like this book. If you're looking for a cool, different dystopian book with insta-love, I would recommend this book. I don't think this book is worth a buy. I think people should borrow this book first, just to see if you like it. That's my review, thank you so much for reading and stay tuned for more reviews coming soon. I will also have a video review on my youtube channel soon so stay tuned for that too :) Bye.

Book Reviews: Ruby Red and Sapphire Blue

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Hardcover Edition-Bought

5/5 Lily Pads

No Spoilers!!




Hey everyone I'm back with a review. Today I am reviewing "Ruby Red" by Kerstin Gier. This is the first book in the "Precious Stone Trilogy". This book was originally published in German and there's a movie in German too. Let's get on with the review.

The Plot

I'm very bad at describing books but I will try my best. If you want a better description, look it up on goodreads.  

Ruby Red is a fantasy/historical fiction novel about a teenage girl named Gwynth(in the German version her name is Gwendolyn). There are 12 families and in each family one person has the gift to time travel. In Gwen's family, everyone believes her cousin, Charlotte has the gift to travel back in time. Gwen goes about her day and she soon gets symptoms of having the gift.  Gwen starts to think she has the gift instead of Charlotte. It turns out her mother lied about her whole life. Gwen discovers she was born on the same day as Charlotte and everyone is shocked when they find out Charlotte doesn't have the gift. Gwen discovers she is the "Ruby". Every time traveler has a name of a gem, and Gwen is the last time traveler. Gwen doesn't want the gift but she can't do anything about it. She is forced to go back in time and she discovers secrets about her family. She meets a boy named Gideon who is also a time traveler. Gideon really doesn't like her but he's forced to travel with Gwen. Gwen just wishes her life was normal, and she has to accept her gift. 

My Opinion

I heard mixed things about this book on booktube. Some people didn't like it and some people loved it. I wasn't really interested in reading the book at first, but I'm glad I gave it a chance because I really liked it. 

Let's start with the plot. I felt the plot was very different and unique. I've never read a book about time travel so I thought it was very cool and unique. It wasn't really slow, but not much happens. That didn't bother me at all, I like slow books. Gwen goes back in time throughout the book but not much happens. I guess the author was trying to build it up for the next book and you learn alot about the world building. I found it very interesting. I wasn't confused when she went back in time, I knew when she was in the past and the present. 

Let's talk about the writing. I liked the author's writing style. The writing is simple, but it was a very quick read. I flew through the pages, it was just so easy to get through. 

Now let's discuss the characters. 

I really liked the main protagonist, Gwen. She is a normal girl and she finds out everything in her life was a lie. I don't blame her for being frustrated and angry at her mom. She also has to accept herself and it was hard for her because she wasn't prepared for traveling because she always thought Charlotte had the gift. She didn't know how to do anything including defending herself, but she was a strong character. She was a nice person, she just has a lot to learn. 

Even though Charlotte is a mean person, I liked reading about her. I guess I feel sorry for her because her whole life, she thought she had the gift. She wanted it her whole life and she prepared for it. It must have been terrible when she realized Gwen had it and she didn't. Charlotte is very arrogant and snobby, she thinks she's better than everyone including Gwen. I don't know why I liked her, she made the book interesting. I love mean characters in books, they make the book entertaining. 

Finally let's talk about Gideon. Gideon is considered the love interest of Gwen. In the beginning of the book, we think he's with Charlotte, they've known each other for a long time and they learned everything together. He doesn't take the news well when he discovers Gwen has the gift, not Charlotte. At first, Gideon really doesn't like Gwen, he thinks she's just like all the other typical girls in the world, but later he finds out she's not.  Even though he was a mean, arrogant jerk, I liked him. I don't know why I like him. 

Overall, I really liked this book. Even though I gave it 5 Lily Pads it wasn't amazing. This book didn't blow me away but I liked the plot and the characters. I want to read the second book in the trilogy. I think this book is worth a buy, I recommend it for anyone who likes books about time travel. That was my review, thank you so much for reading and I will probably have a review on my channel soon so stay tuned for more, bye :)

Here is an update. I just finished reading the sequel "Sapphire Blue". I thought about doing a separate review for it, but I don't have too much to say about it, so I'm just gonna put my review here.

I really liked "Ruby Red". It was really good. I was so excited to read "Sapphire Blue", but I was a little disappointed. This book wasn't as good as the first one. I thought this book would be better. As I was reading the first half, I loved it and thought it was better than the first one. However, once I got to the second half of the book, I completely lost interest in it. It got really slow and boring and I just didn't want to read it anymore. I guess I was sick of reading it because it took me 5 days to finish it. I just couldn't get into it for some reason. I did force myself to finish it. I ended up skimming the end, so I don't really know the ending. After I finished it, I didn't know what to think. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. 

It was good, it wasn't a bad book or anything. I still like Gwen, I don't really like Gideon, the insta- love was in this book too. My main issue was the plot, nothing happens! I said that about the first book too but this book was so much slower than the first. It was boring and I couldn't get into it. Overall, I didn't hate it. I was generous and gave the book 4 Lily Pads. Even though I didn't love this one, I will probably read the last book, "Emerald Green". So yeah, that's my short update for "Sapphire Blue". If you liked "Ruby Red" I still recommend for you to read this one. I hope the third book is better. I like this series, I just don't love it. Anyway, thank you so much for reading my reviews for this series. If I read "Emerald Green" someday, I will post my review for it here. Thanks again and happy reading!