Everina Maxwell

The Iskat Empire is held together by treaties, which are in turn sewn up with arranged marriages. Some of the subject planets are beginning to chafe under Iskat rule, so when the Iskat Prince Taam dies in a flight accident, his widower, Jainan, is hurriedly remarried off to another Iskat prince, Kiem. But a marriage between a prince whose reckless past has given him a reputation as a spoiled and disobedient royal and a quiet and deeply damaged widower who isn’t showing any actual show more willingness to remarry doesn’t seem like then bandage the empire needs. And when Taam’s death is revealed as a murder with Jainan as a suspect, the marriage only gets less likely to succeed. But there’s more to both Kiem and Jainan than anyone else sees, and possibly more between them than either could have hoped.

Sci-fi romance with an idiots-to-lovers trope? Yes, please. And it doesn’t disappoint. show less

In a somewhat feudal system among a group of planets in which one, Iskat, dominates access to the passage to the rest of the universe, arranged marriages are used to bind treaties. Prince Kiem, one of the Emperor’s grandchildren who pays little attention to world affairs, is chosen to replace his cousin, Taam as partner to the Thean representative, Count Jainan. Taam, a member of the military, has died under mysterious circumstance, So starts an uncomfortable arrangement that evolves into show more a mission to uncover the truth about Taam’s death. Much of the novel revolves around Kiem and Jainan’s misinterpretation of one another on their journey to bonding. In other words, a love story. There is an aspect of an homage to Ursula LeGuin’s “Left Hand of Darkness,” as Kiem and Jainan spend a few days traversin in an arctic wilderness, where they begin to open up to one another. Also, as in LeGuin’s novel, gender and gender expression is a theme. The novel is engaging and well written, and if I am to read romance, at least this novel is set in a more interesting context with more interesting characters. show less

This was super cute! It is very short but told all through epistolary means, which works really well. I appreciate the snapshot into Kiem and Jainan's life after the end of the main story. There is just a little bit of plot, but it helps to further flesh out the world Maxwell has built just a little bit more. Also, Kiem loves sheep, and I can't blame him. This short story made me laugh out loud at multiple points, and I enjoyed the way that the epistolary style carried the various show more characters' voices so well. show less

This book sucked me in. I love Tennal and Surit and how different they are and how that works as a strength for the pair of them. Everina Maxwell did a good job showing the psychic link/soulbond and how it affected our two protagonists and how they experienced it. The further insight into Maxwell's sci-fi universe was also neat. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy this book as much as Winter's Orbit or be able to get into it as it's not really connected to Winter's Orbit despite being set in the same show more sci-fi universe, but my worry was completely unfounded. Maxwell's writing is even stronger here, and this book doesn't have that vague "reads like fanfic" feel Winter's Orbit has where I was like "ahh, I see it's now time for this trope." (Which is not a knock on Winter's Orbit; I loved that book!) show less