#avoliot

[lifelinebooks]

My favorite type of guy is a vicious combination of sarcasm and malicious compliance. Also gay

#this post is about sen tennalhin halkana #ocean's echo #tennal #everina maxwell #avoliot

[booksandwords]

Taam. Kiem. Past. Present. Future. It was all hazy, all written in blurred lines. He couldn’t breathe. It was much too difficult to distinguish, Taam’s paralyzing grip, Kiem’s barely there touch.

Mending Seams by Anonymous

I adore this couple. I love how respectful Kiem is of Jainan's trauma. This fic plays with that trauma, panic attacks and the love of a patient man. I really like these lines the idea of blurred lines between Jainan's past and present, his trauma and his healing.

#mending seams #winter's orbit #jainan nav adessari #kiem tegnar #fanfic rec #anonymous #tw domestic abuse #tw panic attack #avoliot #i'm not sure how you feel about fanfic avoliot but i will draw your attention to this too

[brainrockets]

Just finished a combined reread of the final published version of Winter's Edge and first read of Ocean's Echo and honestly @avoliot how fucking dare you be this talented???

#avoliot #everina maxwell #ocean's echo #winter's edge

[azurish]

coincidentally, the last panel is what their brains end up looking like after all the stress they put them through over the course of the book

#ocean's echo #tennalhin halkana #surit yeni #tennal x surit #bookblr #i like the bit where they mindmeld with the universe and surit's like 'actually your brain is the same as the universe. to me.' <3 #discovered over break that avoliot had another novel + am now googling her name every 3 minutes to see whether she's announced a third yet

[vkelleyart]

“Just because it’s not important doesn’t mean it’s not important to someone.” - Winter’s Orbit by @avoliot / Everina Maxwell

What a treat to have another excuse to draw Kiem and Jainan! This piece was commissioned by Sanctum Flames Candles for their upcoming Winter's Orbit scented candle, which I have been told smells DELICIOUS. This moment after the flybug crash was especially lovely to draw, as the scene grants Jainan a bit of insight into Kiem's generous spirit and makes Jainan fall that much more in love with him. * swoon *

I should have details soon on how to get your own limited edition candle and print! In the meantime, Happy Spring to all!

#winters orbit #kiem and jainan #everina maxwell #commission #fanart

[ascetisce]

@avoliot’s winter’s orbit for rainbow crate bookbox! this book was so cute kiem and jainan my beloveds, i’m so glad you found each other

#winter's orbit #course of honour #kiem tegnar #jainan nav adessari #everina maxwell #my art #from one nonny to another you are an inspiration #books

[lucky-numberme]

do you think that two space princes in an arranged political marriage coudl on purpose kiss

[ID: A digital portrait of Jainan and Kiem. Jainan leans back against Kiem, who has a hand in his hair. Jainan has a hand raised in a gesture of explanation, and his expression is one of rapturous delight. Kiem looks down at him adoringly. Jainan is wearing sweeping Thean formals, his long hair held back by a wooden gender marker ornament. Kiem is wearing Iskat formals with a Thean cape. He has a wooden earring gender marker. Around them is a glowing frame. End ID]

Queer Book Draw Challenge 6/20 Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell (ie @avoliot )

#Tumblr please stop eating this post #the mentals are illnessing lads but the piece is posted #this book (and Ocean's Echo) are both DELIGHTFUL #Could not recommend them more if you enjoy queer genre romance and/or slow-burn. it does all of those things splendidly #winter's orbit #everina maxwell #book art #book fanart #queer books #queer book draw challenge #little museum #Jainan #Kiem #and this next tag's for the old time fans #course of honour

[fearsomeandwretchedandwrong]

Okay I'm gonna need Everina Maxwell (@avoliot) to put out a third Winter's Orbit book ASAP!

#i am shooketh #winter's orbit #ocean's echo #gays in space #disaster gays in love #all the feels #amazing queer space operas #everina maxwell #booklr

[keeper-of-all-the-random-things]

Good days ahead!

I got all the books at once! It’s going to be a glorious November.

@the-modern-typewriter

@avoliot

#the god key #Simone king #ocean's echo #everina maxwell #a restless truth #freya marske #so excited to read!

[imjusthereforthecatpictures]

Praise for Winter's Orbit

In advance of Everina Maxwell’s (@avoliot) new book, Ocean’s Echo, I would like to take some time to talk about some of the points I love about her first book, Winter’s Orbit. Some of these things I have only noticed because I have read this book enough times that it might actually be concerning, but something about it really captures me and I need to share some of my favourite parts.

I’ll start with some general things and move on to spoilers under a cut. 

First off, I’d like to say how well Maxwell shows the cultural/personality differences between Kiem and Jainan. There are some subtle points, like Jainan mentioning how he doesn’t understand why Iskaners like glass ceilings when it is almost always cloudy right after hearing Kiem say the room they get married in is cheerful because it has a glass ceiling, even though “no sunlight made it through the muted grey of the clouds.”

We see a similar thing with the birds, but I personally think this is more personality than cultural: Kiem likes Iskat’s birds, and Jainan does not like any of the wildlife (for very good reason). Kiem feeds the “doves,” knows about nesting habits, and chooses to have his wedding banquet in the Room of Birds. Jainan thinks the birds are “predatory and alien” and is always very negative when he thinks of them. This is such a fun little dynamic and I think it says a lot about their personalities and how they interact with the world around them.

Another note about the wildlife and Iskat’s “weird design fashions,” one of my favourite exchanges is the “that’s not a bear” and “what kind of bear has fur?” This is made even better, because earlier in the novel, Kiem describes a character as having a “presence like a bear in a room full of nanotech.” Now that is a delightfully futuristic version of the bull in a china shop idiom, but when we learn what Kiem actually means by a bear it gets way funnier to imagine a six-legged reptile in, like, a Best Buy. 

A final note on Kiem and Jainan playing off each other is when Kiem blatantly lies to Jainan to make him feel more comfortable. At their wedding dinner, Kiem tells Jainan that heraldry is a hobby of his and then asks about Jainan’s family crest to get Jainan involved in the conversation. Later in the book Kiem admits that he doesn’t even know the history of the Iskat coat of arms, so it really was just a way off prompting a conversation. I think that is a really sweet exchange.

Kiem’s people skills are threaded throughout the book. It is easy to show Jainan’s intelligence, he’s an engineer and his attention to detail and analytical skills solve major plot points, but Kiem’s are more subtle and just as useful. They are also more spoilery, so I’m hiding them under a read more.

We first see it when Kiem remembers the face of one of the internal security agents. I like to think this is the security guard who talks to him about tree borers right after the wedding. 

My favourite people skills moment is how Maxwell sprinkles in little breadcrumbs that come together later to make Kiem's habit of calling people for help more believable. We see Kiem meeting Master Sergeant Vignar, who does logistics for the military. At the time it feels like a casual one off, and we don’t expect to see him again, but Kiem remembers him and calls on him when he needs to break into a secure military area. He also uses a real conversation he had with Aren about a job opening to make his request sound believable. This is such a beautifully written set up and pay off, and really shows how Kiem remembering details about people is an invaluable and rare skill. 

Speaking of Aren, I can’t help but wonder if he is responsible for there being no record of Audel’s resignation. Maxwell never specifies, but if Aren did find copies of the resignation letters it would make sense for him to delete them to cast more suspicion on her. Maybe that is what happened, maybe Audel was lying about trying to quit to make herself sound better. We'll never know and I love that we get to form our own ideas about it.

I cannot talk about Aren framing Audel without mentioning how ridiculous his little reveal was at the Hvaren Base. Like, he showed a picture of the college, then a head shot of Audel, and only after that did he show her military picture. Why would he do that instead of just saying “I think it was the professor!” He must have realized Jainan and Kiem knew her. If they didn’t outright name her when they were explaining how Jainan found out about the embezzlement, Aren should have connected the dots that Jainan got the data from her. But no, instead of being normal, Aren had to bust out a powerpoint. No wonder Kiem and Jainan were confused. This is just so hilariously flamboyant!

My last point, because I have to stop somewhere or else go on and on about how much I love this book if I don’t limit myself, is how much I like how Maxwell used a small detail to show her readers how two overlapping events were playing out simultaneously. While Jainan is examining the Kingfisher refinery’s orbit, he notices a shift change buzzer in the background, and we can assume it is the same buzzer Kiem mentions in the next POV shift. Because of that small detail, we know where both of them are: Kiem has finished reading Bel’s notes and is on his way to confront Gairad, while Jainan is still in the control room. Kiem’s confrontation leads to him turning off his wristband, so Jainan isn’t able to reach him when he tries to call, which prompts him to go directly to the Auditor with his information. This is such a good way of anchoring the reader in time and showing how the events are lining up without having to actually explain it in detail. 

Anyway, those are some of my observations on the book and I cannot wait to get my hands on Ocean’s Echo. I’ve pre-ordered the audiobook and I know I’m going to devour it as soon as I can.

#fic rec #winters orbit #oceans echo

[ajaneofmanytalents]

Just finished devour-reading Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell, who is – according to the "About the Author" blurb – @avoliot here on tumblr.

All I can say is holy crap. Engrossing sci-fi setting; a conflict that would look at home in Bujold's Vorkosigan universe; a romance that feels organic and leaves me suspecting I will be sore disappointed with most bodice-rippers if I ever tried reading them.

I want more with Kiem and Jainan. I want more in this universe. I want to read more from Maxwell.

Gotta go to the bookstore soon, see about getting me a hard copy!

#everina maxwell #winter's orbit #book recommendations #lgbtqia books

[thelioninmybed]

Tagged in some stuff by @elwing and @imindhowwelayinjune!

Last line written is from my scifi/horror project which asks the question important question 'what if your boyfriend was the Thing?'

“This is going to be awful,” said Jasper. He sounded cool and collected, which Carrow recognised as incipient panic. “Why the fuck did you volunteer us for it?” There was no point in reminding Jasper that Carrow had only volunteered himself. “If there’s any chance that we can find answers, we have to take it.” They were well into the Demeter’s night cycle and the lights in the corridor outside the canteen were blue-tinged. It made Jasper’s thin, pointy face look even thinner and pointier. “No false piety,” he said, and his grin was thin and pointy too. “This is you looking for another excuse to project your issues onto something and then punch it in the head. Sorry to say there’s not going to be anyone to assault on a dead ship.” “You’re really underestimating my ability to flip out and hit things,” Carrow said mildly.

-----

I was going to do five books I've loved since September but I can only think of three that I've enjoyed enough to want to talk about.

Leech by Hiron Ennes is a really cool idea, excellently executed. The protagonist is the Institute, a parasitic hivemind that has dedicated itself to providing medical care out of the belief that the horror of what it does to its hosts is outweighed by the good it does humanity as a whole. As a concept it's so much fun that I was almost disappointed when the plot kicked into gear, I'd read a whole series that was just a medical drama about an eccentric, self-justifying parasite.

Ocean's Echo by @avoliot was technically a reread, but it's just as much of a delight as ever. I think most people that follow me have read it already (and if you haven't, why the hell not?) but it's an excellent and deeply romantic story about being sold to One Direction the military and forced to soulbond with someone who makes the whole sold-to-the-military-and-forced-to-soulbond thing infinitely even worse by being both hot and really ethical about the whole thing.

The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber was also a reread but it's been almost twenty years since the last time. These are the definitive sword and sorcery stories that ask the question 'what if a wizard did some fucked up shit?' And then the protagonists are like 'damn, that sure is fucked up' then stab him and take his stuff. These were deeply formative stories and I will always respect Leiber for, fifty years ago, having his iron-thewed barbarian and shifty little rat man give serious consideration to the thought 'what if we kissed?'

Tagging @pilotperihelion @hong-ara @avoliot @clothonono @toofrenchtofunction @brazenbells

#memery #doitforthevine

[kyrosion]

Tumblr has, for once, made a legit connection in saying I should follow meganwhalenturner bc I follow avoliot, given that upon finishing Ocean's Echo I immediately picked up The King of Attolia for a reread bc Surit gave me so many Costis vibes

[everina-maxwell-updates]

courseofhonourupdates -> everina-maxwell-updates

Anyone who was following courseofhonourupdates, this is now everina-maxwell-updates for what are probably obvious reasons. Thought it would be a good time to explain the split so you can pick the blog that suits you:

everina-maxwell-updates: 'official' blog, strictly book stuff. Follow this if you want infrequent updates just about the books, occasional fanart.

avoliot: reblogs, gardens, other people's unrelated art, small book fandoms I will never let die, Winter's Orbit-universe fan stuff because it's still my blog and nobody can stop me. These two blogs will probably reblog each other a little bit for announcements but I'll try and keep that limited.

That's all, thank you for your attention, enjoy the rest of your dash!

#admin #avoliot #winter's orbit #everina-maxwell-updates

[queenklu]

I meant to make this rec post A G E S AGO so here it is, months and months late! 

Winter’s Orbit by @avoliot aka Everina Maxwell

Prince Kiem, a famously disappointing minor royal and the Emperor's least favorite grandchild, has been called upon to be useful for once. He's commanded to fulfill an obligation of marriage to the representative of the Empire's newest and most rebellious vassal planet. His future husband, Count Jainan, is a widower...and murder suspect. Neither wants to be wed, but with a conspiracy unfolding around them and the fate of the empire at stake they will have to navigate the thorns and barbs of court intrigue, the machinations of war, and the long shadows of Jainan's past, and they'll have to do it together. So begins a legendary love story amid the stars.

If this sounds familiar it’s because this started as an already stunning OMC/OMC fic on ao3 called Course of Honor! YES THAT ONE! And now it is an EVEN MORE enthralling, entrancing, engaging piece of otherworldly fiction. 

Do you love good writing? Miscommunication with good reason? I swear, this is best example I have ever read of two people talking at cross purposes, and it absolutely makes sense. 

But most importantly, DO YOU LOVE SPACE BEARS WITH SCALES AND SIX LEGS?

I thought so. 

Go read Winter’s Orbit.

#winter's orbit #avoliot #bookrecs #also #alaska: we're cool #this is harvard glacier btw! and yes i brought a book on a glacier tour #i live here i'm allowed

[lifelinebooks]

Hey I am halfway through Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell does anyone want to geek out with me???

#winter's orbit #everina maxwell #books #book talk #reading #Avoliot