WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews - 12. Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

Last review this week unless readers have a genre of interest:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53205912-winter-s-orbit

I promised everyone I would review a gay Science Fiction mainstream novel, well here it is For everyone who wants to escape into a new Sci-Fi universe.

An Epic space opera, a murder mystery, and political thriller, plus the main characters are a newly married gay couple, welcome to what I can honestly call, the most expansive gay science fiction story of 2021 and most likely before. Don’t let the tag line trick you, this is not Casey McQuiston’s best-selling gay political-comedy Red, White, and Royal Blue meet Sci-Fi masterpiece Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, I don’t even understand how the publisher can make such comparisons. The world-building is dramatically different from either book, I feel like I am stepping into an uncharted universe without any peers or comparable works, while it pays homage to classics of the Sci-Fi genre. It’s definitely LGBTQ fiction, but I think the sci-fi angle is very prominent. Plus, the embedded social commentary, something all great Sci-Fi has, is important to the storyline and I hope based on the author’s direction toward the end of the novel further explored.

The plot begins with the death of Prince Taam, a member of the Iskat Imperial family, who has died in a tragic flying accident. He was partnered with Count Jainan, a leading noble on the planet Thea, one of the member worlds within the Iskat Empire. Their marriage was one in a line of politically arranged partnerships to cement ties between the worlds of the Empire with the Imperial family and is legally part of their interstellar unions of worlds. The death occurred right before a 20-year renewal treaty with The Resolution, an interstellar compact that regulates faster than light travel through providing “scouts” to travelers across the universe through links between star systems. Without the Resolution’s “scouts”, no spacefaring civilization in the universe can travel through the links, essentially cutting off solar systems and entire empires from one another. Since the death of Taam would mean that Thea and Iskat were no longer legally in political union, it would invalidate the entire treaty between Iskat Empire and the Resolution. The Iskat Emperor thus orders her least favorite grandson, Prince Kiem, a scandal ridden playboy, to marry Count Jainan in order to salvage the political union and restore treaty terms. However, through a series of events, Prince Kiem and Count Jainan discovers nefarious plots including the potential murder of Prince Taam, hacking of military installation, and the theft of Remnants, which are psionic materials that can distort perceptions of reality and considered the bane of the Resolution as illegal materials under their treaty. As these two men survive assassination attempts, spy games, and countless other minor threats, they develop a deep love and bond with one another, but Count Jainan hides a horrific secret about his ties and his Prince Taam’s partner, which could make him a prime suspect for Prince Taam murder. Count Jainan was physically abused by Prince Taam and he is friends with anti-Iskat elements, who view the empire’s institutions with disdain. The ending is very fun and exciting, so I won’t spoil it for future readers.

The story is set within the spacefaring Iskat Empire, a seven-world monarchy with an active Parliament and an empowered female Emperor, who apparently serves as supreme judicial, military, and civilian leader. Their royalty, nobility, and society does not use gender-based titles, so gender identified male or female alike can be Emperor, Prince, Count, and so on. Sexual orientation does not exist in the form of our current sexual spectrum, rather sexual fluidity influence compatibility of various members in society. Biologically, reproduction may occur with multiple partners contributing partial genetic material; though, it appears marriage is bilateral as a custom on Iskat at least for the nobility. As a society, they, like our own, have a rich social media, news network, and film industry that drives popular opinion and tastes, along with fringe media outlets that exist on the periphery that inspires revolutionaries and protesters from Royalists and Independence movements. A lot of interesting social concepts and commentary was made in Winter’s Orbit about modern world. The seven-planets of the Iskat empire apparently are aligned through a mix of political alliances with the Imperial family and a powerful internal security service, akin to the US’ FBI/NSA or Soviet Union’s KGB, who answer directly to the emperor alone as Secret Police force, whose members are unidentified to most citizens. The Parliament of the Empire appears to have no control over either the internal Security Service or Military, so essentially, the emperor may act on his/her own authority or his/her representative can use something called “Voice of the Emperor” to compel any citizen into an action. The lack of autonomy, while possessing a legal system and apparent constitutional rights is hinted as being a major issue within the Iskat Empire. This system of government is a representative democracy in name only, until an arbitrary “Lèse-majesté”, which Prince Kiem, a protagonist, noted, would allow Imperial authority to supersede any other rights or laws. IT’s a fascinating government.

Being a new science fiction universe, Everina Maxwell also created her own set of technologies and competing spacefaring entities. The incapacitator gun or “capper” is the primary sidearm of the Iskat military and civilians, who can acquire weapons, one shot can stun if it hits any area of the body with nerve connections, and a shot to the head will kill. If I were to guess, this is likely a future progression of the taser or a direct energy weapon used specifically to target human electrical impulses. Heavier weapon systems such as warships, “reaper” warheads, and tank drones were referenced in the story as well. It appears space combat operates on the same rules as the Expanse universe, so we’re dealing with relativistic constructs. However, there are some truly science fiction ideas such as the “links”, which operate as the sole source of interstellar travel, but they are highly regulated through the Resolution’s monopoly of “scouts”. I perceive this move as something akin, if not a direct homage, to Frank Herbert’s Dune Navigator Guild. The Resolution admits that they cannot hold sway over larger empires, like the High Chain, which apparently has a million starships in their navy, because they depended on larger empires for their own logistical needs. There’s no explanation as to how the Resolution can navigate the “link” between star systems or what is so special about scout, but my guess based on what has been hinted is that like Herbert’s Navigators, they rely on psionic abilities similar to prescient. My theory is further strengthening with the other truly sci-fi concept known as the “Remnants”, shards of material that do not appear as something easily identifiable to the human brain, but create potent hallucinations when near humans. The Iskat Empire apparently has used these materials to create weapons called “Tau Fields” to manipulate memories and distort reality. These remind me of other psionic weapons from various science fiction franchises, which opens up a larger question on whether we’ll see full exploration of it, assuming there are future books. Beyond the big picture and cosmic mysteries, there’s much smaller issues closer to home for Iskat Empire. Thea, the planet which much of the conflict is centered, has a large anti-government movement, which has been influenced by the Iskat military as a prelude for martial law. Other planets in the Iskat Empire are already under the pseudo-control of Congloms, which are large groups of raiders, who prey on merchant shipping. They have gotten so powerful that Iskat Empire has had to cede partial control over to these large pirate groups, who resemble the Belters from the Expanse universe in terms of their military raiding structure. Prince Kiem aide, Bel, was a former raider herself, but her backstory is still quite unexplored and there’s definitely more to her than meets the eye, between her hacking skills and connections to the Iskat underworld. Personally, I love the concept of a strong female character as a best friend to a gay character, who isn’t skilled in everything.

This is a very expansive universe. I have not read a gay fiction author, who has written something like this ever in my life with so much rich detail and background. If you want to invest your time and energy in a science fiction story with gay characters, try this novel out. I truly hope Everina Maxwell can maintain this quality.

My Rating: 5 out 5, it’s the most expansive gay science fiction universe that I have read in years. It has everything that you want from top tier Science Fiction: Mystery, Intrigue, Spy games, huge geopolitical stakes, alien worlds and creatures (FYI: the lizard bear attack was fascinating), and very rich characters with stories. I hope the quality level can be maintained.