Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell

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Content warning for partner abuse.

All the positive hype and joyful squeeing you are hearing about this book is extremely well deserved. I first heard of this book through a podcast, surprising I know, that was listing off all the modern Shakespeare retellings and Winter’s Orbit was getting some rave reviews in that episode. As someone who could care less about Shakespeare retellings, I was actually curious how it would translate into a sci-fi novel set in space. Also, don’t ask what play this was inspired by-I don’t have a clue.

Winter’s Orbit would be a perfect gateway book for romance readers who want to add in a new genre to their reading. We have two characters who are forced to marry each other to uphold an important treaty between two worlds. Add in a boatload of physical attraction, major pining, fake dating, only-one-bed, trapped-in-the-snow, and a lot of tip-toeing around situations because of diplomacy reasons and you have the perfect romance novel, it’s just set in space. 

Prince Kiem is the palace playboy who fills his days enjoying life and ending up in the gossip pages. When his cousin dies in a tragic shuttle accident, he is forced to marry the now widowed Count Jainan, the diplomat from Thea, to maintain a decades-long treaty. While Kiem has known his whole life that he would marry for duty, he never believed that marriage would be forced on someone who just lost their partner and is still grieving. But what Kiem doesn’t know is that Count Jainan didn’t have a fairytale marriage and is just as uncertain at how to approach this new relationship. As the two negotiate how to become friends and balance their new royal duties, they discover that there is a real attraction between the two but there is an evil force who wants to sabotage their relationship and even more, the treaty between the two worlds. Now, the two men must try to find out how Jainan’s husband really died and who is trying to pin the murder on Jainan. 

I flew through this book. It is such a wonderful, fast-paced political thriller with a ton of romance elements thrown in. If you are a fan of watching two characters pine over each other for hundreds of pages, this is definitely your book. These two have some serious feelings for each other from the first moment they meet but because Kiem is convinced that Jainan had this amazing marriage and is grieving, he tries to do his best to respect his space and feelings. Jainan sees all this as Kiem not being interested in him and disappointed in having to marry him and feels like a failure as a husband. Trust me, there are so many times I yelled at both of them to just talk about what is going on but for very important political reasons, they really can’t. Prince Kiem is an actual Prince and Count Jainan is a very important diplomat so neither wants to upset the other. So. Much. Pining. 

Prince Kiem’s homeworld of Iskat has an interesting way of distinguishing genders amongst their people. Women wear flint jewelry, men wear wood, and some people choose to wear neither, which I interpreted as everyone got to choose their gender. Throughout the book,both Kiem and Jainan make some goofs in missing those cues but it doesn’t seem like that was a huge deal as there was such a wide range of people in very high and important positions of power. It also meant that when Kiem and Jainan finally realize that there is only one bed and they’re just going to have to share it, it all fades to black and I think that was such a smart choice. 

There is far more focus on the relationship between Kiem and Jainan than on the political and planet world-building, but I still thought there was  more than enough to make the story very interesting. Also, Bel Siara, the assistant to Kiem, is a complete badass with a shady past and I think this would make an excellent series with her as the next main character. Her book would be the perfect vehicle to give us more background on the Empire and how it came to be. 

This is a fantastic debut from Everina Maxwell and I can’t wait to see what they put out next. If you would like to add this to your collection, or finds more information to rec it to your Library, you can do that here:

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