Book Review: Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell

I came across this incredible book quite by accident while browsing the shelves at my local Barnes and Noble. The staff had helpfully displayed it front-facing on the shelf as if it was meant to be found by me. Funny how the right book has a way of doing that, of being found when you least expect it.

It’s difficult to decide how to categorize this book in my library. The most obvious category might be sci-fi romance, which defines it at a basic level. It is certainly science fiction, and there is a strong romance theme. The romance, however, is tender and complex, and there are large swathes of the book that are not romantic at all or even focused on the relationship, so it is certainly not just “romance in space”. In many ways, this makes it more compelling as a thrilling story. It doesn’t get caught up in being purely a romance. It could also be placed in the LGBT category or boy-love, although it does not explore any issues commonly associated with that genre. Even the most intimate scenes are vague enough to pertain to any gender, yet they are no less emotional for it. It could be argued that Maxwell has captured a purity I’ve rarely found in such books. There is the deepest love between the characters that transcends gender or sexuality. This is a love story at its core, and the “gay” element is merely a detail, considered and known, but rendered irrelevant beside the greater emotions of the characters’ relationship. The word gay doesn’t even appear in the book, and the concept itself seems rather foreign or irrelevant to the setting. The romance could have been between characters of the opposite gender, and in this story and setting, it would have played out the same.

I don’t consider this to be a failing by any means. In fact, I wish more stories would do this: make the boy-love element something that exists without being the focus, without the arbitrary need to explore gay issues centric to our world. There are plenty of stories about that, and they are important. Any browsing of my website or book reviews list demonstrates how strongly I attach to those stories, but they don’t ALL need to be that, and it is refreshing to find something that does not bother with it. Maxwell has given us a world in which sexuality and gender seem fluid and accepted without thought or comment, and there is no small part of me that wishes our world was more like hers.

What I enjoy most about Winter’s Orbit is how flawlessly the characters are developed and shown. While the plot of the book is that of an exciting sci-fi thriller, it is in the character’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that the book finds its most riveting element. This is one of the few romance-style books I have read in the third person POV, yet Maxwell is still able to capture the individualized emotions and thoughts of Kiem and Jainan so perfectly. She could have chosen shifting first person, but that might have created boundaries and limitations, and I found it incredibly satisfying as it is. The lack of understanding between the two main characters was the center point of so much of the book. It had me raging and shaking the book at many points as I yelled out in frustration. It took me right to the very edge of my patience and kept prodding me centimeters toward the drop, and just at the moment I was ready to fall, putting the book down in hopelessness, the characters have their moment (I won’t spoil what it is, of course) and you know that they have finally, FINALLY figured it out, and you’re crying with pleasure even as you want to bash both of them over the head for being such idiots.

The masterful part of this relationship dynamic is that it makes perfect sense at the end. When the truth of Jainan’s past is revealed, you suddenly understand completely and empathetically why he acted and thought the way he did. His pain was deep and not easy to escape, and that brings up an important element about the depths of this story. It is not just a romance. It is a story of healing and redemption and finding true love where you didn’t expect it. It explores an aspect of pain and abuse, the subtle, deep marks it leaves on the psyche, and how difficult it can be to overcome those wounds.

At every point, I loved Kiem and Jainan. They were so perfect for each other. So well described and developed. They become entirely real, and their relationship was real and tender and riveting, and you spend the entire book in desperation simply wanting it to work out between them and never being quite sure how it will.

I also want to highlight the world-building of this book. You can see that there is a much wider universe in the background. A dozen or more fascinating stories could be set in the world Maxwell has created, and I hope for them. I picked this book up because I wanted a boy-love sci-fi romance, and I have found a doorway into a universe I can’t wait to continue to explore.

I feel this book is accessible to anyone. Maybe you’d prefer the sci-fi thriller side of things, and you’ll find plenty of that. This isn’t 400 pages of gushy, kissy intimacy. Quite the opposite. There are a few powerful, tender scenes. All the rest is pure sci-fi. Even if you don’t read romance, or if you don’t particularly care for a boy-love story, I think you will find that Winter’s Orbit, in its purity and intensity, in the particular way the love and sexuality are handled, you will find only what truly matters. I can guarantee you will fall in love with Kiem and Jainan, that you will fall in love with them being in love, and that nothing else will matter except that they end up together, and if that isn’t the hallmark of a true love story, then I don’t know what is.