Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

44 reviews

hevlav's review

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Okay, maybe romance plots just aren’t for me. Mix that with heavy world building (that continues on, in detail, throughout the book) and it’s almost a wash. 

I did love the characters, and did hope for the best, but all too often I felt we lost the forest for the trees on this one. 
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kestrelfire's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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fanboyriot's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

🔥 Slow Burn
🤝 Mutual Pinning
💍 Arranged Marriage

This book was great for people wanting to read sci-fi but get overwhelmed by the thought of it.  Besides few names I had to look up the pronunciation of, it was fairly easy to read.  I enjoyed how well the sci-fi and romance mixed with this book, there was also a bit of mystery to the plot as well.

Kiem was honestly such a lovable idiot and worked so well with Jainan.  I would have liked a little more romance but the plot was good too.  The romance itself is a bit of a slow burn, the main plot, focusing much more on the political scheming, and an alleged murder that might just be a cover-up, and in general dealing with diplomatic relations.

I got this book from Etsy in a Blind Date with a Book from @theannexlibrary and was so happy with it!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1366979807/

Spice Level: 🌶️ (1/5)
Release Date: 28, December 2021
POV: Duel, Third Person 
Rep: LGBTQIA+ characters, Domestic Abuse (past)
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xennial_reader's review

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adventurous medium-paced

3.25

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reginacattus's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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rjbedell's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A gripping, intimate, and profound romance plot line is weakened only slightly by incomplete world-building and repetitive language.  The sci-fi component drives the plot, but takes a back seat to the two emotionally embattled and haunted leading men.
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miraileah's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5.0. I absolutely love the arranged marriage trope in romance novels, and this one was an outstanding example. I adored the two leads and reading about each of their unique baggage, as well as the ways their partner and friends helped them process and move past it. I can’t speak to if the domestic abuse rep is good/accurate, but as someone who has not gone through that, I thought it seemed excellent. I also really enjoyed the politics and the mystery elements of the novel. Highly recommend this book!!
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queenneehola's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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thoseoldcrows23's review

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adventurous funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. There are some solid bones here; however, I think the execution was clunky and deeply unsatisfying in a lot of places. This was sold to me as a sci-fi romance, and, while I love speculative romance in general, I find that sometimes authors struggle to balance the speculative plot and the romance, and I think that that was a problem here. Much of the book’s energy is put into the science fiction plot and the romance suffers for it. By the end of the book our two leads are talking about how much they love each other I couldn’t fathom why. A big part of the reason for that is that the entirety of the romance pivots on chronic miscommunication, which I found absolutely infuriating. It feels like they barely know each other because all their conversations are riddled with misunderstanding. They each spend way more time in their own heads when they're talking to each other than they do focused on the other person.  So much of the tension between the two leads would be completely gone if they would just behave like adults and talk honestly with each other but they don't do that until over halfway into the book. At the same time, the sci-fi plot wasn't compelling enough to warrant all the focus that was put on it. It's effectively a mystery plot, and I didn't find myself particularly caring who the culprit turned out to be, and in fact struggled through most of the book to even remember who people were because nobody really stood out that much besides our two main characters. Overall, this was just a big letdown for me. It's not a bad book, and I understand why people like it, but I definitely think it's been way overhyped, and this is a story that could have been told much more effectively than it was. 
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osladek's review

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adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book had me hooked from the first chapter and I couldn't put it down. I normally don't read a lot of sci-fi, but this book definitely stood apart from other sci-fi's I've read. I usually hate a miscommunication trope, but in this case I enjoyed it and found it necessary to the plot especially with one main character having autism. I really enjoyed the gender expression and lack of hierarchal gender roles in this book. I haven't read a book before that took a completely new look at gender roles, expression, and how gender and sexuality plays a societal role. I'm extremely impressed by the author's creativity and it was so refreshing to read a book devoid of racism and misogyny. 
I think the romance was so well thought out, properly paced, and enjoyed seeing both characters POVs, especially when they were suffering from serious miscommunication. I finished this book really hoping for some more stories in this world since I loved the world building. My only criticism is I was pretty confused about the "Resolution" part of the politics. I feel like I understood the gist of them, but overall I don't think it was explained well enough.
Overall, a 5 star read for me.
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