Winter's Orbit | Everina Maxwell

'A chilling account of a dark past wrapped in the warm blanket of a promising future .
.
.
A pleasure to read' Ann Leckie'A stunning new space opera debut' K.
B.
WagersThe Iskat Empire rules its vassal planets through a system of treaties - so when Prince Taam, key figure in a political alliance, is killed, a replacement must be found.
His widower, Jainan, is rushed into an arranged marriage with the disreputable aristocrat Kiem, in a bid to keep rising hostilities between two worlds under control.
But Prince Taam's death may not have been an accident, and when Jainan himself is a suspect, he and Kiem must navigate the perils of the Iskat court, solve a murder, and prevent an interplanetary war .
.
.'Has everything you could ask: impossible choices, divided loyalties, dry wit .
.
.
charming slow-burn romance, and an adventure in space politics' A.
K.
Larkwood'Dazzling .
.
.
Its characters stayed with me long after I raced through the last chapters' Aliette de Boddard