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A review by bisexualwentworth
Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell
emotional
hopeful
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This romance-dominated science fiction type thing isn't really my genre, but Winter's Orbit was a very enjoyable read. I thought the book's approach to gender was absolutely fascinating. Each culture (or at least each planet) in this book has its own system for communicating gender to outsiders, whether that's through hairstyles or accessories or something else. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the idea that gender could be that easy in a futuristic sci-fi setting, and I couldn't help but wonder how things would work if someone used multiple pronoun sets or neopronouns or pronouns that weren't traditionally associated with their gender. I guess people could wear multiple types of ornaments? But I do think that the extremely gender-neutral societies depicted in this book are very freeing in a lot of ways.
There is a main plot in this book, but we spend most of our time with the main characters and their budding romance. I liked both main characters a lot. Kiem's friendliness and enthusiasm matched well with Jainan's introversion and repression. I definitely rooted for them to get past their problems and grow and be happy together.
I really appreciated the sensitivity with which this book approached domestic abuse, and Jainan's character arc was hard to read at times but ultimately cathartic.
There's just SO MUCH miscommunication. I don't like unnecessary miscommunication even in small doses, and it felt like about 40% of this book was just the two characters failing to talk to each other about very basic things. Some of it made sense for the characters—especially Jainan—but most of it was just frustrating. The two characters were barely ever on the same page, and that lessened my enjoyment of the book pretty considerably.
I would still definitely recommend Winter's Orbit to any fans of arranged marriage plots, sci-fi romance, or interesting gender systems, but it's not necessarily a book that's going to stick with me in a very meaningful way.
There is a main plot in this book, but we spend most of our time with the main characters and their budding romance. I liked both main characters a lot. Kiem's friendliness and enthusiasm matched well with Jainan's introversion and repression. I definitely rooted for them to get past their problems and grow and be happy together.
I really appreciated the sensitivity with which this book approached domestic abuse, and Jainan's character arc was hard to read at times but ultimately cathartic.
There's just SO MUCH miscommunication. I don't like unnecessary miscommunication even in small doses, and it felt like about 40% of this book was just the two characters failing to talk to each other about very basic things. Some of it made sense for the characters—especially Jainan—but most of it was just frustrating. The two characters were barely ever on the same page, and that lessened my enjoyment of the book pretty considerably.
I would still definitely recommend Winter's Orbit to any fans of arranged marriage plots, sci-fi romance, or interesting gender systems, but it's not necessarily a book that's going to stick with me in a very meaningful way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Torture, Physical abuse, Death, Kidnapping, and Violence
Additional content warning for spacecraft accidents.