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Winter's Orbit cover art

Winter's Orbit

Written by: Everina Maxwell
Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
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Publisher's Summary

"Narrator Raphael Corkhill deftly navigates a range of situations and voices in this novel, a blend of romance, mystery, and space opera.... A satisfying love story with plenty of political machinations, this audiobook will please fans of romance and sci-fi alike." (AudioFile)

Ancillary Justice meets Red, White & Royal Blue in Winter’s Orbit, Everina Maxwell’s gut-wrenching and romantic debut.

A famously disappointing minor royal and the emperor's least favorite grandchild, Prince Kiem is summoned before the emperor and commanded to renew the empire's bonds with its newest vassal planet. The prince must marry Count Jainan, the recent widower of another royal prince of the empire.

But Jainan suspects his late husband’s death was no accident. And Prince Kiem discovers Jainan is a suspect himself. But broken bonds between the empire and its vassal planets leaves the entire empire vulnerable, so together they must prove that their union is strong while uncovering a possible conspiracy.

Their successful marriage will align conflicting worlds.

Their failure will be the end of the empire.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

©2021 Everina Maxwell (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

What the critics say

ALA Alex Awards Winner (Adult for Young Adults), 2022

"Everina Maxwell's writing has everything you could ask: impossible choices, divided loyalties, dry wit, and operatic struggle with bureaucracy. I don't know how she's managed to write a book that's simultaneously an elegant comedy of manners, a charming slow-burn romance, and an adventure in space politics, but whatever her secret, I'm wildly envious." (A. K. Larkwood, author of The Unspoken Name)

"Everina Maxwell is brilliant at creating atmosphere and drama. Her light touch and considering eye are applied thoughtfully, warmly, and yet without mercy to the failures of an interstellar bureaucracy and the people who both make those failures happen; to the difficulties of diplomatic ties between planets that rely on personal ties between human beings; to the ways people try to get what they want from each other, and the ways they fail to understand each other. The combination of sweeping space opera backdrop and real human drama is as compelling as it comes." (Emily Tesh, author of Silver in the Wood)

What listeners say about Winter's Orbit

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Gay Space Opera

interesting well developed sci Fi universe with rich characters and a beautiful flowing story. I found myself yelling at the characters I was so invested in this story. I need more in this universe and I would kill for more of this romance. love, love, love.

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Witty and serious in all the right ways

I got this on a recommendation and it was well worth the read. I think Everina is quickly going to become a favorite author of mine. For a debut novel, I was blown away by its quality and the consistently intriguing plotline. There's warning tags on the authors website but not in the book itself. Definitely worth adding to your reading list!

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Slow burn YA - Needs trigger warning though

I really enjoyed this. I loved that it was slow burn. I don’t think the romance would have worked otherwise.
It’s YA so there is no steam. The story was very entertaining and the pace was perfect in my opinion.
I also loved the side characters. They were equally well developed and entertaining.
I’ll definitely be reading it again.

**Content Warning has minor spoilers**
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The book deals with domestic abuse and has one scene that indicates there was also sexual abuse/coercion. The later is not overly descriptive (it is still a YA novel) but it may be uncomfortable for some readers.
The instances and descriptions of domestic violence happen often throughout the story and while there are no scenes of extreme physical violence it is implied.

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  • 2021-03-09

Amazing story, strong narration.

Absolutely enjoyed listening to this gem. Definitely looking forward to Everina Maxwell's second novel!

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  • 2021-02-10

Going back in for the third time

I keep DNFing and coming back for more. Terminatoring this ons like crazy, I will be baaack!

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Intergalatic Political Alliance - not YA

Apparently this is a debut novel by the author, and it was well done, a fast paced novel where a political alliance rests on a marriage of a young playboy Prince and a recently widowed Count - who with some rather convincing miscommunication quietly pine for each other, while dealing with courtly machinations, the ubitquitous media and the increasing threats of the collapse of the Empire.

I thoroughly recommend this novel - and disagree with another reviewer that felt this was YA. This novel contains mature subject matter.

The narration is excellet.

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