Author: Marie Rutkoski

Genres: Fantasy, YA, Romance, Politics

# of Books: 3

Format Read: Paperback

One Sentence Synopsis: Privileged rich girl discovers that the world is filled with serious issues, falls in love with someone of the exact opposite social class, and both gain some character development.

–> Okay so the one-sentence-synopsis seems a bit harsh but, in all honesty, that’s what a summary of the books really is, however, the series is pretty good despite that.

OVERALL REVIEW:

Rating: 3.8/5 little flags – You should read, a solid ‘good’ series, but not “oh my god I’m dying to re-read or think about it for months on end” good.

Good distraction series – Not too stressful, but enough to keep your attention from life. 

Writing: Multiple POV’s

Honest Feelings: I was really skeptical of this series at first and was worried it was going to be a classic “girl meets boy but because of social class they can’t be together star-crossed lovers” book, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The first book can easily get on one’s nerves due to the seeming abundance of naiveté and ignorance Kestrel has in book 1 – I mainly kept reading due to Arin (although he wasn’t much of an angel either) and the glimmer of hope that this was setting up for a load of character development. By the end of book 1 – which really was a “setting up the scene/Prologue” type of first book – I saw the promise of character development and not the classic clichéd “princess loves slave and makes everyone a better person”. Book 2 brought more political turmoil, and book 3 brings the trilogy to a realistic(ish) conclusion, tying up all the loose strings – And although all my hopes and dreams didn’t come true I was still happy with the story and it’s conclusion.

Kestrel and Arin are two very strong, intelligent people that are very far from perfect which was my favorite part of the trilogy. I was down with most of the plot (except for a small part in the third book, but I got over it – it made sense I just… meh you’ll understand) – it escalated a lot with each book, gaining momentum and significance. Each book added an additional twist of political intrigue (something I very much appreciated), and some sprinkle of frustration (because, honestly, that’s why authors exist on this earth – to torture us with possibility and hope and then tear it down by the time we reach the next page).

Throughout the series, both main characters struggle with accepting the other, not just for who they are, but for which family they were born into and how their people have treated each other. Arin’s struggle focuses on his anger and prejudice, both the prejudice he is faced with and the one he has towards others (He has damn good reasons to be angry and be prejudiced, but I enjoyed the way the author addressed his prejudice as much as she did with Kestrel’s). I will say the author does a decent job of ‘evening out’ (?) Arin’s and Kestrel’s faults – While Kestrel starts of as naïve and privileged as all get out in the beginning, Arin’s lack of a brain (to put it nicely) in the last book makes up for it.

Kestrel’s struggle focuses more on forcing herself to see and believe the flaws and sins committed by her people and then actively trying to right them (the trial and error of which was refreshing in its imperfection). I also really enjoyed how much Kestrel struggled with choosing between her family/people and what she thought was right – The author put a lot of emphasis on the fact that getting rid of prejudice/something you were taught to believe from the day you were born is more difficult then many of us believe – that when you are shown that something you’ve believed your entire life is a lie you then question everything else you’ve ever been told.

TL;DR: An overall good trilogy, a good amount of improvement between the first and second book, featuring a cute (albeit) frustrating couple. Also, Kestrel and Arin are smart as all get out (in their own ways) – I always appreciate a heroine that can outsmart 3 different countries with nothing but her brains (because you know support from her own country or the country she’s trying to help is too much – girl legit played 3 governments by herself).

Highlights: character development, Kestrel’s impressive strategic ability (definitely a highlight), Arin’s charismatic nature and sarcasm, and the overall progression of the story

*SPOILERS*

The fact that they were together during the entirety of the first book, so you gain this attachment to their relationship, have a huge disruption to it in book 2, sprinkled with separation and betrayal, and then all the secrets come out in book 3 in a way that everyone *cough* Arin *cough* realizes there was a huge misunderstanding – of epic proportions (honestly though its always Arin who misunderstands; like boy is smart but goddamn it Arin USE YOUR GOD GIVEN BRAIN), resulting in the main couple taking forever to get together. At the same time this creates a complex and rich dynamic between the couple, so that when they do get together legit nothing can break them. This is a core strength and highlight of this book in my mind.