The Winner's Curse

Winner's Trilogy, Book 1

By: Marie Rutkoski

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love...

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.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

©2013 Marie Rutkoski (P)2014 Listening Library

A Winning Story

This is a creative and intelligent story. I think it was well worth the credit and I am looking forward to the second book. Justine Eyre has a strange intonation to the voices; breathy with a weird uptake at the end of sentences. I could not stand it initially but grew used to it. There was definitive differentiation between character's voices though despite the strange speech pattern. It helps to keep the characters straight. Marie Rutkoski's characters are interesting and engaging. The story-line is not something I've read before so it is not predictable or boring.

Good

What did you like best about The Winner's Curse? What did you like least?

The world. It's very descriptive and unique, I loved learning about the different customs.

Least? The narration and the characters.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I didn't HAVE one. The two main characters were hypocrites.

Was The Winner's Curse worth the listening time?

Honestly, I probably would have enjoyed the book more, had I read it vs listenin to the audio.

The narrator

I cant even listen to the voice, it is uncomfertable to listen to so i couldnt even finish the book. Please get someone else to read it, so I can finish it!

Good series

This was another series where the first book was OK, but I was glad I stuck with it through the end of the trilogy. The last book was the best.

Yes, the narrator is a bit annoying. I've heard her in a few other books, so was used to her.

Beautiful story, horrible narration

I couldn't speak more highly of this story but sadly the narration is absolutely horrible.

Read this book.

I don't give 5 star reviews often. This book is great. The characters are textured, the heroine is intelligent, emotional and brave. I think that the discussion about slavery could have been developed more fully but was handled well. I bought the sequel before I finished the first book, so I'm committed!

it's just okay

Narrator is very breathy and has an odd tone she speaks with. But it's easy to get passed.
The story was meh. I didn't really see the love blossom between the characters. seemed to be an insta love type of story. and the whole slave society was really hard to look passed. I didn't like that part at all.

Excellent story, horrible narration

First, let me say that I absolutely love this book and the entire trilogy. I read through the whole trilogy within a week in kindle form. Now for the bad. This narration is, in my personal opinion, pretty terrible. Every sentence has the same intonation. I can't get past the intonation (kind of wobbly and breathy at the end of almost every sentence) in order to actually get wrapped up in the story in audio form the way I did when reading it. It was very disappointing, and partially my own fault since I listened to the preview but loved the book so much that I thought I could maybe get over the tone. Wrong. I couldn't make it past the third chapter, and I've tried four or five times. Sadly, this happened after the return/exchange window had ended, and now I'm stuck with it. Do yourself a favor and buy the hardcover book or kindle version instead!

awful narrator

10 chapters and I just cant stand to continue listening. The storyline is quite good but the narrator was awful in her cadence and lilt. She sounds like she's moaning the whole time its annoying and distracting me away from the story.

Surprisingly Good

I was not sure what to make of this series. Another YA trilogy of a dysfunctional society, a strong, rebellious and heroic female lead and an antagonistic love interest. Sound familiar? That being said I did enjoy this audiobook. I don’t usually like Justine Eyre - in fact I would go far as to say that usually I don’t like her reading at all, but I found myself really getting into her voices. It took a while but I started to enjoy her little manufactured accents which really added to my experience of the book. I also found the story original enough that I enjoyed myself the whole way though. It was also a very reasonable length.

#dystopia #romance #kickassheroine #veryya #femaleprotagonist#sweepstakes #tagsgiving