Though my book club usually focuses on sapphic stories, we took a short achillian break to read Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell. I’m not as big a fan of science fiction as my partner or friends, but I enjoyed Maxwell’s different take on the space empire genre.

Prince Kiem leads a life of extravagance and luxury, because it’s his birthright and it’s the one thing he’s good at. When his father the Emperor reminds him of the concept of responsibility and demands Kiem marry a prince from a vassal state, Kiem agrees, because what else is a prince to do. What he expects to be a purely platonic political marriage gets more complicated by a murder and Count Jainan’s courteous integrity and quiet kindness. The pair navigate truly heinous schedules and byzantine politics to find one another and thrive.

I immensely enjoyed the exploration of the role of diplomacy in an empire. In a genre often intertwined with military fiction, the nuances of talking problems out and balancing the needs of nations are a more unusual narrative milieu. The diplomatic and social sphere focus also created an interesting quirk that Kiem and Jainan don’t have much time together for a significant portion of the book. Their schedules snarl and tangle something bad. To tide the reader over, Maxwell shows off their individual characters and allows the reader to realize how compatible the two men are. As soon as they have downtime, they will hash stuff out and be together. The early separation strengthens the thematic messaging that the men can survive as individuals on their own–even do meaningful work for their communities–but together they thrive and serve better.

As you might guess from the two love interests not talking or seeing each other for 50+ pages, the love plot takes a backseat to the mystery and world-building. The Remenants introduce interesting Cthonic connective tissue to the overarching series. The mystery kept me guessing, and the connection to Jainan’s past was an extra carrot. At one point, Maxwell indulged in a fanfiction trope, which makes me wonder if Winter’s Orbit started on Archive of Our Own. Probably? Maybe as original fiction?

If you like imperial murder mysteries in space with high Charisma and Intelligence characters, if you want a break from the space military shoot-em-up’s, I recommend Winter’s Orbit.