This was a very fun, fresh and engaging Sci-Fi Romance. I do love a medium stakes book which hits the sweet spot between having enough stakes to not feel aimless but not enough peril to rip my heart out.
It’s a very character focused book where both male leads each have their own satisfying arc which wind around each other. I engaged with both, but Tennel especially felt like a character I hadn’t seen that much before. The screw-up without much of a reason to be a screw-up. I thought his characterisation particularly good.
The Romance element is queer male slow burn with no spice beyond kissing. The protags are twenty years old. There is no homophobia or transphobia in this world. I’m not a huge Romance fan but it was very well integrated into the plot and I enjoyed it. It showed two people developing a deep emotional connection and the plot reasons for why they weren’t at it like rabbits, made sense.
This isn’t one for the hard Sci-Fi people. It is an original take on a wizards in space kind of plot with lots of twisty politics. It is by and large a well executed plot but it is mainly there as scaffolding for the Characters development and romance. I feel like people who enjoy Martha Wells, Arkady Martine, Max Gladstone, Becky Chambers would enjoy this book.
I just want to mention that I found this book through Chloe Frizzle, a new to me booktuber/tokker who I stumbled across recently. She has a very intriguing book personality test on her page and then she puts the books she reviews into those categories. Which is a system I think could be very useful for people.
Her youtube
[https://www.youtube.com/@ChloeFrizzle](https://www.youtube.com/@ChloeFrizzle)
[Her quiz](https://uquiz.com/quiz/hrDGA2/discover-your-reader-booktone-type)
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by Indifferent_Jackdaw
1 Comment
Have you read Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell?