Akiva Reads

by Everina Maxwell

Final conclusion: readable, but very meh, and so derivative. The plot is silly and convoluted and not very interesting. Every character is just painfully straightforward and bad at subterfuge, except when they're miscommunicating. At the same time, it's not bad bad, and I might have benefited from lower expectations, so giving it one star feels excessive.

Feels influenced by the Vorkosigan books and The Murderbot Diaries, but space is just the scenery and no interesting questions are being asked. I'm disappointed with the relationship tropes; I thought we were gonna talk about grief and second loves, ala Cordelia+Aral (who learned and grew and changed from their also very fucked up previous relationships!), but instead we have "Taam is a monster who deserved what he got."

The worldbuilding is one of those cases where the author uses oddball names and oddball genders as a flimsy stand-in for coming up with new and alien cultures. Provenance made me believe that the Hwaeans are obsessed with their ritual objects. Winter's Orbit has ceremonies because That's What Being Royal Is, IDK, Let's Have An Object Handover Party.

At least the names are short. I've decided that Taaaaaam is just the space-spelling of Tom. Fucking Tom.