Why The Winner’s Curse Trilogy Is One of the Best Love Stories in YA Fantasy

Starting with 2014’s The Winner’s Curse, Rutkoski created a fantasy world that felt magical without including a hint of the supernatural, that felt rough and lived-in and heavy with history despite being wholly invented, and that held onto its head, while giving into its heart. Kestrel and Arin began as owner and slave, their love story taking root in the rocky soil of power versus subjugation. Following a rebellion led by Arin, and a wrenching act of sacrifice by Kestrel, they became distant but equal enemies in The Winner’s Crime, each held high by their people—his the artistic and overthrown Herrani, hers the hawkish, brutal Valorians.
And now the trilogy ends with The Winner’s Kiss, the title of which has had Rutkoski fans raising their praise hands to the sky since its reveal. So what will come of the cerebral general’s daughter and her hotheaded love? Will they finally be together? At what cost? Will there be enough kissing to please us?
Not telling, not telling, not telling, and YES, thank the Herrani gods. The trilogy is a must-read for many reasons—the writing is fantastic, the world-building dense and rich, the cast of characters vast and distinct—but it’s the romance that will suck you in and dunk you under, and make you into a proselytizing true believer just like me. Here’s why Arin and Kestrel are a couple you’ll be shipping from chapter one. (Book one and two spoilers ahead!)
She paused, tipped her head back, and glanced up at the sharp stars.
See how brave they are, whispered the memory of her father’s voice. She’d been very young when he’d said this. Bright and still. Those stars are the kind of soldiers who stand and fight.
A rush of anger.
Even the stars.

Kestrel is a general’s daughter raised by her ruthless father to see the beauty of battle reflected even in the order of the stars, in a society where women wear knives over their skirts and enroll in the military alongside men. For all Valorians, coming of age means wedlock or war, but at age 17 Kestrel is an eccentric among her own kind: though she has a gift for strategy her father wants to exploit on the battlefield, as well as a goodhearted childhood friend who wants to marry her, she loves neither option as much as she loves playing music.
Initially, Arin is a tougher nut to crack. From his first appearance in the story, he’s playing a role: that of a beaten-down slave being sold on the block. In truth, he’s an embedded rebel spy, laying the groundwork for a massive uprising that starts with a brutal mass murder. But his motives are neither uncomplicated nor vicious. His emotions lie closer to the surface than Kestrel’s, he makes impulsive choices, he has to constantly fight down his rage and grief at what was stolen from him, as the son of a wealthy Herrani family slaughtered in a Valorian takeover when he was small.
It’s this disconnect in their temperaments—Arin’s inability to smother his emotions, Kestrel’s resistance to showing hers until she’s thought three steps ahead of her enemies—that makes the push-pull of their budding love so compelling, and so rich with honestly earned near-misses you’ll need to guard your heart. Though Kestrel is more dovish than Arin, her perspective isn’t informed by a stereotypical understanding of femininity, which, in fact, doesn’t seem to exist in her world. In many ways Kestrel is tougher than Arin—he’s governed by passion and a loyalty to those he loves and to himself, whereas she’s able to sacrifice her best interests and operate like a diplomat, led by reason and a chess player’s mind.

Only with and for Arin does she let her guard down, which makes her a target in a time of war. Where Arin doesn’t allow himself to question the brutal nature of war and rebellion, Kestrel doesn’t believe in thoughtless or unexamined action. She’s strong enough to hold two separate ideas in her mind: she isn’t a killer, but she will kill. She’s a brilliant strategist who finds simple, elegant solutions to problems in life and in war. She walks the world like it’s a chess board, but never fully gives into the idea of people as game pieces. Their love story is truly between two halves of a whole: They’re drawn to each other’s strengths and to each other’s moments of weakness, they know instinctually that each fills in the gaps of the other, and they both act like their best selves for each other, even when doing so could be deadly.
Arin and Kestrel’s relationship—one of master and slave, owner and owned—is crippled from its inception, by a system so entrenched it seems impossible to dismantle. But over the course of three books, Rutkoski upends their entire world order. Their love seems cut to the quick again and again, as each negotiates who they can bear to betray, and how, but they always find their way back to each other, even when the outlook seems dire. Pick up The Winner’s Kiss nowrightnow to discover the final chapter in their story, and ready your fainting couch for all. that. KISSING.
The Winner’s Kiss is available now, and we see the perfect space for it on your bookshelf…