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A review by kp_writ
Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Winter's Orbit was gearing up to be a 5 star read until the 3/4 mark, but then what was clearly intended as the tense climax where all the plot threads and intrigue came together kinda fell apart for me. The last quarter of this hefty novel was a bit of a drag (that's roughly 120 pages of slogging through) and I think that's because up to this point there was too much intrigue and world building for me to keep up with, and I was skating along with the enjoyment of watching the romance develop. Ended up a 4.25 because I have a feeling a reread would provide a much more satisfying experience, but I really can't get past how difficult it was for me to get through that last quarter.
Overall the story was interesting (if complicated), and the author does a decent job introducing the world through a protag who clearly hasn't paid enough to politics as he should've been (read a bit like the first play through of an RPG when a character born and raised in the universe definitely shouldn't be gathering codex entries to understand the world around them). There is interesting world building around presenting gender, but even though the same point on accessory choices is hammered into the first hundred or so pages, not much was truly done with it. Still nice to have nonbinary characters, though.
One bit of politics I did want to point out was that this book does fall under the trope of "white sci fi doesn't wish to dismantle [dangerous] institutions but reform them," especially with the ending around the Internal Security and its leadership (cops, it's just space cops) and the ending around political structures like the Empire. Not something I'd necessarily mark against the book, but definitely something to consider in analysis.
Overall the story was interesting (if complicated), and the author does a decent job introducing the world through a protag who clearly hasn't paid enough to politics as he should've been (read a bit like the first play through of an RPG when a character born and raised in the universe definitely shouldn't be gathering codex entries to understand the world around them). There is interesting world building around presenting gender, but even though the same point on accessory choices is hammered into the first hundred or so pages, not much was truly done with it. Still nice to have nonbinary characters, though.
One bit of politics I did want to point out was that this book does fall under the trope of "white sci fi doesn't wish to dismantle [dangerous] institutions but reform them," especially with the ending around the Internal Security and its leadership (cops, it's just space cops) and the ending around political structures like the Empire. Not something I'd necessarily mark against the book, but definitely something to consider in analysis.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Colonisation, Grief, Sexual content, and Xenophobia