Microreview[Novel]: Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell

 Set in the same universe as Winter's Orbit, Everina Maxwell gives us another deceptively meaty (not like that) romance romp through space politics.

Cover design/art - Katie Klim and Michael Rogers

I think Everina Maxwell might like "opposites attract" dynamics. In Winter's Orbit, this was shy, dutiful diplomat and extroverted socialite prince. In Ocean's Echo, this has escalated slightly into what I would describe as "so lawful good it hurts (he feels guilty about that" and "sarcastic bastard fuck-up (self-aware, don't care)", which is, at least in my opinion, a god-tier pairing.

But! In a contrast with Winter's Orbit, where the arranged marriage plot dynamic forced the relationship aspect of the novel out into front and centre - even if it wasn't happening, it was a thing we had to focus on because it was a significant part of what was happening to both characters - Ocean's Echo actually saves that part for much later. A romantic novel where the romance is on the back-burner? Interesting indeed. Which isn't to say it's entirely absent, but up until around half way through the book, we mainly just get flickers of it on the periphery of the larger problems both characters are having to deal with, both internally and externally to their own brains.

This is primarily because a lot is going on for both of them. Tannal is the nephew of the legislator - the highest civilian power on Orshan. However, despite all her best efforts, he's living a dissolute life of partying, drugs and offering out his rare, powerful and somewhat illegal psychic gift of reading to criminals. That is, until she finds him and conscripts him into the army to be trained as a pilot and psychically linked to someone with the more common and socially acceptable brand of psychic gift. This would be Surit, whose shining record in the army so far is a testament to his determination to erase his mother's dabble into treason from people's memories, or at least enough to make captain get his other parent her pension back. Being saddled with a chaotic conscript isn't top of his to do list, but when he discovers some of the circumstances behind it, and that Tannal is being forced to sync their minds together permanently against his will, he has no choice but to take a moral stand. And that's just the start. Many hijinx ensue, including dangers military, political and space chaotic, with Tennal and Surit forced into the centre of the unfolding tensions.

Much of this is incredibly predictable even from early in the book, but at no point does it feel like that matters. Maxwell has let the narrative accept its own occasional silliness, and so the looming inevitability of some of the plot beats feels like a joke the reader is in on, rather than a problem.

It helps, on this front, that the book is really quite funny in other ways. Occasionally laugh out loud funny. It's difficult to take much of it at earnest face value when Tennal is there to undercut the tension with a quip or a spectacularly bad life decision, which he'll declare as such while doing it anyway. There's a wry humour running through a lot of the descriptions and events, but the best parts are all reserved for dialogue, and manage to inhabit the sweet spot overlapping genuinely funny and believable conversation, especially when what makes us laugh is the smooth-talking running out and a little snatch of something more mundane or more emotional sneaks out of the sides, or when Surit, the straight man to Tennal's comic, sneaks a little barb in of his own.

This dynamic they have is both incredibly tropey and incredibly fun. Yes it's introvert/extrovert, upper class/working class, opposites attract, thrown together by the winds of fate and learn that they need each other's strengths to succeed. There's trauma bonding, occasionally someone gets rescued by someone else, and plenty of times when neither of them say the thing they really ought to have said. So it's not exactly an innovative romance, but Maxwell manages to inject palpable chemistry between them, and both characters are sympathetic enough to sell it, and so it does work.

That they're both so sympathetic is more of a surprise. Tennal, fast-talking, charming, chaotic, funny, sarcastic, is less of a shock. It's a character type a lot of people like, and it's an easy leap for the reader from someone like that to see how maybe they have a softer side under the prickles that you just need to get to know them to find. But again, it's done well, and the slow unfolding of Tennal's fears and feelings about himself and his place in the world manages to be compelling without grating against the thread of his humour and bravado. He's not just a sarcastic bastard, but he's allowed to stay a sarcastic bastard once we learn more about him, which is critical to a lot of his charm. There's also a really nice balance between Tennal's interior perspective and Surit's view and the words of other characters in how they give the reader an evolving picture of Tennal's personality, with his internal monologue slowly coming to grips with things as we learn them or see them from outside of him. He gets a genuine growth arc without losing what made him fun, and that's great.

Surit, however, is the more surprising one, I believe. It's hard to write a lawful good character without straying into potentially boring. The more lawful good they are, the harder it becomes. Surit is painfully good. He's a stickler for the rules, he believes that the law will be just and fair, and he is committed to the highest standards of ethical behaviour in himself. Part of how you make that fun is by giving it a little twinkle, a glimmer of sense of humour, like there's a person underneath the procedures. But the major part of how you make that interesting is introducing someone so fixed and set in their black and white morality to a chaotic system - they have to cope without any easy answers and confront what they truly believe is worthwhile in the world. And that, as well as his growing appreciation for actually interacting with other people, is what makes Surit incredibly well-written - we get to see someone naively upstanding slowly begin to understand just how corrupt his culture is. And what he decides to do about that.

That chaotic system is also how the pair of them work well together - the constraints by which they need each other for the narrative to work don't feel artificial in the world Maxwell has created for them.

And it remains a fun world. Orshan is another planetary system in the same universe, bound together by the links in chaotic space and overseen by the Resolution, that holds Winter's Orbit. They have no connection beyond that in the text, but we can see small commonalities between them that imply a wider, joined up galaxy as we're told exists - Orshan, like Iskat before it, quietly shows us gender as performance through choices of material in personal adornment, and the same queer normative culture and approach to genetics in parenting. Both include a strong thread of real culture underlying their space future technology, in the arranged marriages of Iskat or the sports teams or personal religious shrines of Orshan. But what makes Orshan different is the neuromodifications - some people have the ability to "write" their will on unprotected minds, while others have the ability to read thoughts. While obviously necessary for the plot to progress, where this conceit really shines is in the strong thread running throughout asking about consent, coercion and the politics of what's acceptable to others - Maxwell appreciates the need to give us the cultural and interpersonal impact of the sci-fi mind-powers, and it's there that the world-building shines.

If there's any flaw with it, it's that it really is quite a silly book at times. If you're happy to read something that laughs at itself a little while being quite so silly, then it's a price worth paying, but it wouldn't be to everyone's taste, especially with the odd realisation like "it's less only one bed, more only one brain" that might come during the process of reading. Likewise, because it's willing to lean in on being precisely what it is, if you're not happy with tropey, here is not the place to look. But both are done knowingly and with joy, so I find it hard to fault either of them overmuch. Likewise, the romance aspect of the plot stays somewhat on the backburner for the first 40% of the plot, which has many good points in how the narrative and relationship dynamic is constructed in the first half, but does mean that when we escalate into romance, we go hard and we go fast (not like that).

There is also a lack of development of the mysterious body called the Resolution, who lurked like somewhat sniffy intergalactic police-diplomats on the edges of Winter's Orbit, and do exactly the same thing here. The story functions perfectly well as it is and with what it has, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to know more about the Resolution's place within the wider galaxy. We also got hints about the remnants and their origins that cry out for more exposition.

But on the whole, if the major flaw is being left wanting more, there are worse ways to end up. Ocean's Echo is a great follow up to Winter's Orbit, fitting into a very similar headspace and tone, while being a galaxy apart. If anything, I think it might be better than its predecessor.

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The Math

Baseline Assessment: 8/10

Bonuses: +1 for a genuine golden retriever person having to grapple with the ethical problems of the world

Penalties: -1 for not giving us enough time with Tennal's exasperated sister

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10

Reference: Ocean's Echo Everina Maxwell [Little, Brown Book Group, 2022]

POSTED BY: Roseanna Pendlebury, the humble servant of a very loud cat. @chloroform_tea

Interview: Everina Maxwell, author of Winter's Orbit

An extroverted and scandal prone noble and a shy diplomat have to make things work through an arranged marriage.  How do you trust someone you barely know?  How do you talk about "family", when your family is sort-of horrible?  Throw in political machinations, power vs kindness, and Everina Maxwell's debut novel Winter's Orbit just turned into the queer space opera I've been waiting for since I read Lois McMaster Bujold's Captain Vorpatril's Alliance.  Added bonus - Winter's Orbit isn't book twenty-whatever!   Over at Locus,  Liz Bourke said of Maxwell's debut "Well-paced and deftly written, it’s one of the most enjoyable space (or planetary) opera romances that I’ve had the pleasure to read".

Maxwell published an earlier version of Winter's Orbit on Archive of Our Own, which allowed her to post the story chapter by chapter, with cliffhangers and fast paced banter and action.  I was so curious about Maxwell's experiences with moving from online publishing to traditional publishing, that I asked her! Along with a million other questions she so thoughtfully and patiently answered about the inspiration behind the novel, awkward "first meetings", (my favorite!), why a far future society would need something as archaic as arranged marriages, and more. 

Maxwell grew up reading all the doorstopper space operas and Georgette Heyer books she could get her hands on, and she currently resides in Yorkshire, where she balances a day job, her writing career, and a love of watching "Let's Play" videos. 

Looking at the tag line on that cover art, I find myself singing Rachel Platten's "Fight Song", which I'm hoping turns out to be a just-right earworm for this book. 

Check out Maxwell's website for more information on Winter's Orbit, including content warnings and ordering links. You can also follow her on twitter where she is @Av_Stories and her instagram.

Let's get to the interview!

NOAF: Congratulations on your debut novel, Winter's Orbit! There's a lot going on in this book that I know readers will love sinking their teeth into . . . can you give us the quick elevator pitch?

Everina Maxwell: Prince Kiem is an extroverted scandal magnet and the Emperor’s least favorite grandchild. Jainan is a quiet diplomat from a vassal planet who’s just lost his first husband. They’re ordered to marry to secure a vital treaty and keep the peace between their planets. Kiem is horrified that Jainan has been forced to marry during his mourning period, while Jainan is determined do his duty whatever the cost. But when he finds out his late husband’s death was no accident, he needs Kiem’s help to avert an all-out war.

NOAF: My first thought was “Jainan's husband died? That's so sad!” and then I read some reviews to learn, well, it's wasn't the best relationship in the universe. And Prince Kiem walks right into that! How in the world did you write their dialog and the scenes when they first meet?

EM: Hah, yes, Prince Taam’s death was no great loss to the world. The new couple’s first meeting was one of my favorite scenes to write, actually – I love it when one character is dreading an encounter because of all the rules they think they have to abide by, and the other character hasn’t got the faintest idea what is going on and is just there to be friendly in a normal way (or, since it’s Kiem, in the same way as a golden retriever puppy on his best behavior). Jainan and Kiem are both trying their absolute best! They’re just working from very different assumptions about what the other one wants from them.

NOAF: What inspired you to write Winter's Orbit, and what kinds of things were you thinking about while you were writing it?

EM: It grew from the core of that scene above – that dynamic of carefully treading around each other while growing to rely on each other is catnip to me. The book was a great source of comfort while I was writing it, both the actual writing and sharing it online, because it let me live in the heads of two characters who are both healing and trying to be kind.

NOAF: What is the culture like in the Iskat Empire? How do people who live there define “success”? How do people there define “happiness”?

EM: There’s probably too much diversity to nail down one thing, on Iskat and across the other planets, since I think like anywhere else different people would want different things – stability, belonging, adventure, companionship, power. In the palace, where the story takes place, most people are aiming for power. It’s common for royals to achieve official positions and influence in government. Prince Kiem, at the start, has failed out of that career track; the work he does with press and charities wouldn’t be considered particularly impressive. Much of his arc deals with achieving his own version of happiness.

NOAF: Winter's Orbit is a far future space opera complete with interplanetary politics and the rumblings of a system wide war for resources and political might. And yet it starts with a very old fashioned notion – an arranged marriage. How did you balance the ultra-traditional idea of arranged marriage with the futuristic sci-fi trappings of a space opera?

EM: I’m pretty fascinated by the fossilized traditions we keep in modern societies—some would say marriage itself, even the familiar form of it, is an archaic tradition. Iskat isn’t a purely logical society, by any means, but it’s meant to be illogical in the same way as most human societies. They’ve kept a small handful of arranged marriages as a political tradition. The royals and diplomats involved are generally volunteers, and in normal times they’re expected to work the relationship out between themselves, whether that ends up being friendly camaraderie, romantic affection, or ruthlessly arranging their schedules so they’re always on different planets. But Iskat is currently in a political crisis, and the problem with dictatorial heads of state having powers is that, given a problem, they’re inclined to use those powers. Hence, at the start of the book, Prince Kiem being summoned to the Emperor and told he has to marry Jainan the next day.

NOAF: You published an early version of Winter's Orbit online at Archive of Our Own. What was the experience like, going from publishing it online, to then working with a traditional publisher?

EM: Pretty terrifying, honestly! Throughout editing I was nervous of what the people who read it as original fiction on AO3 would think of the new version, which has more worldbuilding and a plot with a much wider scope. Also, on AO3 people were very kind and didn’t tend to ask awkward questions like “why is this thematically inconsistent” or “why haven’t you explained how this worked” or “can you please pick one spelling of this character’s name and stick with it” – which the traditional publishing process absolutely asks and makes you fix. I think it’s a much better book now; I certainly love the new material myself. I hope both old and new readers will enjoy it!

NOAF: Like many writers, you also balance a full time day job. How do you make time to write, and find time to do all the other “writerly things” such as editing, working with your agent, and doing publicity activities?

EM: I could definitely do with another six hours in the day (who couldn’t). I’ve always written around the edges of my day job, particularly in the mornings, and that time can easily get sucked up by other ‘work’ things. But I’m drafting the next book now, which is not a sequel but set in the same universe, and I’m just taking it at the speed I need to in order to write the best book I can. I wish I was faster, but ultimately I want to do the characters and the story justice.

NOAF: Thank you so much for this wonderful interview!

POSTED BY: Andrea Johnson lives in Michigan with her husband and too many books. She can be found on twitter, @redhead5318 , where she posts about books, food, and assorted nerdery.