A Short Holiday

Winter's Orbit #1.5

by Everina Maxwell

“A Short Holiday” is set after Winter’s Orbit. Kiem and Jainan visit a quiet agricultural planet for a well-earned break, and nothing goes wrong at all.

Genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Short Stories, Queer, Fiction, LGBT, Adult

12 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Everina Maxwell]

Hi all, this is a post-canon short story that was originally written as part of a promotion. It may be bound in your copy of Winter’s Orbit, but if not it is now available via a password in my newsletter (google Everina Maxwell newsletter). If you’ve lost the password, a quick unsubscribe and resubscribe should get you the welcome email again. Happy reading!
- Everina, September 2024

[Lexi Stark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would read Everina Maxwell’s grocery list. I will be slurping up every bit of Winters Orbit content I get. Forever grateful she finally released this out to the public. I’m aware this is only 12 pages but ykw it’s a rlly good 12 pages. (Does this deprive 5 stars…probably not but it’s getting 5 stars so deal w it)

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delight! I laughed out loud! Alsoooo, a possible new romantic pairing?? 👀

[Owen Blacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is everything I could possibly want it to be. Except for longer, obviously.

The epistolary format works really well, I absolutely adore the reading-between-the-lines of the storytelling, and I would gladly help smuggle even quite a large sheep just to get more time with Kiem and Jainan.

I loved every brief moment of this.

[Vanessa | nessasreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun in so few pages!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

The formatting was really excellent, but mostly I was happy to be back with Kiem, Jainan, and the rest of their insanity. I expected chaos, but not the sheep.

Absolutely hilarious!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️ - I will savor anything Everina Maxwell blesses us with.

[Mora · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was so funny. i especially love kiem and jainan's updates to their sisters bc they are so totally not the full picture of what's going on (even if they're technically being honest) and we know what's actually going on and their sisters know what's going on and thus makes the obfuscation even funnier. they're not even trying to hide anything they just see the situation so differently than literally everyone else. they're wrecks. who thought putting them in politics was a good idea.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short story A Short Holiday is definitely a fun, quick follow-up to Winter's Orbit. Reading it definitely got me in the mood to read the sequel to Winter's Orbit, Ocean's Echo, very soon! :)

My rating/score: 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads' rating system / 8 out of 10 on my own personal scoring system.

[Ina Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, engaging, and a unique format/framing device. My only regret is that it was so brief that I was left craving more.

[Mel]

I read it but I don’t know what it is that I read. 😂😂

[Kaya Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a cute little short story! I was a bit confused at first, but I did like the experimental format, and I love Jainan and Kiem. So glad that I got the chance to read this!

[Hanneleele]

Kiri-novell romaani tegelastega. Lõbus 10 minutit.

[Ggcd1981⁷ · Rating 3 out of 5]

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Kidnapping

A Short Holiday é um conto que se passa depois de Winter's Orbit vagamente sobre o casal principal, Kiem e Jainan. Digo vagamente porque o conto é curto, escrito em formato de mensagens e relatórios da situação. Do casal apenas Kiem tem mensagens escritas no conto, Jainan nem se quer uma. A situação reportada nos relatórios é de que durante uma pequena viagem do casal Kiem acaba sendo sequestrado por um grupo de Raiders, uma espécie de pirata espacial. O conto é tão curto que a situação não é realmente aprofundada ou explorada propriamente e, como disse, Jainan se quer tem um ponto de vista na narrativa para que eu pudesse desfrutar de um pouco de angst na história. O conto é bastante leve e nada de grave acontece. Basicamente vemos, através das mensagens e relatórios dos oficiais, Kiem com sua personalidade amigável, o homem é um raio de sol, e sua tendência a conversar seu caminho fora de qualquer situação, fazer exatamente isso com os sequestradores. Kiem convence metade dos raiders a liberta-lo gerando conflito interno no grupo fazendo a operação deles implodir e ele ser libertado sem maiores danos. O Fluff no conto não é forte, tampouco é realmente engraçado, então a obra é mais uma pequena olhada nas aventuras do casal depois do primeiro livro e também uma pequena mostra ou exploração da personalidade de Kiem. A história foi moderadamente interessante, especialmente para fãs do príncipe amigável Kiem, mas não teve muita substância. Dou 3 estrelas.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you haven't read Winter's Orbit, do not read this story. Read Winter's Orbit first, and then come back and read this one. You have to already know the characters in order to read between the lines and know what is happening. I love this delivery of the short story. Seeing how the various personalities come out, both in their messages and their actions, was so much fun. I was so happy to get a brief look into how all the relationships are continuing between all the characters.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great short story! The adventures of Kiem and Jainan on an agricultural planet are hilarious. Kiem is so much fun and Jainan is always there to save the day. My two favourite words in this story are “profanity filter”. They speak volumes and that is why I love Everina’s writing. She is amazing. Enjoy!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was absolutely hilarious 😂😂😂

Loved it so much x3

[Anael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll gobble up all the crumbs Everina Maxwell throws at me

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would crawl over a bed of nails for five words about these dorks. You have NO idea.

[Jassmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally got my hands on this!

I would have probably liked this better if I read it directly after finishing Winter's Orbit, because although I remember the plot pretty well, the character names not so much. It took me a little bit to figure out who is who + this is sort of epistolary format and that's not my favourite.

Glad I read this and looking forward the next book Maxwell puts out!

[meg marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The format was really pretty. Just super confused and honestly with this series I get into it, just takes awhile but having more description/dialogue in general helps so I was just confused. Kept having to restart it to attempt to figure it all out

[Tiffany✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

Characters: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Writing: 6
Plot: 7
Intrigue: 7
Logic: 5
Enjoyment: 6

[Mucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed so much more! Before I knew it, the story was over 😭 I want more Kiem and Jainan interactions...

[maz · Rating 5 out of 5]

yay

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightfully funny story about Kiem and Jainan (likely more of the former than the latter) getting into a world of trouble.

Kiem's natural friendliness and Jainan's dedication to drones and shipbuilding led them into a trap set up by raiders. The best part of this book is that it's written through outside perspectives, the empire's handlers discussing back and forth the possibilities of chaos. There are also segments told from Kiem's exuberant perspective, to Prince Vaile, about how much he's looking forward to the chaos.

I love the world building of this universe and wish there were a thousand more books about these characters or this setting.

[Ebbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't really a book (it's only a few pages long), but it's hysterically funny and everything is so in character. I would read literally anything written even partially in Kiem's POV-- grocery lists, class notes, etc. lol. Kiem is thoroughly cemented as one of my favorite fictional characters of all time.

[Taylor Siedel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for something epistolary. Especially if Everina Maxwell writes it. It's a 12-page short story that I would LOVE to see written out as a novelization, but I'll just keep rereading these emails.

I will stay in this world as long as humanly possible. It's pure perfection.

[Sirah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story is a collection of communications as Kiem and Jainan go on vacation after the events of Winter's Orbit. It is included in many copies of the novel, but it deserves special note here anyway.

Someone, please get Kiem a sproingy fluffy sheep. Thank you.

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically just a series of communiques. They're from multiple POCs: the people trying to keep tabs on the MCs and Kiem's messages about how much fun they're having. It’s all supposed to be humorous but while it was a little funny in parts, it wasn’t that great. Maybe it's because I'd just finished the novel which I loved so much and this was just a tidbit as a freebie after the book, or that I was listening to it in Audiobook format where it isn't as clear where each communique was coming from.

[Sifa Poulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a funny tale of one disaster and one academic failing to get through a holiday without incident. The story is told through messages, mostly from other characters trying to work out what is happening, and simply not believing it. It also means that the exact details are sparse so you get to use your imagination to fill in the blanks (while also knowing that whatever happened was even less sensible than that.)