Winter's Orbit
Ratings85
Average rating4
15
Ratings85
Average rating4
While the Iskat Empire has long dominated the system through treaties and political alliances, several planets, including Thea, have begun to chafe under Iskat's rule. When tragedy befalls Imperial Prince Taam, his Thean widower, Jainan, is rushed into an arranged marriage with Taam's cousin, the disreputable Kiem, in a bid to keep the rising hostilities between the two worlds under control.
But when it comes to light that Prince Taam's death may not have been an accident, and that Jainan himself may be a suspect, the unlikely pair must overcome their misgivings and learn to trust one another as they navigate the perils of the Iskat court, try to solve a murder, and prevent an interplanetary war… all while dealing with their growing feelings for each other.
Series
2 primary booksWinter's Orbit is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2021 with contributions by Everina Maxwell.
Reviews with the most likes.
What I liked most about the book was the action scenes which were very well written as well as the world building and mystery plot. It was a very well plotted novel, the only issues I had were with the characters.
Initially it was pretty difficult to get past Jainan's personality and inner dialogue. He's obviously a product of 5 years of emotional and possibly even sexual abuse but over 300 pages of him jumping at each little thing or totally shutting down was frustrating. He shows no initiative to speak about his issues; he is very meek and nervous, but instead of voicing concerns or fighting for himself, he just shuts down. Nearly everything we learn about his past as the reader is from Kiem finding out from 3rd parties or guessing so not totally reliable. I personally have a hard time with empathy so instead of making the character more realistic and making me sympathize with him, I quickly got to the point that I wanted to tell him to go to therapy or get over it. Many of his issues, besides the physical from Taam which aren't known to the reader after 100s of pages in, seemed to stem simply from misunderstanding or assumptions or simply a lack of confidence on Jainan's part and that's really what made it so hard to understand.
I did start to like him more in the latter half of the book when his abuses weren't a big mystery and he started to get more comfortable around and with Kiem, plus his interactions with the other characters.
Kiem himself is a lot more straightforward and he was immensely patient and accommodating to Jainan with little to no feedback. When they finally do show intimacy, it seems almost like a Stockholm Syndrome reaction than genuine attraction and was pretty unexpected at that point.
Overall, a good study in world building and interesting scifi tech, but not really a book I'd recommend unless you have a very empathetic personality.
For a debut novel I was impressed. Unlike other reviewers I don't think it was mis-marketed. I liked the romance because it was realistic. I'll definitely read Maxwell's next book.
This was the January 2021 Illumicrate box. I had heard some interesting buzz so I was curious to see what it was like. Unfortunately, it ultimately did not quite work for me. The basic premise has you following the political marriage the son of the emperor of a small planetary conglomerate. This has been done to try and secure the blessing of a larger galactic power, to recognise the Empire as being fully formed and willing, and thus protect it against other more powerful conglomerates in the Galaxy. I can see where the references to A Memory Called Empire come in - there are some similar vibes to the political intrigue, and I did really enjoy this aspect of it. The idea of being a smaller power within a connected galaxy is an intriguing one and the political machinations of the various sects within the power were well realised.
Where this book fell flat to me was on the other central pillar of its story telling, and that is the romance side. Essentially this is a romance story with Sci-Fi politics on the side. I am not a big romance fan, and this book has not changed my mind on this. The idiotic emotional chasing around that the too main leads do is just frustrating and detracts hugely from the interesting political stuff that had been set up. I can see how this might work for people who like romance, but for me it just became annoying.
