Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell

Everina Maxell’s intricately detailed debut novel is packed with political intrigue and lighthearted moments. It is the perfect temperature for those who are interested in an epic science fiction world that features romance.

Winter’s Orbit is set in the long reigning Iskat Empire and begins a month after the death of Imperial Prince Taam and a month before a Resolution signing between Iskat and Thea. The Iskat Emperor orders Prince Kiem, Taam’s cousin and tabloid magnet, to marry Jainan, Taam’s widower and a reserved Thean, to ease hostility between their two worlds and take over the Resolution signing.

But the two men soon learn that Taam’s death may have been no accident and Jainan is seen by the Iskat government as a possible culprit; so as Kiem and Jainan build on their unsteady but respectful relationship, they also build a case to solve Taam’s murder and ultimately to save their two worlds from a brewing war.

Readers may relish deciphering who murdered Taam by way of two amateaur sleuths, looking out at the stars from the stunning but cold Iskat Empire, finding out what the heck are Iskat bears (are they in fact lizards?), and driving flybugs…maybe.

Trigger warning / content warning (tw/cw)

(graphic): domestic abuse (from past relationship), emotional abuse, (moderate): physical abuse, torture