My Reaction in a Nutshell: 
 Am I the only one who thinks that this series went downhill? 
 The Long Version: 
 The moral to the story of The Winner's Crime: always keep your promises. Pretty much the first third of this novel could have been avoided if Tensen had just given Arin that damn letter. 
 The Winner's Kiss begins with Arin going to war and Kestrel going to a labor camp. Readers are left to question if our two lovebirds will meet. Will Arin learn the truth? Will Kestrel escape? Will the winner finally get her kiss?!?!?! 
 And yet, all of those questions and answers left me terribly bored. (3.5/5 stars) 
 The Winner's Kiss left me wanting something more. It was a case of telling me about war rather than showing (similar to The Song of Achilles). The points of view changed too frequently. Arin and Kestrel have a toxic relationship (seriously, how can they overcome the fact that her people enslaved his for years, he killed her friends, he held her captive, they have both told so many lies, too much betrayal, putting each other before their country, being grossly overprotective, being angry because they love each other, and more). I was actually more of a fan of their relationship in the first book. 
 I LOVE ROSHAR. In The Winner's Crime, I liked him. I thought he was interesting. In The Winner's Kiss I fell in love with his character. He is funny. He is smart. He is fucking wonderful. A++ character development. I love how he interacts with the other characters in the book. 
 This section will be spoilers (and spoilers withing spoilers): 
 (view spoiler)[I wanted more scenes between Kestrel and her father: 
 (view spoiler)[The fact that he kept her letter had me in tears. I also wanted a scene that would be like: 
 General: I always knew that you would make a magnificent soldier. I just never thought that it would be under these circumstances. 
 Kestrel: *glares* I never wanted to be one, but things have changed. 
 General: You have made a worthy foe. 
 Kestrel: I learned from the best. But, alas, nothing like that happened. Opportunity lost. (hide spoiler)] 
 The ending: (view spoiler)[ Okay, I had a lot of problems with this: 
 1). Why was the Queen so chill with not getting Herran? 
 2). Why the hell was everyone okay with Verex ignoring his duty? With a new Emperor appointed, they could wish to attack Herran with a vengeance. 
 3). After killing the Emperor how the fuck did Kestrel and Risha escape!?! 
 4). Why is the ending so damn happy? Unrealistic. (hide spoiler)] 
 The good things: (view spoiler)[There were more than just these points, but I decided to be concise: 
 1). I like how Arin is godkissed. 
 2). I liked Kestrel's journey to get back her memories 
 3). Kestrel becoming the general of the army against her father 
 4). Roshar and Risha's reunion 
 5). Verex and Kestrel's reunion 
 6). More about the creation of guns (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] 
 There were parts I enjoyed, but a lot of things I didn't. Overall, it was still an entertaining series, but The Winner's Curse was the best book in the trilogy. 
 ***TRIGGER WARNINGS: implied R, drugging slaves, drug withdrawal, mentions of suicide, war, death