Marie Rutkoski

So many people recommended Real Easy by Marie Rutkoski to me last year when seeking recommendations from friends as part of a year-long reading challenge that I purposely kept it for last, thinking it would be the best recommendation of the year. Perhaps it was the format in which I “read” the novel, choosing to listen to it via audiobook, but I was not impressed by the story. After reading or listening to eleven other books selected by friends, this neither surprises me nor upsets me, show more as I have found that this exercise in broadening my reading choices did nothing but confirm what I like and why I stick to what I like.

For one thing, Ms. Rutkoski tells her story from the point of view of pretty much every character. That may sound like hyperbole, but trust me when I assure you it is not. Each chapter has a different narrator, and only two or three narrators tell more than one chapter. In the interview after the audiobook, the author speaks to this as intentional and that each new point of view is essential to the overarching story in some way. I am not sure she was entirely successful there because there are at least two or three narrators I can think of who added nothing to the story.

She finally settles down with the narrator shifting towards the story’s climax, but by that time, I was continuing the story to solve the mystery. I cared nothing for any of the characters, including the two victims, which is another issue I have with her use of multiple narrators. Real Easy is not a novel that needs strong character development but requires an empathic relationship with critical characters. Because of the constantly shifting POV, I didn’t get the chance to develop a relationship with anyone. Thus, I had no interest when one of the girls was in danger or when the main detective rushed to the scene before it was too late. I remained a remote observer with no vested interest in anything.

Another issue I had with Real Easy was the dialogue. Perhaps this comes across better in print, but there are entire chapters where the discussion consists of brief sentences followed by “she said.” When there are five or more people in a scene speaking at once, that is a lot of “she said.” One chapter, in particular, used that phrase for every sentence; I stopped counting after this happened twenty times in a row. Dialogue in audiobooks is always tricky because what works on paper may not work orally. In this case, however, it was so distracting that I feared every time there was another scene involving a group of people. In a book that occurs in part in a strip club, and the girls all get ready in the locker room together, this happens more often than not.

As for the mystery itself, I feel it is a lackluster one. I can tell Ms. Rutkoski chose certain narrators to throw readers off the scent of the real murderer. Much like her dialogue, this writing choice felt clunky and obvious. These weren’t small little suggestions slyly hinted at but rather huge, lumbering red herrings that announced themselves by screaming at you for attention. They were so apparent that they did nothing but unfavorably extend the story, making it longer than needed.

I could forgive all of this if the murderer were someone completely unexpected. Instead, the murderer is someone anyone who has ever watched an episode of Date Line would easily guess. Ms. Rutkoski does not help herself with her attempted feints since no reader will fall for them.

It all comes down to the fact that Real Easy lacks elegance, which is the cause of most of the issues I had with it. I say elegance because a successful murder mystery is elegant; the author glides the reader from clue to false clue so effortlessly and with such little fanfare that they don’t even know they are seeing the clues, let alone false ones. Everything about Real Easy, from the dialogue to the multiple narrators to the unsurprising murderer, is as inelegant and crude as when you see someone in stage make-up up close after seeing them perform. show less

Look out 2015! It. Is. On. That’s right. The gauntlet has been thrown, the bar has been set (ridiculously high, I might add), and every book that I read for the rest of the year will be compared to this one—as in, “Yeah, I liked this book, but did I like it AS MUCH as The Winner’s Curse???”—because it was THAT GOOD.

Why did I wait so long to read this book? Whyyyyyyy? I mean, I try to console myself by remembering that I have finally read it and, ooooh, look at the pretty show more hardcover that I have to add to my shelf, but still. I could just kick myself for waiting so, SO long.

Marie Rutkoski’s writing is so gorgeous and so engrossing that The Winner’s Curse kept me up reading WELL past my bedtime and left me with one heck of a book hangover. I couldn’t pick up another book for DAYS. Days, I tell you! All I could do was think about this story and its characters and WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT?! Thankfully, The Winner’s Crime comes out in 42 days +/- a couple of hours. Yes, I’m counting.

Kestrel and Arin’s story is told in dual perspective, which is a brilliant move by Rutkoski if you ask me. Because not only do you get to see the difference in POV between a male and female character (I love this!), but you also get to take a look at the differences between two people on opposite sides of a war-torn country. On one side you’ve got the daughter of a General whose army conquered and enslaved a country’s entire population. On the other you’ve got a slave who has been purchased and brought into the General’s household by that same daughter.

I found this to be a VERY effective (and addictive) story telling technique. Because as the dynamic between Kestrel and Arin shifts and changes—as they make assumptions about each other and find that they might not be so true; as they learn to trust one another and become friends, or possibly something more—lines that were once not meant to be crossed suddenly begin to blur. And, before you know it, nothing is black and white anymore and you’re drowning in a sea of grey.

*Side Note* Can I tell you how absurdly happy I was that we didn’t know Arin’s name for, like, SIX chapters? Absurdly. Happy. Because we don’t learn Arin’s name until Kestrel does. He is simply referred to as “the slave” (even in his own chapters) until he tells her his name. It’s attention to details like that that make me want to do cartwheels and backflips and other acrobatic feats that I’m just not capable of. So, thank you Marie Rutkoski! I could kiss you for this—but I won’t. Okay. I’m done now.

Anyways. The thing that I really loved, the thing that kept me turning the pages into the wee hours of the night—besides the writing. And the characters. And, have I mentioned the world building? No? Well, that’s stellar too—was the whole idea of the Winner’s Curse.

“Looks like someone’s suffering the Winner’s Curse.”

Kestrel turned to her. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t come to auctions often, do you? The Winner’s Curse is when you come out on top of the bid, but only by paying a steep price.”

The Winner’s Curse is not a concept that I’ve ever given much thought to before, but it totally fascinated me. Especially with how it kept presenting itself throughout the story. At least, it did to me. Although, I do tend to read too much into things sometimes. But I seriously don’t think it was just me. And it wasn’t necessarily always big, Earth-shattering things like when Kestrel buys Arin, intertwining their fates and forever changing the world as they know it. No, there were smaller, more subtle battles to be won. And those battles may not have been as big, but they still had to decide what they were willing to do/say/give up to win them. It’s like, yeah, sure, you’re going to get what you want, but what’s it gonna cost you? And, more importantly, are you willing to pay the price?

And that ending! OMG, I can’t even. You guys. You. Guys. I am dying to get my hands on The Winner’s Crime because I HAVE TO KNOW HOW THAT ALL PLAYS OUT. Ahem. show less

The setting for this story really sold it for me. Yes, Ms Rutkoski uses Valorian (conquering empire) versus the Herrani (enslaved, occupied lands), but if we go back to history- it's the Romans and the Greeks- so cool to set a YA novel in that era-ish. The Valorians appropriated the gods, arts, and culture from the Herrani- much like the Romans did to the Greeks [and just about any other group they didn't simply eliminate]. They would absorb them into the fold.

I liked Kestral as well, she is show more a strategist to her core, always weighing the odds and outcomes of events, observing things others miss as incidental. There is some romance, but it almost takes a back seat to the events going on around them and her misgivings about those events. I can't wait to get to the next installment to see where this heroine goes.

I’ll be honest, I don’t know how I feel about the love interest though, I understand why he [Arin] would do certain things, but he’s trying to win her over as he takes back his lands (killing her people, her friends etc.)? [Anyone else see a problem with that?] Yes, he’s continually trying to protect her from this violence, but it’s still happening and she’s still his hostage in a gilded cage. show less

In Nirrim's world, there are three types of people: the High Kith, Middlings, and Half Kith. She's one of the latter, the lowest caste, who live within the walled Ward, are highly policed and often punished, and have no opportunities to better themselves. When she is thrown into prison for returning a lost pet, she meets Sid, who is unlike anyone she's known before. For one thing, Sid is a traveler from another land. Nirrim's island country hardly ever sees foreigners, and the residents have show more long believed that there are no other people beyond the sea. Sid makes Nirrim feel all sorts of feelings that she's never felt before with just a bit of flirtatious banter. Moreover, Sid has the ability to get Nirrim out of prison -- and might be the key to all kinds of adventure, if Nirrim is brave enough to take hold of it.

This book has a very promising start, setting up an interesting world with complicated systems of magic and social structure. Nirrim and Sid are both fascinating characters, and their adventures are enjoyable to read. There were a couple of times something happened and it didn't get the full weight it needed in the writing -- for instance, a character hits Nirrim in the head with a lit lantern, and it barely gets a beat right at that moment, though there's plenty of commentary on the scar it leaves later. I also saw almost all of the twists coming a long time before they were revealed. However, my biggest problem is the ending, which seemed very dark and abrupt to me. I realized after finishing this book that there is a sequel, which presumably will lead to a better resolution. I will probably read it, in order to get a better understanding of what happened there at the end. So, my recommendation is to think of this as the first half of the story, and have the second book on hand. show less