Mini Reviews: The Orphan Queen & The Winner's Crime

I've been meaning to write these reviews for quite some time now but it's been so long since I've finished these novels that I know I can't do them justice in a longer review. Therefore, here's a rare moment when I combine two reviews all in one post. 

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows
Published by Katherine Tegen Books
Format Reviewed: Hardcover 
Publication Date: March 10th, 2015
Genre: High Fantasy
Pages: 393 
Reviewed by: Stephanie
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars
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Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.

While I've been meaning to read a novel by Jodi Meadows for quite some time now, it seems The Orphan Queen finally gave me the push I needed to finally jump on the bandwagon. To say it was anything I expected would be an understatement. I didn't grow attached to any of the characters but did find room in my heart to hate Patrick. Even from the very beginning you get the sense that he isn't what's right for Wilhelmina and the rest of Ospreys but suspicions aren't confirmed until the very end. However, the depth of his betrayal is somewhat shocking. The writing kept me tense for nearly half the book and the plot was fast paced - almost literally hitting you with one thing after another. The ending is shocking and Miss Meadows twists the story in unexpectedly ways. The Orphan Queen wasn't what I was hoping for when it was advertised as high fantasy, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.



The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski
Published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (BYR)
Format Reviewed: Hardcover 
Publication Date: March 3rd, 2015
Genre: High Fantasy
Pages: 402 
Reviewed by: Stephanie
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement... if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

For perhaps the first time, Kestrel truly finds herself outmaneuvered. While Kestrel's problems are greatly tied to her love for Arin, her biggest weakness is her lack of loyalty. Kestrel is beginning to question her emperor. She is questioning what is right and what is wrong. Kestrel is finding that perhaps it is dishonorable to define her own honor by the opinions of those around her, even her own father. The Winner's Curse showed us just how devious Kestrel could be but she has finally met her superior. No matter what she does, Kestrel finds herself ensnared each time in the emperor's trap until she nearly pays the ultimate price; The amount of scheming in the novel is almost unbelievable. Miss Rutkoski left us with a cliff hanger ending that has me clamoring for the sequel. 

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