A solid SF political mystery with Red, White and Royal Blue vibes? Um... yes please! Kiem has been told he’s getting married tomorrow to his cousin’s widow in the hopes that their union will renew the political bonds between his and a newer vassal planet. But there’s treachery and intrigue behind his cousin’s death that will envelope Kiem and Jainan’s marriage.

***ARC Review***

This book was nothing like I expected in the best way possible. I think I just read “Red, White, & Royal Blue” and “space opera” and went in expecting a dramatic rom-com and got an awesome sci-fi world with complex politics and a unique romance. The main characters are both intriguing and easy to get attached to. They both come with their unique set of problems and strengths and being in their heads and watching their characters develop is really meaningful. Their relationship is like nothing I’ve ever read before as it happens in an almost entirely backwards order from how one would think a relationship should go and is also absolutely adorable. The level of miscommunication between Kiem and Jainan for the first 60% of the book is painful, though, but it being painful also proves my attachment to the characters, which is a good thing. The space politics in this story are so intricate and fun to read about but so much of the world building didn’t make any sense. Are there any normal people on these planets? At all? The whole plot is centered around a treaty but I don’t think we ever learned why the treaty is necessary? What is the purpose of all the power groups? What do these seemingly random people do? At some point I just went with the flow and accepted all of these things as part of the world but really, a lot more explanation was needed. Also, there was no sense of place at all. I thought they were on a planet for the entire book and in the very last sentence learned that they were on a space station. Of course, it was snowing at some point so they could not have been on a space station the entire time. This book has a lot of holes. If you just accept all of it as normal, the plot is actually great. It definitely brings the drama with so many twists and turns that I would’ve never expected, and gorgeous characters arcs. Maxwell really knows how to keep the pages turning. If you can look past the confusion and read the book for its story, it really is a great read and definitely worth picking up if you’re looking for an interesting, queer sci-fi to keep you reading into the night.

This features someone in a new relationship after suddenly losing their partner, paired with someone who's never been married before, with the fate of the empire depending on their success. Both pairings were political, and the new partner has a passing familiarly with the former one, enough to know who they were but not how they were. Part of why I love this book so much is for the way it portrays someone in a relationship after an abusive (or at least controlling) one, after being gaslit and diminished, discounted until he couldn’t trust his own thoughts and barely dared to have opinions but wouldn’t dream of voicing any. Watching him come alive and grow throughout the book was wonderful, and the way his new partner tries to get to know him and figure out what he needs was really sweet. The dynamic between the two MC’s helps further the political and mystery bits of the plot while never losing focus on their relationship as the heart of the story. It’s powerful, cathartic, and very moving.

The two MC's have very distinct voices and it was wonderful to feel them slowly falling in love with each other, to get descriptions through the other one's eyes. I especially love the parts when the POV character just switched and the new POV character is thinking about the other one as their turn to narrate begins. Going from being immersed in someone's thoughts to watching them through the eyes of someone who cares about them was really sweet.

My thoughts are a bit complicated about the gender coding in this book. I have a lot of respect for a story which explicitly includes nonbinary people in the list of genders, but also has multiple culturally-specific systems for gender coding and some comments about how the systems aren't actually as clear and useful as the people using them seem to think they are. It's a nice blend of inclusion and irreverence, and while (being agender) I would personally find a three-gender system as stifling as a two-gender one, I did appreciate it as world-building. It's also means there are several nonbinary secondary characters and at least one of them is recurring and plot-important, so that was very nice.

Speaking of world-building, I think my favorite random detail was the way animals are named in this world, it leads to a kind of an uncanny-valley feeling, where I don't always know what the creatures mentioned look like, but I know they're definitely not what my normal mental image would be.

I love the diplomatic stuff and the mystery-solving bits, the two MC's focused on different parts of it because they're very different people and were in positions to figure out different bits of what was going on. It's tense in great ways, and the rather dramatic climax of the story is really great. Some parts of the world-building are very specific and laid out because a lot of it's complicated, especially what's needed to understand the political part of the plot. One thing that kept this from overwhelming the narrative (aside from how much I love interpersonal politics and highly specific diplomatic things) was that the two MC's think about the events in different ways and understand completely different bits of what was going on, which naturally let there be space to explain important things again in new ways without it feeling redundant. It's also a long enough book that if someone were to read this over a longer period of time than I did (I read it in a day) the bit of repetition that is there is spaced out enough to feel more like reminders of small but important details rather than rehashing the story.

CW for domestic abuse, parental death (backstory), spousal death (backstory), torture, death.

This was a clever sci-fi that I really enjoyed reading! I found Kiem and Jainan to be really great characters and I loved the opportunity to switch back and forth between their perspectives. They way they both evolved through the book was absolutely fantastic and I liked them more and more as the book went on. They also had really great banter between the two of them and I loved watching their relationship grow. I also thought that the world-building was very cleverly done and I really enjoyed the thought put into this sci-fi universe. The queer rep was also super cool and I enjoyed the way it was seamlessly woven into the story, especially since there is often so little overt lgbtq+ rep in much of the sci-fi genre. The plot itself had a lot of great twists and turns which I loved and wove an increasingly intriguing story that I found to be really engaging! Overall, I really enjoyed this book!

I can see people loving this book, but it wasn't for me. For one, I never felt grounded in the world and the rules of it. Like, is this a human future or another thing altogether? Am I meant to think it's a good place to live? Why, if you are creating a whole space thing, would you have bears instead of imaginary sci fi creatures?

The bears nitpick was indicative of my overall problem with this book, which was a failure of imagination. Why is there all this (dull to read) political maneuvering when we're dealing with space monarchy? Why aren't we trying to fully overthrow a system most earth countries overthrew a hundred or more years ago? Also, does this book really think simple ornamentation is a utopic vision of gender in the future?

The other question is who I'm supposed to root for. I should have known better than to choose a book with a "disaster" character, because they never appeal to me as a reader, but it was especially egregious to me here. People who are allowed to still be self absorbed disasters well into adulthood are certainly riding on some kind of privilege, and I want them to experience something resembling justice before I want to see them win.

And if you are looking for the romance, it's quite a slow burn and closed door, so that will satisfy some readers and frustrate others.

Winter’s Orbit feels like the perfect mixture of science fiction, mystery, political intrigue, and, of course, romance, while simultaneously allowing the reader to get a closer look into the characters' everyday-life, which made it so easy to forge a connection with them from the very beginning. I found myself immediately drawn to the story and the characters, invested in what would happen next and scared of the consequences at the same time.

Right away, I found both Kiem and Jainan to be incredibly likeable characters, both charming in their own way. Kiem: the self-appointed “least-favourite grandson of the Emperor”, easygoing and kind, but with the unfortunate ability to put his foot in his mouth on any given occasion. Jainan: dutiful, but almost anxious. There’s something in his past (and his past marriage) the reader only sees hints of in the beginning, but it's clear that he has gone through some terrible things. I immediately got the strong urge to protect him at all costs.

I’ve heard Winter's Orbit was first posted on AO3 as an original work, and it does have that seemingly easy, effortlessly entertaining quality to it, with characters that feel familiar despite just meeting them, and a plot I was invested in from the beginning. There’s a lot of pressure resting on both Kiem’s and Jainan’s shoulders—when push comes to shove, a failed marriage between them could mean war.

Winter’s Orbit started out as an almost slice-of-like like science fiction story, filled with all the best kinds of tropes: royals, arranged marriage, forced proximity, oblivious characters—a conglomeration of misunderstandings was inevitable, which, of course, is the case for all good romances. But despite being incredibly engaging and immersive, Winter’s Orbit isn’t always lighthearted: the focus shifted quite early in the story, from political consequences, a covered-up murder and a looming war, to more personal stakes, namely Jainan’s past and his abusive relationship with Prince Taam.

That brings me to my next point, and one of my favourite things about Winter’s Orbit: despite being a sci-fi story about different alien planets and their people, this book felt so utterly, heartbreakingly human. The characters—and especially the two protagonists, Kiem and Jainan—were some of the most realistically written characters I’ve ever come across, with hopes and wishes, doubts and fears. I cared especially about Jainan, who had to live with the consequences of living with and being married to an abusive man for five years, always thinking he was the one to blame. Some of the passages made me cry, because this is the reality for too many people and Jainan’s struggles to find back to who he truly was after holding so much of himself back for years was both heart-wrenching and encouraging—because there can be so much happiness waiting for you. I loved how both Kiem and Jainan were able to see all the good things the other wasn’t able to see about himself, and I also loved how their friends were willing to fight so fiercely for their well-being.

The only thing I could complain about was the ending, which seemed a bit rushed, after so much careful development. Suddenly, everything happened very fast: both, the solving of Taam’s murder and the Kingfisher project, but also Kiem’s and Jainan’s personal struggles. I would’ve liked a few more pages, to wrap everything up more cleanly.

That said, Everina Maxwell has a rare talent: despite the comparatively high stakes, Winter’s Orbit feels almost intimate, and utterly and incredibly human, in its execution; so much so, that I’d be hard-pressed to find another book that has the same genuine feeling to it, the characters that seem so real that there’s almost a vulnerability to it. In that way, it reminded me most closely of The House in the Cerulean Sea, which was much quieter overall, though, so it’s not a perfect comparison.

Overall, Winter’s Orbit is an unforgettable debut and a truly ambitious combination of fascinating sci-fi world-building, engaging romance tropes, and political intrigue. It was one of the most immersive books I’ve read this year, with characters that seemed so utterly human that it would be impossible not to feel for them, not to wish them the very best. Despite an ending that seemed a bit rushed, Winter’s Orbit was a wonderful story and I’m very much looking forward to whatever Everina Maxwell has planned next!

This is such a difficult book to rate. On the one hand, there are the main characters - fantastically written, each compelling in their own way - and the way they organically wend their way towards falling in love with each other. Maxwell has such a firm grip on the humanity of these characters (and handles, very deftly, the tragic aspect of Jainan's past), and also manages to blend one of the sci-fi elements with a huge emotional revelation between them at the end, which alone made this book so, so satisfying to read.

Unfortunately, though, the arc of the relationship between Jainan and Kiem isn't the only element of the book. Because, on the other hand, we have the plot - or rather, the politics. I'll skip over how shaky the world-building is and cut straight to the chase here: the political plotline of this book is, until the 75% mark, very, very dry. It draws a very accurate picture of the bureaucratic maneuverings of a huge government, which is fine and good but, damn, is it also dull to get through. If it had been shorter, or interspersed with more character moments then I don't know if it would have bothered me as much (and to be completely fair all the elements of the plot come together in a great way in the end) but it definitely, definitely drags in the middle. And as good as the end ultimately was, it's still hard to forget the trek it took to get there.

If you like your sci-fi heavy on the galactic glad-handing and backroom discussions, you are going to have a ball here. Hell, if you want sci-fi with a wonderfully rendered romance you will also find something to love here. And though I can't bring myself to rate this book any higher, I will say too that the writing is very solid throughout, and I would absolutely be interested in trying Maxwell again. This is a hard one to quantify. If you're the least bit interested, you should check it out.

3.5 stars!
Wasn't quite what I expected but I still enjoyed it.

I really liked the mystery aspect in this and I'm definitely a sucker for a space setting.

I did expect this to have more romance especially with it being compared to red white and royal blue and I do wish the romance was built up more however the main characters were still cute together.

My favourite part of the book was definitely after the plane incident.

I also found the world a little confusing but overall I liked the story and can see a lot of people loving it.

Actual rating: 4-4,5

Gays in space. This book gave us everything we’ve been waiting for.

Half of this book was miscommunication and yearning. I loved it!!! 😆
Oh god I swear these two killed me. Kiem is a carefree, happy prince, always having fun and being the life of the party. Jainan is very withdrawn, serious and stiff.
And they’re forced to get married only a month after Jainans husband died. A disaster.
I loved that there were both Kiems and Jainans POVs in the book, it helped so much to understand both their motives, thoughts and feelings so much better, especially because both of them interpreted everything so differently.
I loved loved loved both of them so much and I cared for each of them equally. My heart hurt for Jainan, but also for Kiem and I think they were perfect for each other and complimented each other so well. It was a very unlikely slowburn, which started with a marriage, but it was simply perfectly done.
Kiem doing everything he could to make Jainan feel safe and welcome, Jainans character development and slowly finding back to his old self: I wept.

The plot was also super gripping, with all the secrets, a kind of murder mystery and slowly unveiling things that happened in the past.
I wished there would have been more explanations though, especially about the world building and the politics. The main plot was a kind of murder mystery and for me it all felt a bit messy, because I wasn’t able to really follow what was going on a lot of times.
There weren’t a lot of explanations about the apparently ongoing protests in Thea, what the mining was done for, about the galactic remnants and what they were used for (especially the Tau field).
Some kind of map or glossary would have also been a very nice addition for a SFF book like this, since there were a lot of characters involved.
The whole plot takes place on one planet though so it wasn’t super hard to understand most of the things and the small amount of explanation made it a quick and easy to read sci-fi.

I have to say that I loved many aspects about the worldbuilding, especially the way gender and also the gender of words were handled. There was a special way of dressing, to show what pronouns to use for a person. Some planets seemed to overthrow the concept of gender in general. There weren’t princesses or princes. There was only the word prince and the Emperor was a woman (no, not Empress!).
I loved that, especially because it all felt so natural and not forced.

All in all I really loved this and the ending was perfect and made my heart feel so warm.

(PS: I think this book deserves a TW for domestic violence, physical and emotional abuse)

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell was perfection. It gave me court intrigue on a galactic scale, an arranged marriage, a thriller investigation into a suspicious murder. In other words, it gave me everything and MORE.

The Iskat Empire and the planets it rules must sign an agreement that allows them access to interstellar travel. If they lose that link, all of the Empire's planets are in danger. Part of the Treaty is an arranged marriage between an Iskat royal and someone from Thea, Iskat's newest vassal.

The royal half of the marriage has died under suspicious circumstances but a new marriage needs to happen ASAP. No one is more surprised than Kiem, the Emperor's least favorite grandson, when he's told of his impending marriage to Jainen, his cousin's widower. And also a suspect in the murder.

Do you want romance tropes? Winter's Orbit delivers - arranged marriage, one bed, OMG would they just TALK already, stranded in the wilderness, dark secrets they're afraid to reveal.

The story is told from Kiem and Jainen's POV. The author did a fabulous job of showing events and then how their pasts led them to misinterpret the other's intentions. But I loved watching their friendship grow.

They're surrounded by some fantastic secondary characters, no less well-developed despite playing smaller roles in the story. I am PINING for deeper dives into their lives.

The science fiction setting is so well done. Worlds with different climates, backgrounds, resources, priorities, and traditions. Technology that's obviously futuristic but never described to the point where my eyes glazed over from pseudo-science tech babble.

No obviously included as a token for rep characters appeared. Within Iskat society, a person shows how they identify by the material of an accessory - wood signifies he, glass they and iron she. But gender doesn't determine title. While Kiem is he and a prince so too a cousin is a prince but a she. The writing was so clear that I never felt confused about a character's identity.

The mystery-thriller part was well done as well. Who killed the dead royal and why. Who wants the treaty to fall apart? The tension ramps up as they get closer to the Treaty signing. The author fantastically showed both what was at stake for Keim and Jainen as well as for Iskat and Thea, and the rest of the Empire.

I cannot stress how amazing this book is. Love, intrigue, the fate of worlds - all in one delicious read. For fans of Arkady Martine and Casey McQuiston.

CW: torture, physical and emotional abuse.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Tor Books, for the chance to read and review one of my most anticipated 2021 releases!

TW: murder, abusive relationship, kidnapping, torture

Prince Kiem is the Emperor's least favourite grandchild, boisterous, cheeky, known for his attitude and adventures and his life is turned upside down when it's decided he will marry Count Jainan, the recent widower of another royal prince and to assure the empire's bonds with its vassals planet. But Jainan's last partner's death wasn't an accident and somenthing is very wrong with a military operation. Between a war threatening the empire, a treaty hanging in the balance, lies, omissions and their own feelings and marriage at stake, Jainan and Kiem will have to prove their union and save everything from a possible conspiracy.

I LOVED reading Winter's Orbit! Everina Maxwell's romantic debut is absolutely fantastic. Sci-fi, so set in space, with a magnificent worldbuilding, space ships, mysterious powers and weapons, multiple planets with their own traditions and abilities, an arranged marriage between two very different characters, conspiracies, lies, lots of plot twists...everything is perfect!
Told by Kiem's and Jainan's POVs, while they navigate their new status as married couple, trying to know and understand each other, the story is intriguing and well written. The conspiracy is really interesting and I was really captivated, because I needed to know what was happening and happened. Most of all, I loved the characterization. Bel, Gairad, Audel, the Emperor...the side characters are really interesting, but Kiem and Jainan stand out in the story, with their building relationship, their marriage and bond.

Kiem and Jainan are amazing main characters, I really love them, even though sometimes I wish I could just yell at them because they struggled to talk about them and their feelings! They are very different from one other. Kiem is more cheerful, he's able to get along with everyone and persuade even a rock, while Jainan is more quiet and reserved, but slowly they learn to know each other, to understand each other's moods and feelings. It was really incredible reading how slowly they strengthen their bond, how they support, help and get to love one other, solving problems and saving everyone and everything. How they go from strangers, to cautious allies, to friends to lovers, to husbands!
The slow burn, the trope of marriage couple, one bed and so on is great!

I recommend this story to those who are looking for an intriguing plot, two idiots in love, slow burn, arranged marriage, one bed and love in space!

Sometimes you need that good ass serotonin straight to the brain, and let me tell you, this is exactly that. This apparently was some original fiction published back on AO3 that gained quite a following, and Tor gave it a book deal. Is this trope-y? Oh absogoddamnlutely. There’s an arranged marriage between a himbo kind of playboy prince who’s a bit of a gossip rag regular and a quiet diplomat who was married to his cousin, and they need to sell a visiting diplomat that oversees their alliance as to the veracity of their marriage, they’re kind of oblivious with each other, and that’s BEFORE they get stranded in the mountains with only a single tent!! There’s a fairly good intrigue thread, some good side characters, and overall, it’s just a fun ride, and let’s be real, we can use that right now. There is a bit of domestic abuse references that I will warn about towards the back of the book, and it’s not dwelt on long enough for it to trigger I feel like, and would be interested to see if the aftermath of that is picked up on in a follow up. Sometimes you just need brain candy though, and this is absolutely that.

First of all let me start with a motto that accompanied me through more than half of the book: THEY SHOULD TALK! Ok, now the review!

I loved it a LOT! Like really a lot! Murder mystery set in space. An arranged marriage, two husbands who just NEEDED TO TALK but didn't, who then become friends, then LOOOOVE arrives amidst CHAOS!! It made me happy!

The writing was really easy to get into. And the science part of the story wasn't overwhelming at all. It was a sort of soft sci-fi; not a lot of big science words, but enough to let you know this is set in space, that they live on a planet that's not earth, that they use space ships to travel, and that there are more planets in this Empire.

I loved how the different gender identities were introduced. You weren't to assume ones gender based on their appearance but based on an accessory they chose to wear or not wear in case of non-binary people. And I really really liked the lack of the gender binary in titles: the emperor, called Emperor, was a woman. A character called Prince Vailé was also a woman. I found this lack of binaries refreshing. I'd love to live in a world like that one.

TW for physical abuse both on page and mentioned. My heart broke and I was furious. I wanted to hug the main character so much!

After screaming at them how much THE NEEDED TO TALK, I was immensely happy by how the author managed to show us their relationship progress. We know they started as unwilling husbands, and it was so great seeing them growing closer the more time they spent together. They sure lacked communication skills, though. But I forgive them because the last chapters of the book were so good I closed my kindle with a huge smile on my face.

Do I like romance? Yes. Do I like space? Yes. Put the romance in space?? WINNER! Plus the romance is an LGBTQ+ love story, which is great because I’m actively seeking out diverse stories this year - or at least I was trying to before the pandemic drove my reading life off the rails. I’m back at it, though! Reading goals reassemble!

Winter’s Orbit opens with Prince Kiem of Iskat being told by his grandmother, the Emperor, he has to marry immediately to protect an alliance. (If you like the arranged marriage trope, here it is in full effect!) Complicating matters is the fact the person he must marry, Count Jainan of Thea, is his recently deceased cousin’s spouse. A sudden marriage, even if it would be largely ceremonial, to a grieving widower is a lot to take in, but if the marriage doesn’t happen the potential fallout could have negative impacts on the entire Empire. No pressure, Prince Kiem!

Kiem and Jainan step up, do their duty, and get married; however, they are literally and figuratively from different planets. Kiem is a brash, super-social player with a bit of a past to live down and Jainan is a serious, guarded, always proper diplomat. As the two try to create an understanding between themselves, troubling evidence comes to light that Prince Kiem’s cousin didn’t die in an unfortunate flybug crash, but was in fact murdered.

The two newlyweds must learn to navigate the fraught intergalactic political landscape and solve a murder and a coverup, all the while dealing with their complicated feelings. Betrayals and sabotage abound as people double-cross alliances and co-conspirators and make attempts on Kiem and Jainan's lives - who is behind all the machinations and can Kiem and Jainan right these wrongs before it’s too late?

This was a quick, fun read and I would recommend Winter’s Orbit to readers who enjoyed Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC to review!

A compelling space opera setting and an intriguing plot driven by strong characters - this book was addicting and entertaining throughout. Despite the occasional pacing issues, this was a strong debut novel, with Maxwell firmly establishing herself as a SFF author to watch closely.

This book was an absolute delight to read. I never knew how much I needed a political space opera romance until now. The worldbuilding, the yearning, the dramatic turns... I devoured every last bit of it. For those seeking an analogue to RW&RB this isn't quite the ticket, but the slow-burn romance is great on its own.

*4.5 Stars.
I... love this book.
First of all, it’s so inclusive. There are customs used to specify pronouns immediately in this world, and sexualities are respecting when arranging political marriages. There are people of all different cultures and though there’s definitely a hierarchy, assumptions are pretty much never made by the point-of-view characters.
Kiem and Jainan own my heart. Jainan made me a little mad at the beginning, but his development just in the first few chapters made me love him so much more. The characters were incredibly well-developed and everything had its relevance.
For the most part, I had no idea what was going on, but in a good murder mystery way. It was a little hard to keep track of all of the sci-fi elements, but they made a lot of sense. Maxwell knew just the right way to manipulate the plot so that the reader couldn’t be sure of anything (again, in a good way).
I don’t really know any sort of combo I would describe this book as, but I would recommend it nonetheless!

I received a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

But honestly, I already knew I would like it, as I’d read an earlier version on AO3. This rewrite preserves all the best elements of this sci-fi-romance-thriller mashup, while adding an overarching galactic politics plot that adds extra pressure to our heroes’ personal issues.

Jainan is a diplomatic representative from a vassal planet in a space empire, sealing the deal with marriage to an imperial prince. His previous partner just died in a suspicious accident, and with the faceless Auditor of the inter-galactic government potentially about to revoke the empire’s link to the rest of the galaxy, there’s a lot of pressure on him and his new husband, Prince Kiem, to be perfect and unsuspicious.

Only Jainan’s previous marriage was not what it seemed, and the fallout is throwing off all his and Kiem’s efforts to forge a partnership. Plus, the people behind the “accident” may be planning something even worse, with multi-planet implications. If Jainan and Kiem can’t solve the mystery before the Auditor pulls the plug on their link, both their planets are doomed.

Maxwell excels at psychological observation and manages a complex feat with Kiem, who views himself as irresponsible and stupid due to past actions and the distrust of people around him, but is actually a very perceptive people-person when it comes down to it. Both the main characters are very likable in their different ways, with Jainan convinced that he must do his duty whatever it costs him personally while Kiem sees that people as individuals also matter and can’t be sacrificed to politics.

The worldbuilding is very fleshed-out compared to the earlier version, and I loved the little details about the planet’s killer birds and the potentially alien “remnants,” artifacts with mysterious psychological powers. It’s also more self-aware about imperialism than it’s past incarnation, I think. I will say that if you read this as either pure sci-fi or pure romance, you will find a lot of stuff irrelevant to either genre–but embrace the mash-up and this is really well put-together.

Content warnings for torture and domestic violence.

After the unexpected loss of his husband (Prince Taam), Count Jainan of Thea is forced into a rushed and arranged marriage to Taam’s cousin, Prince Kiem of Iskat, in order to ensure the successful resigning of the upcoming peace treaty. When the pair discover that Taam’s death may not have been an accident (and that Jainan himself is a suspect), Kiem and Jainan must ally together to solve Taam’s murder before interplanetary war breaks out. The story alternates between both Kiem and Jainans’ perspectives. Even though it was slow to start, Winter’s Orbit became an engrossing read around the halfway point when Kiem and Jainan find themselves in a life or death situation.

This book would be best suited for young adults or adults who enjoy the fantasy, science fiction, and romance genres. In addition to the budding relationship between Jainan and Prince Kiem, Winter’s Orbit focuses on topics such as political obligations and alliances, the rise and fall of empires, power and corruption, change versus tradition, abuse, mental health, love and loss, man against nature, technology, and appearance versus reality.

I found that this book was easy to read but it was challenging for me to picture the world of Iskat in my mind; it would have been nice to have some more worldbuilding descriptions and/or some illustrations. I also found some of the names (people, places, technologies, etc.) and political elements to be confusing and hard to follow; I would have preferred less political details and more of a focus on Kiem and Jainan’s relationship and/or the murder investigation. I also found it frustrating that it took Kiem so long to uncover the truth about Jainan and Taam’s relationship; I thought that Jainan’s actions and body language made it obvious what type of a partner Taam was. I also thought that it took Jainan an extended amount of time to open-up to and trust the easygoing Kiem. Luckily, after the pair discover the truths about each other, Kiem and Jainan’s growing feelings for one another accelerate.

I thought that the storyline was well organised, and the concept was unique; I haven’t heard of another novel that has a homosexual love story with science fiction and political elements as well as a high-stakes murder investigation. This love story was also unique in the sense that Jainan and Kiem did not choose each other; they were stuck together, even though Jainan was in mourning, purely for the benefit of the empire. Due to this, Kiem and Jainan’s romantic relationship is a slow burn and could almost be characterised as an “enemies to lovers” trope; both Kiem and Jainan enter the compulsory relationship with reservations and apprehensiveness.

Overall, even though Winter’s Orbit was slow to start, I did enjoy reading it and would recommend it to lovers of Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, the Star Wars movies, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. This book was action-packed with hardly a dull moment and it had a satisfying ending; it made sense, but it left some plot lines open for a potential sequel.

Originally published on Ao3 under the title Course of Honour, I read this in that format first. The two versions are fairly close, but the world building has been expanded upon and there are other significant changes which shows that this has had a professional editor go through it; it's a bit more refined and tightened up. Both forms were damn good, for sure, and it's clear why it was able to be picked up by Tor as it was already very publishable in its Ao3 format.

But I should go back to the start. Visualise an vast empire in space, with multiple planets involved, royal families, treaties and alliances through marriage. Prince Kiem, of Iskat has always had a knack of winding up in scandals whether it's around his work-shy nature, lack of ability to study, and party/playboy history that's been well documented in the media. He's also incredibly friendly and manages to chat most people to the point of distraction - he seems to know everyone and remembers everything about them - all effortlessly - and so he focuses on charity work and that's about it.

Another planet, Thea, has sent Count Jainan as a diplomatic aid and into an arranged marriage with Kiem's cousin Taam (who is a 'proper' royal, unlike Kiem, who holds a significant rank in the military). Our story starts a few months after Taam is killed in an accident and when Jainan and Kiem are then forced into an arranged marriage of their own, to keep the alliance between Iskat and Thea (hopefully) unbroken.

Only, their marriage isn't accepted by the strange and unnerving Auditors, and they're soon running out of time before the next renewal of the Resolution, which could mean the relations between Iskat and Thea could break down entirely. Then it seems as though Taam's death wasn't an accident after all, incredibly important and valuable items are going missing, and interplanetary war is looking all the more likely.

So it comes down to Kiem and Jainan to not only sell their forced marriage into something the public love and care about, but to also figure out what happened to Taam and somehow stop an oncoming war... and how this is going to be managed by an ex-playboy and an incredibly quiet academic who also happens to have spent the last several years being emotionally, psychologically and physically abused by Taam is anyone's guess. We have a slow-burn relationship as they realise that the other doesn't find them repulsive (their initial co-assumptions) and their feelings for each other are actually reciprocated; Kiem feels he'd never be smart enough for Jainan, and Jainan feels he'd never be interesting enough for Kiem.

The cast of background characters are nuanced and believable, with there being just enough to give the feeling of a sprawling royal family (as the majority of the book is set on Iskat) with all the aids and so forth, to also not being so many that it's hard to keep track of who's who. Bel would easily have to be one of my favourite characters. 

The plot and pace of the book is probably one of its stronger elements, with events happening naturally but drastically changing the dynamics and propelling the plot forward, allowing the characters to work things out for themselves without it seeming forced or heavy-handed.

I also liked the references to, for example, a bear - but that it doesn't have fur and instead has six legs and seems to be reptilian? Little mentions like that were amusing and gave it the certain feeling of other-worldly, and maybe that either they've seen some pretty drastic evolution, or perhaps some cross-communicated exports of wildlife from the old world, or perhaps even some weird genetic splicing. Who knows? I loved it.

The tagline is "Ancillary Justice meets Red, White & Royal Blue in Everina Maxwell's exciting debut" and I have to admit, I don't quite see the Ancillary Justice link, especially as this is space-opera rather than science fiction, and I feel giving it that link may attract the type of reader who won't be gripped by this book. RW&RB I can see, sure, if in how the characters interact and awkwardly try to work things through together - their age and something else about them feels a bit samey, and it's a dynamic that I love.

I will also admit I don't quite understand the whole 'remnants' thing, and feel that could have been explained clearer. As well as the Auditors in general. The relevance of either didn't seem to make much sense to me, or feel as realistic as other points in how it fitted into the universe. Neither point took much away from the story though; it was still enjoyable regardless. 

Also, trigger warning for the abuse that Jainan suffers, though in my non-existent experience with the matter I do feel that it's handled well, without being gratuitous and almost so hidden that it takes Kiem almost 70% of the book to twig that something of that nature even happened.

The good is that people get to choose their own gender in this world, which is refreshing and no one cares. There's no homophobia, and no mention of anything radical about the arrange marriages being m/m in both cases.

Overall I enjoyed it just as much as I did the original version, and I'm really looking forward to getting a pretty copy in January's Illumicrate subscription box (if it is revealed that it is indeed the book we think it is).