I was so excited to read The Winner's Crime after thoroughly enjoying book one last year and this was easily one of my most anticipated books of the year. I started reading this sequel a few months ago and something wasn't clicking with me, which led me to putting it on hold. I wasn't sure if there was something wrong with me or with the book, but either way it just wasn't working out. The more I read of TWC, the more I began to notice that this book is a classic example of second book syndrome, suffering from an extremely slow pace and minimal plot. The problem is that this book is merely a bridge from book one to book three and so much of the book is essentially filler. 
 The Winner's Crime follows Kestrel as she tries to figure out what her father plans to do in Herran, the country Arin is from. In addition she must also find a way to tell Arin why she agreed to marry the Prince. To make things even more complicated, she would like to reconcile with her best friend, Jess and with Arin, but at what cost? Nothing is easy in this world full of court politics and danger. 
 So much of The Winner's Crime is spent just watching Kestrel walk around the palace doing random activities that have little affect on the plot. Do we need so many scenes about Krestrel's dress or her relationships with her maids? I felt like I kept waiting for something to huge to happen and it wasn't until the very end that I got my wish. I'm fine with a slow burn plot (it worked for me in book one) but there was little to keep me reading. 
 I loved how book one felt like a massive game of Chess (or Bite And Sting), but this book didn't really have that feel at all. There was still court intrigue in this novel, but it felt like the tension wasn't as apparent and imminent this time around. Kestrel's constant wandering around didn't really add any stakes at all to the stories and removed any sort of urgency from the story. I didn't quite care about the problems she was looking to solve because I felt so removed from them and they didn't hit quick as close to home this time. 
 What kept me reading was Rutkoski's wonderful prose that is so unbelievably gorgeous and entrancing. Every single word written on the page is something special and if I didn't enjoy her prose so much, I'd likely have completely abandoned this novel. While the plot didn't impress me this time around, I was oh so addicted to the lyrical words that coated each and every page. 
 I love Kestrel and Arin, but I was having doubts about continuing this series throughout this book. The swift change in the feel of the romance and court intrigue really bothered me to the point where I thought I wouldn't read book three. I felt pretty resolute in that claim, but then I read the ending of this book and I quickly changed my mind. The ending to this book is absolutely superb and while it didn't excuse the glaring problems of the rest of this novel, I was extremely pleased with it. I truly hope book three returns with everything I loved in The Winner's Curse and fixes some of the problematic issues with this series. 
 The Winner's Crime is an odd sort of book that really polarized me and left me a bit frazzled. I loved the beginning and the ending, but everything else in the middle felt a bit aimless. Rutkoski's writing was the only aspect that drew me back in and I'm glad because the ending was oh so clever. I'm both scared and excited to read The Winner's Kiss and I hope it's everything I hope it to be.This review was originally posted on Bookish Antics